The KT Boost programme will uphold offices in universities across Ireland to boost the sharing of information and ‘bring more Irish ingenuity to the world’.
A four-year funding programme has been launched to better the commercialisation of research projects and better Ireland’s knowledge transfer sector.
The €33.4m fund – called KT Boost – was announced today (7 December) by Enterprise Ireland and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Simon Coveney, TD. The programme is designed to help Irish universities and technological universities (TUs).
KT Boost will furnish resources to innovation offices and technology transfer offices across Irish higher education institutes to uphold the sharing of information from Irish research.
It is hoped that the increased funding will ensure these offices have the right staff with the right skills to boost research commercialisation in Irish universities. The specialists funded by this programme will also uphold activities such as IP management, prospective licensing and the creation of university spin-outs.
Speaking at the launch in Dublin’s Hyatt Centric Hotel, Coveney said Ireland has a strong global reputation for its capabilities in research, innovation and knowledge transfer.
“In this continuously changing environment, it is important that we match the pace of change and preserve our position of implementing best practice in knowledge transfer,” Coveney said.
“Designed to make the most of Ireland’s significant investment in high-performance research at university level, KT Boost will advance build on that success to drive research commercialisation and bring more Irish ingenuity to the world.”
The programme is being administered by Enterprise Ireland and is co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Regional Development Fund.
Marina Donohoe, Enterprise Ireland’s head of research and innovation, said the programme will build on existing supports to maximise the impact of Ireland’s research system.
“It will uphold innovators and researchers to probe, establish and progress new ideas, accelerating the development of innovation capability in Irish enterprise across all regions,” Donohoe said.
In 2018, a report by Knowledge Transfer Ireland showed that the continued effort to commercialise research was yielding great results. The report showed that because of the knowledge transfer system, more jobs, companies and products were being introduced.
Earlier this year, Imelda Lampkin of Enterprise Ireland spoke to SiliconRepublic.com about the current state of the knowledge transfer system in Ireland.
“Over the past decade Ireland’s knowledge transfer system has reached real maturity, with highly qualified professionals across the higher education institutions acting as a key local and national resource,” Lampkin said.
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Simon Coveney, TD, in 2018. Image: Chatham House via Flickr (CC by 2.0)
