University College Dublin has won a contract to create a new National Institute of Technology Management at its Belfield campus. The initiative, worth £2 million over four years, will be managed by Prof Tom Allen of the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

A similar school, which provides management training for companies which have a research dimension or use advanced technology, operates at MIT in the US. The institute has also helped establish technology management schools in Britain and Malaysia. The contract was announced yesterday and was awarded by Forbairt. All Irish universities were invited to tender for the project and UCD was successful, stated Mr Dan Flinter, chief executive of Forbairt.

The undertaking is 30 per cent funded by the European Social Fund, which will contribute £600,000 over four years. The balance of the project value is made up of resources contributed by UCD.

Research was not an optional add-on and was "something that is integral to a company's strategic management", according to the Minister of State for Science, Technology and Commerce, Mr Noel Treacy, who spoke at the announcement of the contract. "We have to bring technology management into the boardroom," he added.

The programme would include a part-time two-year M.Sc scheme and diploma courses, said Prof Gerry Byrne, who will oversee the work at UCD. Courses were primarily for people from industry whose businesses depended on the effective exploitation of technology.

The Masters programme would begin in January 1998 and 15 places would be on offer. The scheme was expected to grow to as many as 50 places a year, Prof Byrne said.

There would also be a series of executive short courses delivered by the new institute staff and visiting experts and one such course would be run before Christmas.