Science Foundation Ireland Building Partnerships between
Industry and Academia Dr Phil Hemmingway SFI Programme Manager Phil
Hemmingway | T: +353 1 607 3297 | E:
[email protected]@sfi.ie Slide 2 SFI position
on the Irish landscape Department of Jobs, Enterprise &
Innovation Building Irish Academic Base Supporting Indigenous Irish
Companies Supporting Multinational Companies in Ireland Slide 3
Irish Research Landscape Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) 7
Universities 14 Institutes of Technology 12 SFI-sponsored Research
Centres Academia-led (industry partners) Across multiple HEIs TRL
1-7 > 15 EI-sponsored Technology Centres Industry-led Some
co-located with HEIs TRL 5-9 Slide 4 Top level SFI information
1.6bn Spend and 2bn Committed to date in 3,750 Awards >2.3bn
Committed to date >4,200 Awards As of June 2015 752 Live Awards
with investments totalling > 447m Founded in 2000 160m annual
investment Slide 5 People and technology transfer to Industry and
Society Higher value products/services Higher living standards
Industry more competitive, better public services What SFI does
Makes grants to Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) in Ireland Based
on competitive, international merit review for scientific
excellence and impact Trains people Produces scientific results and
technology Builds infrastructure Significant industrial linkages
attracting, anchoring and starting companies Leverages other
research funding e.g. Industrial / EU / Charitable/ Philanthropic/
International Slide 6 What SFI Researchers Deliver A research
engine of 2,851 people including over 460 leading researchers 752
Active Research awards World leading SFI Research Centres spanning
several HEIs and industry 12 Generated in 2014 2,029 scientific
papers 1200 collaborations with industry (650 MNCs, 561 SMEs) 18
license agreements 31 patent filings, 13 patents awarded 1,843
international collaborations in over 57 countries 117m in leveraged
non-SFI funding Slide 7 SFI Energy Award Egs The Marine Renewable
Energy Ireland (MaREI) Research Centre (20M SFI + 10M industry) -
UCC The Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences (iCRAG)
Research Centre (18.5M SFI + 8M Industry) - UCD The Sustainable
Electrical Energy Systems (SEES) Cluster UCD 4.2M Real Time Power
Systems Digital Simulator System at UCD. The Advanced Biomimetic
Materials for Solar Energy Conversion Cluster - UCD 2.3M investment
in the Ocean Energy Test Bed facility in Galway Bay; In addition to
the awards of scale referred to above, SFI has also invested in
many other projects in the energy sector at varying scales. Slide 8
Programmes for Industry SFI Industry Fellowship SFI Partnerships
Supports bi-directional movement of industry and academic
researchers Supports collaborative research projects of scale SFI
SpokesSFI Research Centres Supports large scale Research Centres in
areas of economic importance Supports recruitment of new industry
partners and collaborative projects to Research Centres Slide 9 SFI
Industry Fellowship Up to 120k per Fellowship Salary, travel and
subsistence of an academic researcher to spend time in industry,
anywhere in the world Travel and subsistence of industry personnel
to spend time in academia in Ireland Up to one year full time or
two years part time Open to Irish and international companies No
limit on the number of Fellows in any company No requirement for
academic Fellow to return to the Research Body Two deadlines per
year June and December Slide 10 Finding a Partner SFI Industry
Fellowship Programme LinkedIn Group (>400 members) SFI Research
Career Forum https://www.b2match.eu/sficareerforum2014/participants
https://www.b2match.eu/sficareerforum2015/participants National
Research Centre Directory
http://www.knowledgetransferireland.com/About_KTI/Find-a-Research-Provider/
Contact SFI Slide 11 SFI Industry Fellowship Who can apply?
