ANALYSIS: The Republic's startling growth has been uneven. The regions played catch- up right through the boom - now that growth is less frenetic, the task will be even harder.

It's critical for lagging regions to buy into areas of future growth now. The slow but steady move to form stronger relationships between academic research programmes and the market is an excellent place to start.

The commercialisation of academic research is in full flight in the US, and the Republic is taking its first tentative steps in pursuit. It is logical that increased State funding to third-level research projects under the National Development Plan will herald calls for measurable dividends in terms of new businesses, technology transfer and jobs.

Third-level institutions are already starting to deliver, albeit on a small scale. Unfortunately, the pattern of city-centric growth is repeating itself. The Infomatics Research Initiative has helped to bring a number of academic research programmes to the start-up stage.

Changing World (UCD), Havoc (TCD) and Aliop (DCU) are all companies that have grown out of State-propelled interface between university research projects and identified market needs. So far, every success story on the Infomatics Research Initiative has been in the east of the country.

Meanwhile, regions like the south-east continue to experience sluggish growth, a brain drain to the east (47 per cent of graduates from the south-east left the region in 2000) and an over-reliance on traditional manufacturing and agriculture.

National Infomatics director Ms Jennifer Condon stands over the relation between commercialised research and local economic development.

"Companies do come directly out of commercial research. I strongly believe that if the right funding and support is in place we can drag the good technology out into the market place. We are anxious to ensure that this development is not Dublin-centric, but we need applications to come from a wider selection of applicants. Of the 35 proposals currently in the evaluation stage, only four come from beyond the university sector."

Third-level education is already playing a major role in the south-east but can and should do more. Is our lack of a university holding us back, or can the institutes of technology rise to this challenge?

The conditions for growth look good on paper. The south-east is a compact region, with a balanced population spread and a recognised urban centre. The region's institutes of technology - Carlow, Waterford and Tipperary - produce graduates that measure up to the best in the State. The missing link is effective collaboration between researchers in third-level institutions and regional commercial interests, especially in the SME sector.

If regional indigenous SMEs are to position themselves higher in the value chain, they need access to a continual source of relevant research. While large companies have the resources to carry out such research, SMEs need partnerships to thrive.

To avoid developing a core-periphery dynamic in the south-east, we need to look to our strengths. It is hard to point to a robust regional economy anywhere that is not buoyed up by a major research university.

Our third-level educational institutes need to turn their eyes to the marketplace and take advantage of available funding and support. We need to put strong management structures in place and ensure that our researchers can benefit from successful projects.

SMEs need to approach the sector with well-researched and market-justified proposals.

Most importantly, Government agencies must focus their attention on the south-east, and indeed on all the lagging regions, to provide the mechanics of successful academic-commercial collaboration. These mechanics include the tailoring of legislation to enable technology transfer (e.g. Freedom of Information exemptions and intellectual property protection), the matching of suitable partners in industry and education, grants for the formation of campus companies, and advice on regulatory requirements.

Third-level institutions have nothing to fear from commercial collaboration, if it is handled correctly. In the US, responsibility for maintaining standards of integrity and protecting public interest has been rightly left to the academics.

Prof Kieran Byrne is director of the Waterford Institute of Technology