I recently attended a new course run by SFI at the Ryan Academy on training scientists to setup new businesses. Whilst the majority of the interest is inspin outs it did get me thinking about business ideas and how to translate research expertise into viable companies. Having completed a number of projects with commercial interests I do have a decent insight into how the world of industry works. However, this has normally been in the context of much larger well established firms. Typically projects are of a collaborative nature where the company does not necessarily see any conflict between the work they are asking the researcher to do and their core business. Ireland at the moment is in a good position to expand its biotech and software development business. Despite all the bad news in the press many large companies are still moving jobs here. The problem for Ireland is that these are normally foreign firms without a vested interest in the country and therefore the long term stability of employment is still under question since these firms can easily relocate. The challenge therefore for Irish Researchers is how to generate an indigenous research and development industry. What I learned from this course is that perhaps now is the time to be trying to do just that if you are a young researcher. The money seems to be available, wages are low after all the pay cuts everyone has been taking and the opportunities are still there. Hopefully, we will see a number of firms starting up capitalising on the large pool of talented Irish researchers who will now have an opportunity to work in Ireland. There is a new call for proposals under the scheme. Applicants should contact their Technology Transfer Offices and start planning the next stage of their commercialisation process.

Round up of the course from DCU's Gordon ?McConnell.