Business and colleges to formalise links

Industry representatives and academics have joined forces to encourage more joint research activity and to create a framework that could attract State and EU support for these projects.

Forfas, the Irish Research Development Group (IRDG) - the IBEC-linked body which speaks for companies involved in research - and university representatives have been meeting for some weeks.

This committee hopes to agree a document which will be used to formalise links between the third level sector and business, says the committee's chairman, Dr Dick Kavanagh, who heads the IRDG.

The document's working title is Developing Research Partnerships between Industry and Colleges, A Guide to Best Practice. The committee plans a September launch with possible pilot projects underway early next year, Dr Kavanagh said.

"The aim essentially is to give a view of what collaboration between two partners is all about," he said. "If we set up a system, industry will know what to do and where to go for expertise."

The document would set out all of the ground rules for joining in a variety of partnerships. Both sides of the equation would know what was expected, what intellectual property rights they retained, how royalties would work and how a project should be managed.

"It is to make certain that both partners know exactly what is involved."

There is a growing need for such a framework, Dr Kavanagh told The Irish Times. The current EU research budget runs out at the end of 1999 and a new regime will apply after that date. Spending will be much more targeted and there will be a greater requirement for co-operative, near-to-market research initiatives.

Dr Kavanagh also perceived a change in Irish companies towards R&D. "Industry is gearing up on R&D. It is getting quite natural for firms to get involved in research." The best place to look for research back-up, he added, is in the colleges.

The returns are also there, he believed, including "new products, new processes, better science and technology in the companies, increased revenues, jobs and the optimal use of resources".

The colleges have responded very positively and would be keen to see better co-operation with industry, according to the dean of research at Dublin City University, Dr Conor Long, who is also a committee member. "I think it is a great idea. There has been a certain division between industry and academic researchers," he stated. The heads of universities representative group, CHIU, is also supporting the initiative.

Industry and academia traditionally take a very different approach to research. There are often conflicting motives involved and distinct views on the results of the research. "What the research partnerships will do is frame an agreed approach and everybody will be aware of the limitations. It is really clarification," Dr Long said. "It would at least say to the academics that industry is serious about getting involved in research." The key to a successful launch of the initiative, according to Dr Kavanagh, is the backing of government and the EU, translated into funding. "Industry wants collaboration to be put on a firm financial basis," he said. "This is what we need for the future."

The committee has been in discussions with the Office of Science and Technology within the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and Forfas has a representative on the committee. "We understand that Forfas and the OST are moving in the same direction," Dr Kavanagh said, although actual backing has yet to be announced. "It could start on a pilot basis between now and 1999 but it would be important to have it in place by the end of the current [EU science] budget by 2000."

With or without support, the guide will be launched this autumn, at the beginning of the new academic year. "We see this as the beginning of a long road," stated Dr Kavanagh. "This isn't a once-off thing."