Martin is the Manager of Enterprise Ireland’s Research & Innovation business unit which encompasses a range of activities, including increasing levels of industry-led research, creating new companies and technologies through the commercialisation of State-funded research, and driving Irish participation in international research programmes such as the €50 billion Seventh EU Framework Programme and the European Space Agency.
He is also responsible for increasing the levels of innovation in Irish SMEs. Martin has represented Enterprise Ireland on a number of EU and OECD committees and was Chairman of TAFTIE, the network of European Innovation Agencies in 2008. He chaired the EU CREST Working Group on Industry-led Competence Centres in 2008, was a member of the Governing Council of the European Science Foundation, and is a member of the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology.
Martin joined the National Board for Science and Technology at its inception and through a number of agencies has worked on the management of research programmes and the development of innovation policy.
Originally a marine biologist, he was awarded an honours degree from the University of London and a doctorate from the Oceanography Department in the University of Southampton. He carried out research at the University of Dublin during a Royal Society European Post Doctoral Fellowship.