Dr Pat Frain, Director, NovaUCD
NovaUCD has reported a 35 per cent increase in UCD invention disclosures in its 2007 Annual Report. UCD researchers submitted 50 invention disclosures during 2007, an increase of 35 per cent compared to 2006 and a 120 per cent increase on the number reported two years ago.
Launching the NovaUCD 2007 Report, Dr Pat Frain, Director, said, “The continuing growth in commercial activity at UCD, with increasing numbers of invention disclosures, is indicative of the growing commitment of UCD and its researchers to the commercialisation of UCD research-generated intellectual property for the benefit of the Irish economy and society.”
In 2007, 26 patent applications including 9 priority patent applications, 9 PCT (patent co-operation treaty) applications and 8 national/regional patent applications were filed by UCD for intellectual property arising from research in life science, engineering and information and communication technology.
Eight licence agreements were also concluded with a range of indigenous and international companies and four new innovative spin-out companies were incorporated. A total of 130 companies and 190 individuals have now completed NovaUCD’s Campus Company Development Programme which has run annually since 1996 and former participants now collectively employ over 675 people.
Dr Frain added, “Given the significant expansion of NovaUCD’s technology transfer team during the year with the support of Enterprise Ireland, this growth in commercial activity at UCD is likely to be accelerated in the years ahead.”
Twenty-three innovative new ventures, occupying 37 incubation units, or nearly 90 per cent of the available incubation space, are currently located in NovaUCD. Nine companies have already graduated from NovaUCD and moved on to new premises. An important element of NovaUCD’s strategy is to continuously refresh its community of entrepreneurs and to have the capacity at all times to take on new projects.
