Dr Pat Frain, Director, NovaUCD
The number of spin-out companies from Irish higher-education institutions increased by 250 per cent in 2009, according to new figures from the Irish Universities Association (IUA).
These figures correlate with NovaUCD’s report for 2009 which has just been published. Seven companies were spun out of NovaUCD during the year, bringing to 13 the number of spin-out companies established since 2005. The seven companies are: Aremon, BioPlastech, Capstan Healthcare, Crop Research, Darius Medical, Equinome and Future Buildings Consulting.
One of these new companies, Equinome, recently announced the launch of a breakthrough genetic test that can identify the optimum racing distance for individual thoroughbred horses which has the potential to transform the decision-making processes in the global bloodstock industry.
NovaUCD is responsible for the commercialisation of intellectual property arising from UCD's research programmes and saw inventions grow to 85 for 2009, 60 per cent more than in 2008, when 53 inventions were disclosed. In addition, 47 patent applications were filed during the year, up 25 per cent on 2008.
“Looking to the future we should recognise that the conversion to licence deals, new companies and much-needed employment takes time, and one major issue is the need to ensure that early-stage campus companies have access to finance,” said Dr Pat Frain, Director, NovaUCD.
The IUA data shows 35 companies were created directly from research in Irish academic institutes last year, compared to 10 in 2008. About half of these are in the information technology sector, and half are in the bioscience or food areas. The IUA’s figures also show a trebling of licensing activity last year, where new technologies or processes created by campus-based research teams are licensed to outside third parties. There were 102 licensing deals last year, compared with 33 in 2008.
The data covers 10 Irish academic institutions: UCD, UCC, UL, TCD, NUI Galway, NUI Maynooth, DCU, Waterford Institute of Technology, Dublin Institute of Technology and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
According to the IUA, the research funding needed to create a campus spin-out totals about €20 million per company. It claimed this compares favourably with the UK (€30 million) and the US (€50 million).
