Research & Innovation

The report undertaken by Knowledge Transfer Ireland (KTI) showed that the increase in the number of external clients that engaged with research performing organisations in 2013 saw a total of 1,598 engagement agreements.

Last year alone, 37 spin-out companies were created based on intellectual property and knowledge from Irish research performing organisations while during the same period, the number of IP-based transactions between research organisations and industry, including licences, options and assignments, increased by 48pc to 139 last year.

This is the first report issued by KTI which was established last May in a partnership between Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Universities Association that also saw the creation of a web portal providing companies with access to resources from State-funded research, particularly intellectual property, facilities and equipment.

Speaking of the report, the Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation Damien English, TD, said: “I am pleased to note the increase in commercially valuable knowledge being transferred from the research system into Irish industry.

“KTI is playing an important part (in the economy’s recovery) by helping to make it easier for companies to access the knowledge, expertise and IP available within our research-performing organisations so that they may use research and innovation to drive competitive advantage and sustainable job creation.”