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The Seekers
Seekers The
In an area strongly associated with IT and Medtech there is no greater currency than R&D; Deanna O’Connor finds the South West is rich in leading educational institutes and world-renowned research facilities.
“EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK YOU CAN SEE DEEP-TECH IN ACTION,” STATES PROFESSOR WILLIAM SCANLON, CEO OF THE TYNDALL NATIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE. “THE DEEP-TECH BEING INSTITUTE. “THE DEEP-TECH BEING DEVELOPED AT TYNDALL WILL HAVE A HUGE IMPACT IN CREATING SOLUTIONS FOR HEALTH AND WELLBEING, THE ENERGY CRISIS, A GREENER SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY, SMART AGRICULTURE AND TRANSPORT.”
Prof. Scanlon sees not only the vision of a future transformed by instant access to all information and near-infinite computing resources, but also a great opportunity for the FDI sector to “more significantly opportunity for the FDI sector to “more significantly harness the innovative and diverse international talent base located here” and for more multinationals to make Ireland their global R&D hub.
Tyndall is a research flagship of University College Cork and a leading European research centre in integrated ICT (Information and Communications Technology) materials, devices and systems. Tyndall has secured over 110 EU Horizon 2020 awards, totaling over €60m, over the past 7 years. “This is a credit to the extraordinary research talent available in Ireland, coupled with the state-of-theart infrastructure available at Tyndall,” states Prof. Scanlon.
Tyndall aims to double the size and impact of the national
Professor William Scanlon, Tyndall National Research Institute
“The deep-tech being developed at Tyndall will have a huge impact in creating solutions for health and wellbeing, the energy crisis, a greener sustainable society, smart agriculture and transport.” ICT research institute and has recently expanded with a new wireless communications laboratory in Dublin hosting a new wireless communications research team who will focus on future deep technologies: Future RF, Future Access, Future Protocols, Future AI, and Future Quantum.
However it has grown to its current status, home to a research team of over 600 people, from its base in the tech cluster of Cork, collaborating with the wealth of partners on its doorstep. Engagement with industry allows Tyndall to take the results of its research from the lab into society. “We currently engage with over 200 companies (MNCs and SMEs) from across Ireland and internationally and facilitated the launch of a number of high potential spin out companies during the year,” notes Prof. Scanlon.
APC MICROBIOME
Just a stone’s throw away, the APC Microbiome Ireland, a world-leading SFI Research Centre based in UCC and Teagasc, has also been producing exciting spin out companies, including Atlantia Food Clinical Trials, supporting companies to obtain health claims for foods, and Alimentary Health, a global leader in the discovery, development and commercialisation of precision biotics.
Originally founded as the Alimentary Pharmabotic Centre in 2003, APC Microbiome is home to around 300 researchers investigates the microscopic organisms that live in and on the body, along three main lines: developing new diagnostics and biomarkers; exploring mechanisms to manipulate the microbiota; and ‘mining’ the microbiota for new drugs and food ingredients. Industry collaborators and partners include companies such as Janssen Biotech (one of the pharmaceutical companies of Johnson & Johnson) and Danone Nutricia.
Professor Paul Ross, Director of APC Microbiome, notes the quality of PhD researchers turned out by the centre is a huge asset to the talent pool in Cork. “APC has trained hundreds of alumni who have advanced to positions in academia, industry and the healthcare sector across the globe.”
Among his own achievements is being honoured in Thomson Reuters ‘The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds, 2015’, and his colleagues are of a similar cadre. Prof.
Professor Paul Ross, APC Microbiome
“Ten APC Principal Investigators appear on the Clarivate Analytics 2018 Highly Cited Researchers list of the 1% of scientists who are most highly cited by their peers.”
Ross points out that, “ten APC Principal Investigators appear on the Clarivate Analytics 2018 Highly Cited Researchers list of the 1% of scientists who are most highly cited by their peers.”
The centre is a hive of activity, with APC inventors filing 54 new patent applications, and signing 47 license, assignment and option agreements in the first 15 years of its existence. It has also directly attracted foreign direct investment from 11 companies that would not otherwise have a footprint in Ireland were it not for the APC research. Ireland were it not for the APC research.
WHAT IS DEEP TECH
Deep technology (deep tech) or hard tech is a classification of organization, or more typically startup company, with the expressed objective of providing technology solutions based on substantial scientific or engineering challenges.[1] They present challenges requiring lengthy research and development, and large capital investment before successful commercialization. The primary risk in a deep tech or hard tech company is technical risk, while market risk is often overlooked due to the potential value of the solution to society. The underlying scientific or engineering problems being solved by deep tech and hard tech companies generate valuable intellectual property and are hard to reproduce.
TEAGASC MOOREPARK
The work being done at the APC Microbiome Institute is no doubt underpinned by the rich heritage in food production and food research in the area, and its links with the Teagasc facility at Moorepark. Indeed Prof. Ross was formerly Head of Food Research at Teagasc.
