Gabriel Crean argues institutes must give researchers more time to work in the private sector and to establish start-ups, writes Jamie Smyth

Universities  and research institutes must put in place better reward structures for researchers and encourage a "Silicon Valley" model of networking to promote innovation. Researchers also need more time off their studies to work in private industry and establish innovative start-up companies. These are just some of the views of the director of the National Microelectronics Research Centre, Prof Gabriel Crean.

Prof Crean, who was appointed to lead the research centre in 1999, says the Irish education community needs to learn from US colleges such as Stanford, which allow academics and researchers "tremendous freedom" to work as consultants to private industry.

"To create an innovative environment is very difficult. It's not only the people or the research environment, it's also the chemistry that is important. People must be rewarded for work they have done," Prof Crean told The Irish Times in an interview.

"We are some years behind in our efforts to innovate and are lagging the US," he said. "But there have been positive signs recently, with the creation of incubation centres at some universities."

The centre of which he is director carries out research in advanced information and communications technologies at its Cork base and recently introduced several new policies to promote an entrepreneurial culture. These include a staff equity participation scheme and a programme to promote the commercial use of the institute's patented intellectual property technology.

"We think it [our staff equity scheme\] is unique to research establishments in Ireland and the UK. It will enable all staff, from receptionists to managers, to participate in the success and the technology transfer of spin-off firms from the centre," said Prof Crean.

The programme gives staff a 50 per cent stake in the equity of spin-off firms from the centre. Staff would realise gains if a spin-off firm successfully floated on the stock market or was bought by another company.

"This helps retention of staff and will stop staff attrition," says Prof Crean. "We have a number of fledgling firms, which are bubbling up, and there is interest in the venture capital community."

As well as spinning off new firms, the research centre also licences its technology to multinationals and other start-ups.

"The centre put some of its intellectual property into Eblana, a photonics company spun out of TCD. We took an equity stake in the company in return. It's a win-win for both parties," said Prof Crean.

These initiatives with start-up firms reflect a changed emphasis within the National Microelectronic Research Centre to support the indigenous sector as much it supports the Republic's burgeoning multinational sector. This should be bolstered by the higher levels of funding available for research and development in the Republic. The centre will apply for part of a €1 billion European Union grant programme available next year.

"Our initial remit was to support industry in the 1980s and there was substantial transfer of intellectual property to multinational companies in the Republic," says Prof Crean. "We worked in partnership with IDA Ireland to help embed these firms in the Irish industrial landscape."

Today, 21 of the top 30 information and communications technology firms have an Irish base, reflecting the success of this model, according to the director.

The centre has registered more than 50 patents based on its research and licensed technology to international companies, such as semiconductor firms Analog Devices and Power Innovations.

It also has a number of joint development projects with the private sector and is teamed with IBM's research laboratory in Zurich.

"It is very important that the centre is not seen at the periphery of Europe," says Prof Crean. "Technology must be world-class."

But the focus of research should now switch to the indigenous sector, according to Mr Crean.

"Ireland must build its own indigenous industry and this must be built on its own world-class technology. . . I personally think it won't work if we adopt a scattergun approach. We need centres of excellence."

The centre is focusing on several key technology areas including photonics, nanotechnology, microelectronics and the life sciences. It will also follow more long-term research projects as opposed to short-term, three-year projects, says Prof Crean.

This emphasis on indigenous research and the creation of innovative new firms should create a clustering effect and persuade multinationals to invest, according to Prof Crean.

"The traditional offering of low taxes, a skilled workforce and business-friendly environment is no longer enough. The key factor for the future is the availability of a dynamic R&D infrastructure and knowledge bases."

The centre's research in semiconductor design was one of several factors that persuaded a number of chip-design firms, such as Motorola, Cyprus Semiconductor, Analog Devices and Xilinx, to locate in Cork.

Research institutes should also be selective in the areas they choose to research.

"We must aim our research at the areas where there are scientific and technological bottlenecks that, if we get them solved, then it would have a tremendous impact on future industry."