Converting university research to monetary gain
PROFESSOR Michael Kelly (above) of Cambridge University is giving a free lecture to the Irish Academy of Engineering at UCD on December 8 at 6pm.
This lecture, co-sponsored by the Intel Corporation, Ireland's largest employer of engineers, and Euro-CASE, the European Association of Engineering Academies, will be of specific interest to research funding bodies. It is also aimed at Irish business and to engineering students and staff. Places can be reserved online at www.surveymonkey.com/s/iae-intel-lecture
Prof Kelly is the Prince Philip Professor of Technology at Cambridge and formerly chief scientific adviser to the UK Department for Communities & Local Government. His lecture -- Engineering Research & Economic Growth -- asks whether this has the potential to provide a rescue remedy?
Converting the findings of university research to industrial innovation is a key factor in national industrial development strategies worldwide, he says.
Prof Kelly praised the Government for ambitiously funding research in our universities to a total of €1.35bn over the past five years, with 85pc allocated to the sciences.
But the allocation to engineering, at only 8pc, has been significantly smaller. This is at variance with most other European countries where the wealth-creating potential of applied engineering research is recognised in development strategies.
Irish Independent
