Case study: Bioplastech

KEVIN O’Connor set up his high-tech plastics recycling company Bioplastech in 2009. O’Connor teaches in the School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science at University College Dublin. He had previously taken part in the College’s Nova Campus Company Development Programme, which helps academic entrepreneurs turn bright ideas into businesses.

O’Connor’s technology converts used plastics into a new biodegradable plastic product using a combination of chemistry and bacteria to create a biodegradable polymer. The original plan was for Bioplastech to join with an industrial partner to take the business to the next stage. The company’s partner fell victim to the recession and O’Connor is now trying to raise a substantial amount of venture capital to fund the next stage.

“I would really like to keep the project in Ireland. It has the potential to employ around 50 people directly here and also to generate significant revenues from licensing the technology around the world.”

O’Connor needs several million euro to build a refining plant in Ireland and is in talks with US venture capital funds to secure the money. “The scale of the project seems to be too big for Irish investors and while I have been offered some funding [in Ireland] it falls well short of what’s required,” he says.

“There is a bigger network of potential sources of cash in the US, they are less risk averse and more prepared to see things over a longer term. They also make connections within their investment portfolio and see my company as forming part of an integrated solution to waste management.”

The most disappointing aspect of trying to get his business off the ground in Ireland has been short-term thinking. People want you to set up, be very successful and sell it within three years and make a killing. That’s not how something like this works. You’re looking at a five- to seven-year scenario. There is also a culture here that doesnt like failure.

“There’s a lot of talk here about building a smart, green economy but unless people are prepared to put the money behind it, it’s not going to happen. There is a view that you should be able to set up an enterprise like this on a shoestring when what’s needed is scale of investment that gets you to market quickly. I am fighting very hard not to move this company State-side.”

Kevin O’Connor on the difficulties of securing large-scale investment in Ireland