The advisory council on science offers a road map for companies and researchers who want to link up, writes Dick Ahlstrom.
Ireland's universities and institutes of technology have stepped up their research activity in response to increased Government spending, but will the discoveries being made produce jobs and wealth for the country? The new Advisory Council for Science, Technology and Innovation hopes so and has put together a "road map" showing how research innovation can safely be linked to enterprise.
The council, which replaced the Irish Council for Science, Technology and Innovation, will tomorrow launch a guide that should help the third-level and companies join together to bring commercial discoveries to market. Its National Code of Practice for Managing and Commercialising Intellectual Property from Public-Private Collaborative Research will be available for free in printed form and also on the Forfás website (www.forfas.ie) said the council's Ena Prosser.
Dr Prosser chaired a task force set up by the council to put together this and an earlier document on commercialising intellectual property arising from public sector funded research. The goal is to help the two sides, academic researcher and company, through the negotiation process so it can lead to discoveries reaching the marketplace. "It is aimed at the universities and the companies to offer a road map of how to do it," explains Prosser. "Every time there is a technology transfer from a university to a company there are negotiations. What we are trying to do is focus on the three or four most important things that need to be dealt with."
The code looks in particular at collaborative research between the two parties, and a key to success is to ensure the negotiations are conducted before any research actually begins, she says.
An essential element is "balance" with both sides happy with how the research will be done and how the resultant intellectual property (IP) will be shared.
"You have to draw up the rules of engagement between the two. A lot of the negotiation is about bringing the two parties to a common ground," she says. But there are certain aspects that are common to all transactions of this kind, Prosser says.
The council's goal in this was to show the two parties how this could be done, making the process less difficult. The document itself was drawn up in collaboration with academics, university officials, venture capital funders, companies and other stakeholders in the process.
It represents a distillation of experience and expertise and describes a planned rather than haphazard approach to collaborative ventures.
"The idea is to say, let's sit down and plan for success and not be surprised when it happens," says Prosser. "It really represents a coming together of people who are sharing a common purpose."