Funding for Research leads Irish Jobs Drive

New structures were announced last week to make it easier to commercialise ideas developed through publicly-funded research, and ultimately create jobs.

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mr Richard Bruton TD, together with the Minister for Research and Innovation Mr Sean Sherlock TD, presented new structures which are aimed at giving businesses easier access to state funded research and development (R&D) results. This will enable businesses to commercialise their ideas more easily and, consequently, should lead directly to more jobs.
The idea is to enable private companies to access R&D results that are partly or even up to 100 per cent state funded. That way the private sector can take advantage of a magnitude of research and development, but without having to bear the full costs and risks connected with having to do the R&D in in-house departments. 

“Today’s announcement marks a major evolution of the relationship between industry and publicly-funded research. It will create a world-class new system that will make it easier and faster for entrepreneurs and companies to negotiate a commercial arrangement with researchers. It will provide a significant improvement to Ireland’s international offering and encourage more companies to locate here,” said Minister Bruton.

The new campaign capitalises on one of Irelands strengths: quality research output. In 2003, Ireland came 36th in an international ranking for research quality. In 2010, however, Ireland had climbed to 20th worldwide. Illustrating the link between public funding and innovation, in 2000 the budget for publicly-funded R&D was 290 million euro, whereas in 2010 the budget had increased to 872 million euro.

“A key part of the Government’s plan for jobs and growth is ensuring that we create more products, services and, ultimately, jobs from Ireland’s top quality scientific research system. The quality of our R&D is already a major part of the reason for the success of our multinational and indigenous companies – but we must do more,” Minister Bruton said.

To this end a new Intellectual Property (IP) Protocol was drawn up by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in collaboration with other Government Departments, and incorporating the advice and information of a dedicated group of experts from industry, the venture capital community, technology transfer offices, the IUA Research Performing Organisations and State research funders. The protocol deals mainly with collaborative research, meaning that state and private companies work together in sharing the cost of the research. However, it also deals with situations where the research costs are covered in full – either by the state or by the industry.

The new measures of the protocol include:

• A new Central Technology Transfer Office, to act as a one-stop shop for businesses seeking to use intellectual property deriving from publicly-funded research
• Standardised intellectual property terms, which will facilitate easy-to-set-up agreements between businesses and researchers
• Generous commercial terms to encourage businesses to engage with researchers, and to use the results of research to develop new products and services
• Improved management of intellectual property

Explaining the different measures, Minister Sherlock said: “Using the standardised terms in the new Protocol will support both industry parties and research-performing organisations in making their commercial negotiations faster, more consistent and more transparent. A Central Technology Transfer Office (CTTO) will be established to act as a ‘one-stop shop’ for industry engagement with the research system to find all research opportunities and IP that has been generated across the entire publicly-funded research system.”

The CTTO will be hosted by Enterprise Ireland and will closely co-operate with the existing ten Technology Transfer Offices, each based at an institution of higher education. The co-operation will include sharing best practices and ensuring the uniform interpretation and implementation of national IP policies, a press release stated. However, existing Technology Transfer Offices will retain the freedom to “do a deal that works best for both parties”, the press release explained.

The standardised terms around IP ownership, access and publication will make the acquisition of the IP rights more transparent and the potential easier to calculate. However, a government press release said that “policies and structures are not rigid”, and will grant enough leeway to suit different sectors and unique situations. 

Irish Research Becomes Successful International Enterprise

One example of an enterprise commercialising successfully via public research is Dr Emmeline Hill’s Equinome. Dr Hill, who was also present at the announcement, received an SFI award in 2004 which allowed her to launch a 5-year investigation at UCD into the genomics of performance in thoroughbred horses. 

In 2009, this research successfully led to the identification of a gene contributing to a specific athletic trait in thoroughbred horses. This discovery is of enormous economic value, as the gene (called myostatin) was found to predict sprinting ability and stamina potential, which can immediately identify a thoroughbred as a potential sprinter, middle-distance or long-distance horse.

NovaUCD, a Technology Transfer Office at the university, facilitated the identification, protection and management of the intellectual property, and helped Dr Hill with the establishment and development of Equinome, a UCD spin-off company, to commercialise the IP.

Equinome now has clients all over the world. The product they buy is the Equinome Elite Performance Test, through which thoroughbred horse owners and breeders can increase their chances of successfully identifying those foals and yearlings most likely to perform at the elite level.

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