Boffins have to do the business

With £230 million being spent under the HEA's programme for research in third-level institutions and a further £550 million allocated to third-level research under the National Development Plan, the universities, it is argued, are awash with cash. There are fears however, that while money is being put into research and development, the vital area of technology transfer - bringing findings out of the academy and using them in the wider world - is being overlooked.

Dr Eoin O'Neill, director of innovation services at TCD's Trinity Innovation Centre, is concerned about vast amounts of money going to support research, with very little going into helping researchers develop their research into businesses. "They're putting money into new projects, but if they expect the research to benefit the community, it will require an investment of significant resources." As it stands, "there will be a lack of balance, which will mean that the process is ineffective in terms of economic development," he warns. Furthermore, unless researchers are given supports to transfer their research ideas into hard commercial enterprises, Ireland could simply end up exporting its skilled research teams - to the detriment of indigenous business creation, he says.

TCD's Innovation Centre was set up almost 15 years ago to nurture some of the college's research and transform it into viable businesses. "When we started, we were a one-man band and an empty room," O'Neill says. "We persuaded a number of academics to get involved in setting up companies and began a programme to protect and develop the college's intellectual property."

IN ORDER to qualify as a campus company, the embryonic business must be established in co-operation with a TCD staff member and have a beneficial connection with college teaching, research or expertise. Some 15 per cent of the equity share must be allocated to the college. Among the early campus companies were Authentique, which develops language-learning materials and now employs 20 people, and Nutriscan, which conducts research on nutrition and is now part of the Institute for European Food Studies Ltd. EUnet, which was founded in 1991 as a campus company, was an early provider of Internet solutions to the Irish corporate sector. Due to a lack of funding to develop the company, it was sold off - and has recently become a member of the Esat Telecom group. To date, a total of 42 campus companies have been authorised by the college - more than 20 are still in operation. Some of these are still on campus, others have migrated, while a third group has been sold off or subsumed into other companies. Iona Technologies is undoubtedly TCD's star campus company. Iona chief executive Chris Horn, a former lecturer in the computer science department, became a millionaire when the company was launched on NASDAQ in 1997.

"Iona made a huge impact," O'Neill says. "It was very visible, with a university-linked start. Its success raised the question of how often successes of this nature could occur and whether we could accelerate them." Meanwhile, space at the innovation centre was at a premium, potential companies were being turned away and the Dublin universities were discussing the setting up of a science park with strong university links. When these talks fell through, TCD identified the IDA's Pearse Street Enterprise Centre (which was being sold off) as a suitable venue into which to extend the innovation centre. The site of almost five acres is only a seven-minute walk from Westland Row and the O'Reilly Institute, which houses the Trinity Innovation Centre. "It's a logical acquisition as an extension to the campus," O'Neill comments. "We will remain true to the original purpose of the centre - to develop enterprise." The site, which was purchased last May, boasts 60 business tenants, some of which started life as campus companies. The site includes properties with a variety of leases, a number of vacant units and a development site. "We're anxious to retain the good will of the existing tenants," O'Neill notes.

TCD has developed a four-part programme which includes the management and operation of the site, the development of e-business, the refurbishment of one building as a set of incubation offices and the building of a 40,000-square-foot innovation centre.

The Innovation Centre on the main campus will remain. "From a research point of view it's important that we maintain a presence on campus and attract researchers. We have to smooth the way and encourage them to see the benefits of entrepreneurial activity."

O'Neill intends that projects developed in the Trinity Innovation Centre will feed into the Enterprise Ireland programme.

Everything, he says, has to change in the new economic climate. "The biggest change we have to effect is to persuade researchers to value their intellectual property. The traditional route has been to present it to the world via publication. But we also have to ensure that if the commercial development of research findings is to be embarked on, it is done at the same level of expertise that has been brought to the original research project." A significant - and encouraging - development in recent times is the number of new graduates and postgraduates applying for campus-company status. Some of these students are hoping to convert final-year research projects into business opportunities. This growing entrepreneurial spirit among college students is partly due to the success of role models such as Horn, and partly due to the type of encouragement research supervisors are now giving their students, O'Neill suggests. For the future, he predicts a greater role for arts and humanities researchers. "As the technology matures, the emphasis will move away from the technology itself, to what is provided by the technology," he says.

The ability to deliver university education via the Internet is set to become a vital component at third level. "We have a number of projects which are designed to deliver educational services over the web, but they are not yet at the commercial stage," he says. "Research is no longer an end in itself," O'Neill notes. "There must be a clear understanding that researchers have to ensure that the results of their research will be utilised and that they must develop implementation plans." Organisation and structures to carry the research forward are vital, he says.