Record Number of Collaborative Agreements Signed Between Industry and Researchers in 2015
Research by Knowledge Transfer Ireland found that 748 collaborative new research agreements between research performing organisations and industry were signed in 2015, a record number, according to a November 18 report by Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. This was an increase of 16% over 2014.
Results of the Annual Knowledge Transfer Survey, which tracks activity between the commercial sector and Ireland’s research performing organisations, found that in 2015, 65% of collaboration agreements signed by Research Performing Organisations were with Irish companies and that there were 1,235 live collaborative research programmes involving Research Performing Organisations underway at year end.
A panel of experts from a range of companies and from the Irish research base addressed an audience of over 200 industry and technology transfer professionals at the KTI conference on Friday, November 18.
“Knowledge Transfer continues to grow in Ireland. The latest figures around collaborative research – just one aspect of knowledge transfer – are testament to that. We have also seen encouraging growth in the transfer of intellectual property to companies through licensing agreements.” Director of Knowledge Transfer Ireland, Dr Alison Campbell said at the conference, “We now have 34 globally accredited Registered Technology Transfer Professionals (RTTP) in our universities and Institutes of Technology – the highest number of RTTP per capita in the world. Today is about bringing together the knowledge transfer community and industry experts from around the country to highlight the simplest routes to access researcher knowledge and share best practice.”
