InterTradeIreland 

Queen's University Belfast

Queen's University is unique. A leader in innovation, research and education, it inspires its students - the leaders of tomorrow - to realise their full potential.

Sited in Belfast, one of Europe's friendliest and most fashionable regional capitals, Queen's celebrated its Centenary in 2008 - marking one hundred years as a university in its own right.

Queen's has a tradition of excellence, on which it continues to build to enhance its standing as an international leader in higher education.

A member of the Russell Group, the UK's 20 leading research-intensive universities, Queen's is implementing an ambitious Corporate Plan under which it is investing £259 million in staff, students and facilities.

The University actively seeks high-calibre researchers from around the globe to join it in delivering a research and education portfolio that is competitive with the best in the world.

In recent years it has emerged as a major player on the international scene in areas ranging from cancer studies to climate change, from wireless technology to poetry and from pharmaceuticals to sonic arts.

Queen's staff and students are its greatest strength. Its staff are the researchers and teachers who contribute to the University's academic reputation and motivate successive generations of graduates to make their mark in many spheres of life.

University College Dublin UCD

NovaUCD is the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at University College Dublin. Officially opened in October 2003, NovaUCD's vision is to become an international leader in the commercialisation of research and other knowledge-intensive activity for the benefit of the economy and society.

NovaUCD is responsible for the implementation of UCD policies relating to intellectual property (IP) and for the provision of advice on the identification, protection and exploitation of this IP.

NovaUCD works with UCD researchers in identifying the most appropriate business model for the commercialisation of the IP which may involve licensing to commercial partners or the creation of spin-out companies.

NovaUCD provides entrepreneurs and knowledge-based start-up companies with a comprehensive business support programme comprising advice, seminars, consultancy, workshops and individual training. NovaUCD also provides incubation and other related facilities for entrepreneurs, campus companies and knowledge-based ventures.

In addition NovaUCD is the main point of contact for companies seeking partners for collaborative research and advice on licensing and other commercial opportunities and is responsible for the development of co-operation with industry and business.

National University of Ireland, Galway NUI

Welcome to the Centre for Innovation and Structural Change (CISC).

CISC is an inter-disciplinary research institute, based at NUI Galway, focused on building an internationally-recognised programme of research and education on innovation processes and policies that are fundamental to the development of a knowledge-based economy.

Set up in 2002, CISC was initially awarded competitive funding under the third Irish Government's Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI 3) and has been awarded significant additional competitive funding both nationally and internationally since.

CISC is an umbrella research institute, offering a common ground where people from different disciplines and backgrounds can meet and debate, where they can consider processes and issues from different perspectives.

Innovation happens at cross-over points, where management meets marketing, where economics meets law, where geography meets information systems. CISC provides a forum for the formal and informal interactions necessary to enable an interdisciplinary community of researchers to flourish.

The exchange of ideas and the challenging of knowledge generate an intellectual energy and a spirit of enquiry. This collaborative environment fosters new approaches from which, through hard work, new knowledge is created.  The synergy generated aligns best practice in innovation research with current policy thinking and the research output helps to inform future policy-making.

University College Cork

University College Cork is one of Ireland’s most prestigious universities and is among the elite top two per cent of universities worldwide. Ranked 181 out of 200 in the world, UCC is the Sunday Times Irish University of the Year, 2011-2012, and has recently achieved the distinction of becoming Ireland’s first, and only, five star university.  The College of Business and Law incorporates the Faculties of Commerce and Law and is one of the four Colleges of the University. Through the programmes run under the auspices of the Commerce and Law Faculties the College of Business and Law continues to attract the highest aggregate number of talented students in UCC. Accordingly, students experience a vibrant university and college life, where the emphasis is on research led teaching and the provision of programmes and courses which prepare students for a globalised, sophisticated business and legal environment.

UCC has an international reputation for the innovation and quality of its research that makes the university one of Ireland’s highest earners from research revenue. UCC is home to a number of Ireland’s most prestigious research centres including: the Tyndall National Institute; the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre; BioSciences Research Institute, the Environmental Research Centre; and the National Centre for Research in Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL). UCC is also at the leading edge of commercialisation and technology transfer through its designated technology transfer unit.  Together with embracing the third academic mission, UCC has an educational suite of programmes within the associated disciplines of innovation management and entrepreneurship, designed to create the industry leaders of tomorrow and promote research within the areas.