The UCD College of Engineering, Mathematical and Physical Science recently hosted an innovation day. The day formed part of the University and College’s strategy to support the Government mission of a knowledge economy, through education, research, development and innovation. The day was developed in a bid to bolster internal discussion within UCD and to provide a forum in which both EMPS and UCD colleagues from different academic disciplines could share their experiences of creating intellectual property with commercial value in the form of licenses and patents as well as establishing commercial enterprises. Prof. Dieter Spath of the Fraunhofer Institute Stuttgart, introduced by UCD President, Dr. Hugh Brady, gave the keynote speech of the day. Professor Spath, related the experiences and learnings regarding innovation and commercialisation gained within the Fraunhofer Institute.
In welcoming Prof. Spath, the President highlighted the importance of innovation and technology transfer, particularly in the current economic climate. UCD, he stated, had a national responsibility to develop the Smart Economy which could be achieved through nurturing the ingenuity of our students, ensuring that graduates are equipped with the skills to operate and thrive in the competitive global market, and creating job opportunities for our students in the future.
The event was attended by colleagues from UCD and TCD – on foot of the recently announced UCD / TCD Innovation Alliance – as well as representatives from Science Foundation Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland the Environmental Protection Agency and some of UCD spin off success stories such as BiancaMed.
Prof. Spath, in giving his talk on Innovation Process and the Fraunhofer Experience, shared his experiences and his views on innovation, as Director of the Institute for Industrial engineering (IAO – which is one of the institutes within the Fraunhofer Society). The Fraunhofer Society is Germany’s leading organisation of applied research. It operates 80 research units including 40 Fraunhofer Institutes at over 40 different locations in Germany. The IAO has successfully co-operated with industry for more than 25 years working with small to medium sized enterprises as well as enterprises operating on an international scale.
Academics from within EMPS also gave talks on the day including; Prof. John Walsh, Dr. David Browne and Prof. Suzi Jarvis, from Geology, Mechanical Engineering and Physics respectively, who talked about their experiences of creating valuable IP in the form of licenses and patents. Dr Damian Dalton and Dr Redmond Shouldice also gave a talk on how research within the UCD School of Computer Science and Informatics and the UCD School of Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering led to the creating of two spin-out companies.
The day received positive acclaim from both participants and guests. It is intended to host further innovation days throughout the upcoming academic year. Professor Nick Quirke, pleased with the success of the day stated that “We at UCD are determined in that the innovative collaborations between UCD and industry will drive changes in the economy and establish Ireland as a centre for research and innovation. The academic staff from EMPS have an enormous talent for educating their undergraduate and graduate students to such an advanced technical level, that their students create successful commercial enterprises from this knowledge to such an extent that the academic progenitor can be regarded as having helped to create an industry sector. These are just some of the stories which we wish to highlight going forward as well as showcasing the EMPS research successes.”