“The Teagasc Moorepark Animal & Grassland, Research and Innovation Centre has played a pivotal role in the development of the Irish dairy industry,” notes Professor Pat Dillion, Head of the Teagasc Animal & Grassland, Research and Innovation Programme. “Teagasc Moorepark is an internationally known and recognised Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre which produces new leading edge technology and models to drive the Irish Agri-food industries.”
As the National Dairy Research Centre, Moorepark is responsible for all aspects of dairy production research. The centre also works closely with the food industry, through client-funded contract research or collaborations, and partnerships with the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) research centres, APC Microbiome Ireland and VistaMilk, Food for Health Ireland and the Dairy Processing and Technology Centre. Dr Mark Fenelon, Head of the Teagasc Food programme says, “Recent highlights include the Whisky Terroir project, a collaboration with Waterford Distillery and the MiMIC project, a €6.3 million, 4-year project project co-funded by Science Foundation Ireland and DuPont Nutrition and Biosciences.”
The Teagasc Moorepark campus has a range of offerings for the food industry to avail of expert researchers and equipment. The National Food Innovation Hub, due to open in summer 2021, is an €8.8 million investment from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Dr Fenelon adds, “The concept of the Food Hub is to provide world-class facilities to national and international companies for their research and development teams while its location on the Moorepark campus will allow for collaboration with Teagasc researchers and access to MTL.”
“Teagasc Moorepark is an internationally known and recognised Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre which produces new leading edge technology and models to drive the Irish Agrifood industries.”
The Transformer
Dr Siobhan Roche
DIRECTOR, SCIENCE FOR THE ECONOMY, SCIENCE
FOUNDATION IRELAND
AT A GLANCE
200+
INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS HAVE BEEN FORGED THROUGH THE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME
53%
OF COMPANIES PARTICIPATED TO ADDRESS SPECIFIC SKILLS GAPS
Tell us a bit about your collaboration with IDA Ireland
Science Foundation Ireland is Ireland’s national foundation for investment in STEM. SFI collaborates with IDA to deliver our shared mission of supporting economic development. We showcase Ireland’s world class research, infrastructure and talent pipeline to clients with a view to increasing FDI and job creation. We develop key connections and support academic researchers to forge R&D partnerships with companies. We established SFI’s first international office in 2018 through placing a scientific staff member in IDA offices in California, a highly successful pilot. SFI has launched the SFI Industry RD&I Fellowship in collaboration with IDA. This programme provides companies with access to highly skilled researchers in Irish academic institutions through direct placements within the company. It’s a great opportunity to bring new scientific expertise into a company to support innovative R&D as well as seed new academic collaborations.
FOR MORE: www.sfi.ie/funding/funding-calls/sfiindustry-fellowship-programme/index.xml “Companies consistently report access to talented researchers and the opportunity to conduct cutting edge science and advance technology development.”
Academia-industry collaborations are becoming more frequent, what results do you see these collabs yielding?
Over 200 industry partnerships have been forged through the Fellowship Programme, in areas including renewable energy, smart manufacturing, and next generation medical devices. A recent survey revealed that 53% of companies participated to address specific skills gaps, while 42% wished to strengthen existing collaborations with an academic partner. Companies consistently report access to talented researchers and the opportunity to conduct cutting edge science and advance technology development as key benefits of the programme. Many Fellowships lead to a longer-term expansion of the R&D partnership and half of Fellows subsequently pursue a career in industry.
Is ireland in particular fertile ground for collaborations?
Yes, due to the significant investment made by the Irish government in developing Ireland as a world leading knowledge economy in key areas, such as lifesciences, agri-food, digital technologies, energy and sustainability and manufacturing. Much of this research excellence has been consolidated into a network SFI Research Centres, who engage in pioneering research in partnership with industry. SFI
1,000+
CURRENT COLLABORATIONS BETWEEN SFI RESEARCH CENTRES AND COMPANIES
Research Centres have engaged in over 1000 collaborations with companies and are open to new collaborations, including through the Fellowship Programme.
What is the impact of collab on the economy/reputation of ireland?
Over the last decade, the Irish academic research system in Ireland has been transformed into a highly collaborative research ecosystem. There has been significant growth in enterprise collaboration and co-funding of public research. For SFI Research Centres, every €1 invested returns €5 to the Irish economy. Furthermore, Centres have a significant impact on wider job creation. Additionally, Ireland has increased in global rankings for scientific research quality (12th) and innovation (15th overall, 1st for knowledge diffusion and impact), an achievement we are very proud of!
What are your medium and long term goals for sfi?
SFI has an ambition for Ireland to become a global innovation leader through further development of our excellent research base and talent and delivering positive benefits for Ireland. We aim to scale and evolve our enterprise facing programmes and invest in emerging areas of science and skills needed to futureproof Ireland’s knowledge economy.
