The Link Newsletter _Issue 4 Summer 2009

8/14/2019 The Link Newsletter _Issue 4 Summer 2009

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regional development centre

issue Four summer2009

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A SharedVision at RDC

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Great care has been taken to ensure that this inormation is accurate,but the Regional Development Centre, including its subsidiaries does notaccept responsibility or liability or errors or inormation which is ound

to be misleading.

Written & edited by Brian Skelly, The Write Business, + 353 86 857-5829

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t | +353 42 9331161 F | +353 42 9331163

W | www.. e | @.

The Regional Development Centre (RDC) is a centre to promoteinnovation, technology transer and enterprise in the wider region and is

based on the DkIT Campus.

Dundalk Institute o Technology to lead2.5m project to create 90

sustainable jobs in SME sector

Dundalk Institute o Technology (DkIT)

is to lead a three-year project that will

create 90 sustainable jobs in small and

medium enterprises (SMEs) in border

communities in the Republic o Ireland,

Northern Ireland and western Scotland.

The project, called ICE (Innovation or

Competitive Enterprise), will see the

Regional Development Centre at DkIT

partnering with the University o Ulster,

University o Glasgow and GlasgowCaledonian and has been allocated2.48

million in unding by Interreg IVA, the

cross-border co-operation programme

managed by the Special EU Programmes

Body (SEUPB).

The initiative will concentrate on

counties Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Louth,

Monaghan and Sligo in the Republic,

all o Northern Ireland, and western

Scotland.

Focused on skills development in a

network across the three areas involved,

ICE will work with 90 companies in an

intensive innovation programme aimed

at increasing turnover in participating

companies by at

least 10

per cent.

It is also

intended

that

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For urther inormation on Innovation or

Competitive Enterprise (ICE), contact the

Regional Development Centre at Dundalk

Institute o Technology on (042) 937 0413.

Small and medium enterprises

have tremendous potential to

help lay the oundations or

economic recovery

an average o three people rom

each company will be involved in

the innovation process so that the

programme reaches 270 individuals.

In total, 270 companies will attend 27

inormation sessions to be held

between now and 2011 with 135 o

these to undergo an innovation audit

to measure progress.

Irene McCausland, External ServicesManager, DkIT said ICE was a timely

and relevant initiative in the current

economic climate. Small and medium

enterprises have tremendous potential

to help lay the oundations or economic

recovery and this is especially true

in the border region as well as in

Northern Ireland and western Scotland

where there is an established culture

o entrepreneurship. Their business

prospects will improve as they gain a

competitive edge by innovating across

all their operations.

The businesses that participate in

this programme over the next three

years will be acilitated in introducing

new or radically changed products and

services as well as internal processes and

changed business models. In addition,

we will work with them on opening new

market segments or niches, she added.

The approach will be very

much one o learning by

doing and the role o

this Institute and our

partners at partners at

University o Glasgow,

Glasgow Caledonian

and University o Ulster

will be one o upporting

companies to grow a own

in-house skills and build an

innovation culture. With day-

to-day pressures taking

precedence, there can be a

particular issue or smaller

companies in nding

the time and resources to

engage in innovation but it is only

by innovating that they can hope to

survive and prosper."

Enterprise 3LINK

Issue

4

ontents Foreword

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3/7

LINK

Issue

4

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A product design company

that has appeared on

Dragons Den is the latest

graduate o the Regional

Development Centres

Novation EPP programme to

make a name or itsel.

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Getting access to nance in a cash-

strapped economy is not easy so Dundalk

Credit Union has launched a new scheme

that it hopes will encourage budding

student and graduate entrepreneurs.

The Credit Union, which is celebrating

its 40th year in business, has created the

Dundalk Credit Union Student Innovation

Fund at DkIT to mark its anniversary and

to give something back to the community

o which it has been a part or our

decades.

The 15,000 und is the rst o its kind

in Ireland. Its aim is to provide essential

unding or third-level student projects

that show potential or commercial

success. It will go towards marketing,

prototyping and other related costs or

approved projects.

