August 2008 Inter-College Technology Development Competition

Winners of an Inter-College Technology Development Competition led by NUI Galway were recently announced and presented prizes sponsored by Kernel Capital Partners. The HEA Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) project between NUI Galway, Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and University College Cork (UCC) included multidisciplinary and cross university teams working together on the commercialisation of research and technology transfer. The aim of the HEA SIF programme is to enhance the commercialisation of research and other knowledge-based activity in an academic environment. As a core component of this programme a competition was set up to improve existing entrepreneurship and innovation training programmes through the intercollegiate exchange of approaches, materials, case studies, specific events, and workshops. Ms Fiona Neary, Business Development Manager, Ignite Technology Transfer Office, NUI Galway, said: "This programme provides for the embedding of entrepreneurship education and training with technology programmes, while establishing tangible links between academic schools, incubation centres and technology transfer offices. This premise and the willingness of students to increase their business skills and become an entrepreneurially minded graduate makes this a very worthwhile national collaboration". Ms Neary added: "The expert panel judging the competition made reference to some of the technology concepts submitted having a high probability of becoming a commercial success and programmes such as this one is exactly what is needed to encourage student's to think entrepreneurially". The competition winners from each campus were: Joseph Mackle, best NUI Galway presentation from the NCBES and REMEDI Research Centres; Suzanne Cloonan, best TCD presentation; and Ken Reynolds, best UCC presentation and overall winner. ENDS