Academic partner submits application Must meet defined eligibility
criteria Proposal Aim, work plan, impact, career development
prospects CVs International Peer Review Quality of proposed fellow,
work programme, potential for impact including long term
collaboration and career development
http://www.sfi.ie/funding/funding-calls/open-calls/sfi-industry-
fellowship-programme-2015.html
http://www.sfi.ie/funding/funding-calls/open-calls/sfi-industry-
fellowship-programme-2015.html Slide 12 Academia Industry
Fellowship Awards In 2013 & 2014 46 academic researchers and 38
companies partnered and received Industry Fellowship Alaunus
Bioscience Crystal Innovation Codelco chile Slide 13 SFI Research
Centres SFI Research Centres Spokes World leading, large scale
Centres with major economic impact for Ireland Funding of between
1m and 5m per year in direct costs over six years SFI funds up to
70%. Minimum 30% industry investment at least one third of which
must be cash 12 Centres funded, representing 355m Exchequer funding
and 190m industry investment (>300 industry collaborations)
Opportunity to become a new Industry or Academic Partner of a
Centre Allows existing Centres to grow and evolve Fixed call:
competitive assessment, 30% industry cash contribution Rolling
call: proposals assessed on own merits, 50% industry cash
contribution No min or max award size, projects of scale expected
Slide 14 SFI Research Centres: Structure Hub: Core operations
Platform research Spokes: Targeted projects, each with at least one
industry partner Imperatives 1.Collaboration with industry &
other academics 2.Harnessing strengths of different experts in
different HEIs (Virtual centre) Slide 15 SFI Research Centres - ICT
CentreFocusDirector Materials Science; nano- technology; bio-nano
Prof. Stefano Sanvito (TCD) Photonics systems communications &
med- devices Prof Paul Townsend (Tyndall) Big data; data analysis,
data management; Connected Health Mr. Oliver Daniels (NUIG) Marine
renewable energy; materials; smart grid Prof. Conchr Brdaigh (UCC)
Slide 16 SFI Research Centres - ICT CentreFocusDirector Unlocking
Irelands natural resources energy, minerals, water Prof John Walsh
(UCD) Software engineering & development Prof. Mike Hinchey
(UL) Future Networks and Communications Prof Linda Doyle (TCD)
Digital content and media innovation Prof Vinny Wade (TCD) Slide 17
SFI Research Centres - Lifesciences CentreFocusDirector Food for
health; pharamabiotics Prof. Fergus Shanahan (UCC) Perinatal
healthProfs. Louise Kenny & Geraldine Boylan (UCC)
Pharmaceutical production chain: synthesis, isolation and
formulation Prof. Kieran Hodnett (UL) Medical Devices: biomedical
implants, cell-device and drug- device combination products Prof.
Abhay Pandit (NUIG) Slide 18 SFI Partnerships Flexible mechanism to
support ambitious research projects of scale between industry and
academia SFI matches the investment by industry Two strands:
Competitive Joint Funding Partnership Programme Strategic
Partnerships
http://www.sfi.ie/funding/funding-calls/open-calls/sfi-partnerships.html
Slide 19 Competitive Joint Funding Partnership What? Company
partners with SFI to launch a new competitive funding programme
Why? Solicit ideas from the research community addressing industry
challenges Develop new industry-academic collaborations Opportunity
to leverage state funding to de-risk early stage research How?
Joint design of funding programme to meet needs of company and SFI
SFI administers programme Fast track review Opportunity for
industry partner to engage in review of proposals Joint
decision-making process Joint funding of successful applications
Slide 20 Strategic Partnership Programme Key aim: To foster and
develop strategic partnerships Initiatives of scale with strong
potential for delivering economic impact to Ireland Application
prepared jointly by academic researcher and company, submitted by
academic partner Non-competitive rolling call can apply anytime 50%
cash co-funding requirement Two stage application process
Expression of interest Full proposal (by invitation only) Slide 21
Thank you for your interest Phil Hemmingway, BE PhD CEng MIEI
Programme Manager Programmes Directorate Science Foundation Ireland
(SFI) Wilton Park House, Wilton Place, Dublin 2 T: +353 1 607 3297
| F: +353 1 607 3201 | E: [email protected] | W: www.sfi.ie
Science Foundation Ireland Research for Irelands
[email protected] Slide 22 SUPPLEMENTARY
SLIDES Slide 23 Intellectual Property National IP Framework Putting
public research to work for Ireland Document Putting public
research to work for Ireland Document Ensure a streamlined and
transparent process by which industry interacts with RPOs Balance
the needs of industry and the State RPO ownership of research that
is partly or fully funded by the state Industry partner can
negotiate preferential access to IP subject to a minimum cash
commitment Industry partner owns IP in contract research
undertakings Ownership of background IP protected