The und was launched by the Minister

or Justice Equality and Law Reorm,

Dermot Ahern TD, at the Dundalk Credit

Union oce. Speaking at the launch,

Minister Ahern commented, This

most welcome and positive initiative by

Dundalk Credit Union the rst o its

kind in the country should serve as a

template or other organisations and

Institutes to replicate.

Billy Doyle, General Manager o Dundalk

Credit Union, expressed his Boards

delight at being able to support student

enterprise at DkIT.

This is a novel idea which we believe will

result in many more students exploring

new venture creation and ultimately sel

employment something badly needed

in these challenging times. As part o

our 40th birthday celebrations we are

delighted to be able to make this positive

and meaningul nancial commitment to

both DkIT and Dundalk itsel.

With the downturn in the economy,

the concept o sel-employment is now

becoming a real career option or third-

level graduates, noted Sean MacEntee,

Incubation Centre Manager, Dundalk

Institute o Technology, at the launch.

To be considered or unding, an

applicant will need to show some

evidence that a market exists or the

product or service being promoted. To

apply or unding support, students must

be in ull-time attendance on one o

DkITs undergraduate or postgraduate

courses. The Regional Development

Centre in DkIT will administer the und

and signicant interest is anticipated.

The Dundalk Credit Union Student Innovation

Fund will open in September 2009. Applications

orms are available rom Garrett Duy

([email protected])

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Enterprisenterprise

Ronan Woods o Sourcing

Product Design

Pictured, rom let: Jim Kelly, Chairman, Dundalk Credit Union; Karen Doherty, student; Billy

Doyle, CEO, Dundalk CU; Sean MacEntee, Incubation Centre Manager, DkIT; Dermot Ahern

TD, Minister or Justice; Ronan Lynch, Student Enterprise Intern, DkIT; Tom D'Arcy, Treasurer,

Dundalk CU: and Colm McElarney, student


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Issue

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7

Creating a space where research and enterprise can work together or the beneft o both is a

key part o the Regional Development Centres mission

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the rate o imaging or the device to

be really useul to the team. So began

a remarkable, symbiotic development

partnership between Andor and the

SMRC which has lasted to this day.

There are a number o aspects to the

partnership. One is that the SMRC tests

new equipment and provides eedback to

Andor in eect becoming a beta testingsite or its latest technology. Another is

that the SMRC uses Andor technology

in its experiments and publishes papers

supported by data obtained using this

equipment. Thirdly, the SMRC acts

as a demonstration acility or Andor

equipment, which means that potential

Andor customers can come to the SMRC

and try out the equipment or themselves.

Finally, using Andor technology the

SMRC oers a variety o services to

pharmaceutical companies.

I a biopharma rm has a candidate

drug at the pre-clinical stage and they

have dont have the expertise to do these

experiments, we can do it or them,

notes Hollywood.

Five years on, and the SMRC has just

this month taken delivery o the latest

generation o conocal microscope rom

Andor. The Andor Revolution, which is

housed in labs newly converted rom

oces within the RDC, consists o a

motorised microscope attached to a

conocal head, a bank o our lasers, a

number o scientic cameras and variouscouplers, plus associated sotware. The

equipment is suciently powerul to allow

the simultaneous imaging o up to our

wavelengths o light.

The equipment will be used to urther

SMRCs research eorts into studying the

role o a variety o ions, such as Ca2+

within cells and how these are aected by

modulating ion channels. These channels

are proteins, which act as molecular

switches to permit various ions such as

sodium, calcium and potassium to fow

in and out o cells. The infux and efux

o the ions modulates the activity o the

cells and thereore can infuence their

contractile state. One ocus o the SMRC

research is to examine i diseases such

as urinary incontinence or Hirschprungs

Disease, a condition that causes bowel

obstruction in inants, may be treated by

targeting ion channels.

In the S MRCs electrophysiology labs,

researchers record ion channel activity and

then in the adjacent Cellular Imaging Labs,

they use Andor technology to create visualimages o that activity. In time, Hollywood

is hopeul that through gaining a better

understanding o ion channel behaviour it

may be possible to develop drugs that can

manage such conditions. And in his view,

Andor has played an invaluable role in the

research eort by supplying technology

that allows his researchers to gaze into

cells and tissue and understand their inner

workings.

