Third Level Institutes

FUSION creates the opportunity to :

• work directly with industry
• Establish long term strategic linkages with industry
• Publish research papers
• Apply and enhance industry-based research and teaching
• Provide ideas for undergraduate and postgraduate student projects
• Use case studies as teaching material
• Place year out and summer students
• Demonstrate and promote specialisms and expertise
• Provide guest lectures from company personnel

Support

FUSION offers a support package worth £25,250/€ for an eighteen month project. This includes £18,750/€23,440 for academic support, £4,500/€5,625 for travel and subsistence and £2,000/€2,500 towards the costs of preparing a FUSION application form.

Eligibility

FUSION is open to academics from third-level institutes and research centres:

• On the island, either Northern Ireland or Ireland
• With the necessary expertise required by a partner company
• Which understand the value of effective technology and knowledge transfer into companies
• Have the capacity to develop and sustain effective cross-border partnerships with companies

To find out how FUSION can help your University or College, download the brochure here
or contact Catherine Mc Caughey on 028 3026 0700 (048 from Ireland).

How FUSION works:

 A FUSION project is initiated by a company with a particular technological need requiring the support and expertise of a third level institute. An InterTradeIreland appointed consultant will assist the company to identify the necessary expertise from an appropriate university or college. On agreement with both the company and the university/college, a partnership is formed. The academic support that you will provide will be key to the success of the project.

The partnership will:

• Be cross-border (the company and third level institute from opposite jurisdictions)
• Submit a joint application for support from InterTradeIreland to carry out an innovative and collaborative technology transfer project
• Recruit a relevant graduate who will work in the company to drive the project forward and to operate as a conduit for knowledge and technology transfer from the university/college into the company
• Be three-way between the academic, the company and the graduate where you will provide an agreed level of input to and support for the project

Tim Brundle, Director of Innovation at the University of Ulster

"FUSION is probably the most efficient and effective mechanism for knowledge exchange in western Europe. One of the most exciting aspects of the programme is that it facilitates the knowledge exchange between industry and academia in a very efficient way. It brings the best ideas together with the best brains, together with the greatest need for innovation solutions - that's why it has been so successful across Ireland"