Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Trinity and UCD team up for Innovation Academy
UCD and Trinity College have announced a research partnership which they
say has the potential to develop 300 companies and thousands of jobs.
The heads of both universities say the initiative would drive enterprise
and innovation in a time of national crisis. They hope to increase the
number of PhDs by a thousand a year.
The cost of establishing the joint project is €650m over ten years which the universities say will come from a variety of sources including Government and European funding and from the private sector.
The Innovation Academy was announced at a press conference this afternoon by the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Minister for Finance and Minister for Education. The Taoiseach said it would attract international interest and establish Ireland as a research base. He said a special innovation task force would help drive the project forward.
The establishment of greater links between TCD and UCD was openly feared by DCU President, Ferdinand Von Prondzynski who had written about his concerns for a 'civil war' at Irish Universities and the potential for dissolution of the Irish Universities Association (IUA).
The establishment of a National Academy for Innovation is viewed as laudable and certainly represents payback for the efforts of both TCD and UCD scientists and academics who have collectively striven to put Ireland on the research map internationally.
In an ironic twist, the announcement of the Academy between TCD and UCD predates a Von Prondzynski initiative when he personally presided over the establishment at his own university of the DCU Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship. Unfortunately for the outgoing President, the Academy closed in 2006 when serious concerns arose about the governance of the Academy under his stewardship.
The two premier universities say innovation will now become a third pillar of the sector alongside teaching and research.
There were also calls for incentives to encourage philanthropists to invest in education.
The cost of establishing the joint project is €650m over ten years which the universities say will come from a variety of sources including Government and European funding and from the private sector.
The Innovation Academy was announced at a press conference this afternoon by the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Minister for Finance and Minister for Education. The Taoiseach said it would attract international interest and establish Ireland as a research base. He said a special innovation task force would help drive the project forward.
The establishment of greater links between TCD and UCD was openly feared by DCU President, Ferdinand Von Prondzynski who had written about his concerns for a 'civil war' at Irish Universities and the potential for dissolution of the Irish Universities Association (IUA).
The establishment of a National Academy for Innovation is viewed as laudable and certainly represents payback for the efforts of both TCD and UCD scientists and academics who have collectively striven to put Ireland on the research map internationally.
In an ironic twist, the announcement of the Academy between TCD and UCD predates a Von Prondzynski initiative when he personally presided over the establishment at his own university of the DCU Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship. Unfortunately for the outgoing President, the Academy closed in 2006 when serious concerns arose about the governance of the Academy under his stewardship.
The two premier universities say innovation will now become a third pillar of the sector alongside teaching and research.
There were also calls for incentives to encourage philanthropists to invest in education.