Its been a antastic journey with Andor;

weve really enjoyed it, he says.

It is a journey that has proven not only that

can academics work well with industrial

partners but that the partnership can have

signicant benets or both sides..

Dr Mark Hollywood in the SMRC's electrophysiology labs

pplied Research


5/7

9

The Institutes strategy o

ocusing research eorts

on a small number o key

areas where there is critical

mass, sustainability and

relevant expertise has been

an unequivocal success, writes

Dr Tim McCormac, Head o

Research at DkIT

One o the big changes that have taken

place at Dundalk IT over the past ve years

is the amount o research thats conducted

here. But it has not just been a question ogreater output: the research being done at

the Institute is now highly ocused, too.

Realising that it would be ar better

to excel in a small number o research

disciplines rather than be just average

at a large number, we decided to invest

in strategically important growth areas

o research that were aligned with our

emerging strengths in specic areas. As

a result, the Institute has established a

strong reputation in several research areas,

including ageing and health, energy and

the environment, sotware engineering,

music and entrepreneurship.

The research activity is spearheaded

by six research centres, one o which,

the Smooth Muscle Research Centre,

is proled on the previous page. The

other ve are Netwell (Social Networks,

Environments and Technologies or

Wellness and Ageing-in-place); the

National Freshwater Research Centre;

the Centre or Renewable Energy; the

Sotware Technology Research Centre;

and the Centre or Entrepreneurship

Research (CER). The Institute has also

recently established three research groups

in Creative Media, Electrochemistry and

Organic Resource, which also contribute

strongly to the overall research output.

F wh

DkIT researchers have secured an

impressive23 million in research unding

in the past ve years through national

unding bodies such as the Environmental

Protection Agency, the Health Research

Board, Science Foundation Ireland,

the Higher Education Authority and

Enterprise Ireland. Funding secured rom

the latter agency, primarily through the

Commercialisation Fund, represents

nearly one-quarter o the total research

unding secured in the past ve years,

thus highlighting our researchers ability

to secure unding or technology transer

activities as well as actual research. Their

Dr Fergal McCaery joined

DkIT in February 2008 as an

SFI-unded Stokes Lecturer

within the Department o

Computing & Maths and

a researcher within the

Sotware Technology Research

Centre (STORC)

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success, too, in attracting considerable

unding rom sources outside the State,

such as the Wellcome Trust, the European

Union Framework Programmes and the

National Institutes o Health (NIH) in the

US, is also worth noting.

phd y

There are currently more than 50

registered postgraduate research

students at DkIT. This represents almost a

250% increase since 2003. The increase

can be directly attributed to the creation

o the I nstitutes research centres and

groups, and their immediate impact

on its research activities. At present,

approximately hal o all research

postgraduate students work within the

six research centres, with close to 90%

involved in research consistent with the

Institutes established research themes.

One o our strategic aims is to

increase the number o registered PhD

postgraduate researchers to 100 by

2014, in addition to increasing the

number o Principal Investigators and

Postdoctoral Fellows across the Institute.

These strategic research targets will

require an annual research income o

10-12 million, a target that is already

being reached.

a b x

We strongly believe in enhancing

the learning experience o our

postgraduate PhD research students.

We have thereore begun the rollout

o structured PhDs in priority research

areas. This will ensure that not only will

the Institute produce the well motivated

and highly trained researchers that are

required or Irelands economic revival

but that it remains an attractive research

destination or undergraduate students

wishing to pursue a research career.

The principal mechanisms that will drive

the development o structured PhD

programmes include leveraging the

expertise available through the Research

Alliance within the IOT sector, which is

unded through the Strategic Innovation

Fund, and the Institutes existing

strategic partnerships with universities.

In addition, the Institute is preparing to

roll out, in September 2009, a series o

generic skills training modules or all

researchers across the Institute.

