Knowledge Transfer Ireland launched – a first for business innovation in Europe Richard Bruton T.D. Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation and Dr. Alison Campbell, Director of KTI A new resource called Knowledge Transfer Ireland (KTI) has been launched to make it easier to commercialise State-funded research from third-level institutes – the first of its kind in Europe. It is the State-funded central technology transfer office, located in Enterprise Ireland and operated collaboratively by Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Universities Association. Making the announcement, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton TD noted that Ireland is currently ranked tenth out of 142 countries for innovation, while in Europe we’re ranked first out of…

Information and communications technology (ICT) offers enormous opportunities for the agriculture sector globally and Ireland can lead the way in this new revolution, a conference in Kilkenny heard today. Waterford Institute of Technology’s (WIT) Telecommunications, Software and Systems Group ( TSSG ) hosted the ICT Agricultural conference, which was addressed by EU commissioner Phil Hogan. By bringing together people from both the agricultural and ICT industries, common opportunities can be identified and the potential captured as a national strategy geared towards developing an export-focused ICT-agriculture industry, WIT president and TSSG founder and director, Prof Willie Donnelly said at the event. “We are working with our existing partners to develop new relationships to address recognised and agreed issues within the agricultural supply…

University College Dublin has signed an agreement with Shenzhen University (SZU) to establish a new international college in health sciences innovation. UCD to establish international college in health sciences innovation with Shenzhen University This initiative follows the opening in September 2012 of the Beijing-Dublin International College (BDIC), a partnership between UCD and Beijing University of Technology focused initially on computer science, engineering and finance. UCD said it is likely to be further complemented by a larger campus development in the coastal city of Yantai focusing on agricultural science, food science, life sciences, and bioengineering when current negotiations with China Agricultural University and the Yantai Municipal Government are completed over the…

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton TD has announced details of a €1m initial investment in a research programme in data analytics, a key sector growing at 40pc per annum worldwide targeted for jobs growth as part of the ‘Disruptive Reforms’ in the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs 2013. Top tier multinational and Irish ICT companies will lead the research agenda at the technology centre. Industry partners include eBay, Accenture, Dell, Fidelity Investments, Adaptive Mobile, Climote , Cylon, GBR, HP, Moving Media, Nathean Technologies, Nucleus Venture Partners and Qumas. An Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland initiative, the initial research phase of the technology centre in data analytics called…

Less than 10pc of the general public believes a business or government leader will actually tell the truth when confronted with a difficult issue, according to the 2013 Edelman Trust Barometer, which was published this morning. The survey also found that both business and government (the system of government rather than a particular administration) in Ireland remain severely distrusted with only one-third of people prepared to say they trust business and slightly less than a quarter trusting the government. Trust in government remained largely stable over the year after rising (15 percentage points) the previous year, according to the survey. Banking (15pc) and financial services (18pc) remain the least trusted industry sectors in Ireland,…