Dr Brian Kelly and Dr Declan Gilheany, co-founders of Celtic Catalysts
Making the leap from laboratory bench to viable commercial enterprise requires an innovative idea, business expertise and financial backing. Celtic Catalysts, a UCD campus spin-off company, has realised the commercial potential of novel synthetic strategies developed in the UCD School of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, which can be scaled up efficiently for industrial use.
The story of Celtic Catalysts began in 1999 when Dr Brian Kelly and his then PhD supervisor, Dr Declan Gilheany, recognised the commercial potential of their research and took part in the NovaUCD Campus Company Development Programme. Located on campus, Celtic Catalysts now employs five staff and has a business development office in NovaUCD, while research and development are carried out in the UCD School of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.
According to Dr Declan Gilheany, Senior Lecturer in organic chemistry at UCD and a CSCB and UCD Conway Investigator, bridging the gap from academic research to the creation of a successful business involved putting in place a management team “comprising business and finance experts as well as researchers”. In 2004 Brian Elliott joined the company as CEO, brining with him over 25 years of senior management experience.
Support with business start-up came from NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at UCD. “Celtic Catalysts is an excellent example of a campus success story, where scientists took risks to make the transition from academia to business. The company has already expanded its management team and secured significant funding and licensing deals”, says Micéal Whelan of NovaUCD.
According to Dr Gilheany, Celtic Catalysts are now looking to the future and to the next phase of development, with further investment and new contracts in the pipeline with multinational companies. The company has recently received €1 million in grants from national and European sources.