In conclusion, over the past ve years

Dundalk IT has dramatically upped its

game in relation to research by ocusing

its eorts on a number o specic

areas. In doing so, it has developed

a reputation that in some cases truly

merits the description world class.

This is a very welcome development

or the Institute whose standing within

the national and international research

community is greatly enhanced. It is

good news rom a national perspective,

too, because it clearly shows that the

Institute and its researchers are playing

their part in creating the smart economy

that is needed to set the country on

a course o sustainable growth and

prosperity.

For more inormation on the Institute's research

activities please contact Dr Tim McCormac

[email protected]

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Issue

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west coast o Ireland. Seaweeds can grow

quite ast and you can get a lot o biomass

out o them. The aim o our research is

rst o all characterising whats in them

and, secondly, investigating their potential

or energy use. This will involve ermenting

them or biogas and experimenting with

bioethanol production rom seaweed.

The latter will be done using the biouel-

testing laboratory at DkIT.

One o the ultimate objectives o the

project is to nd a more sustainable

way to meet the energy requirements o

remote, dispersed communities, which

currently rely heavily on ossil uels being

transported to them. Developing a

sustainable local source o energy would

help oset this reliance. In addition, with

the European Parliament calling or 10%o road transport uel to come rom

renewable sources by 2020, sustainable,

industrial-scale biouel production has

become an urgent challenge.

The BioMara team will also be initiating

joint projects with companies with the

aim o developing commercial applications

rom the research.

The6 million BioMara research project

was launched in April and is expected to

last our years. It has received4.9 million

rom the EUs Interreg IVA programme,

with additional unding coming rom

Highlands & Islands Enterprise, the Crown

Estate, Northern Ireland Executive and the

Irish Government. DkITs research partners

on BioMara are Sams, the University oStrathclyde, Queens University Belast, the

University o Ulster and the Institute o

Technology, Sligo.

The our-person research team at DkIT will

include two PhDs and two postgraduate

researchers, along with a cross-border

education ocer whose job will be to

produce educational material or schools,

communities and businesses to make them

more aware o the bioenergy area and the

opportunities aorded by it.

More inormation: [email protected]

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dkit h k w hFresh water is something we all take or granted but in Uganda the lack o potable water is

one o the biggest developmental challenges it aces. Now a team o scientists rom DkIT is

heading up a major research project looking at ways in which water quality can be permanently

improved throughout the continent o Arica

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Using seaweed to power your car may seem ar-etched but

DkIT researchers are involved in a project which is exploringthis and other possibilities or the humble marine plant.

DkITs Centre or Renewable Energy

(Credit) is one o the six academic partners

involved in Sustainable Fuels rom Marine

Biomass (BioMara), a new UK and Irish

joint project that aims to demonstrate the

easibility o producing third-generation

biouels rom marine biomass.

The ocus o the project is to harness

bioenergy available rom the marine

environment, explains Dr Paul MacArtain,

Research Manager at Credit. The

two major areas were looking at are

macroalgae otherwise known as

seaweed and microalgae, which are

micro-plants.

BioMara is being led by the Scottish

Association or Marine Science (Sams),

an independent marine research institute

whose particular expertise is in microalgae.

Credits ocus, on the other hand, is on

macroalgae (seaweed).

They grow relatively quickly, depending

what part o the world youre in, and

theyve been exploited or ood use since

the second world war, says MacArtain,

who adds that Ireland, particularly its

craggy west coast, is extremely rich in the

marine plant.

There is a lot o seaweed around the

SeaweedphotographcourtesyofSams

Dr Caroline Gilleran, Lecturer, DKIT

and Dr Paul MacArtain, Credit


7/72

LINK

Issue

4

RDC News

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Pictured launching the Presidents Enterprise Development Programme or Alumni, were,

rom let: Aidan Devenney, Programme Mentor; Garrett Duy, Enterprise Development;

Denis Cummins, President; and Sean MacEntee, Incubation Centre Manager (all DkIT)

The Link Newsletter _Issue 4 Summer 2009

Documents

Transcript of The Link Newsletter _Issue 4 Summer 2009