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Smart money is on move to bridge research gap
07 March 2010 By Jenny Hauser
The gap between research and the digital industry needs to be bridged if Ireland is to create a smart economy that can compete internationally, according to Ben Hurley, chief executive of the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC).
According to Hurley, Ireland has seen significant investment in its research capabilities over the last ten years, but has failed to reap the benefits through creating marketable commodities.
The NDRC’s main role is to translate technologies developed by academics into products suitable for the healthcare, education, entertainment and green sectors. It acts as a ‘broker’ between venture investment, academia and industry.
On its board are senior industry representatives from Microsoft, Ericsson, Raglan Capital and Enterprise Ireland, as well as third-level institutions, which we re it s founding members.
It is a Dragons’ Den scenario, according to Hurley, whereby projects are pitched to a panel of industry and research experts for funding. Once successful, the project is taken on by the NDRC, which provides an environment where researchers and industry experts come together to focus research on creating a marketable product.
All the partners on a project, including the NDRC, are collaborators and part-own the intellectual property produced.
Since it was launched in October 2008, the NDRC has been developing 17 projects, of which 14 have a commercial engagement with an industry partner. The average turnaround from research to a finished product is between 18 and 24 months.
The Launch Pad programme currently has 11 projects, including a GPS system for the blind and an online platform for organising business meetings. It is for projects designed to enter the market in only three months.
‘‘We provide an environment . . .where there are other people around with similar ideas trying to develop them," said Hurley.
‘‘We also bring in quite a lot of outside expertise on a regular basis. There is ongoing teaching with venture capitalists or industry experience being brought in. It’s like an internship."
Although that gap between research and commercial enterprise is a problem everywhere, Ireland is addressing it fairly late, according to Hurley, and research investment is still quite young.
‘‘Creating market capital is our core mission and our core purpose," said Hurley. ‘‘Research is not our core purpose. That’ s the means to creating market capital."
For the first five years, the NDRC will receive €25 million in government funding.
Since 2008, it has also received a further €2 million in private investment from partners.
Hurley said it was important not to expect short-term miracles in what the NDRC could achieve as its work required perseverance to yield long term results.
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