Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton TD recently announced that €21m in funding will be available to support the commercialisation of research in 2013. The aim of the funding is to give researchers the platform and opportunity to turn their research into commercial products and services, allowing them to explore the possibility of commercialising their work. This funding is available through Enterprise Ireland's Commercialisation Fund.

The Fund is available to researchers in the third level sector to commercialise ideas and inventions at all stages of development. Not only will this give researchers the chance to look into possible commercialisation routes for themselves, it will also help on a national scale by creating jobs within Ireland. When announcing the fund, Richard Bruton said: “This fund will provide support for projects seeking to take innovations and develop them into commercial products and services that can sustain businesses and ultimately create jobs. This is a very positive initiative which focuses on bringing research projects to life. It provides the resources that allow research teams to move from concept to market”.

So far this year, Enterprise Ireland has funded 24 commercialisation projects valued at €5.3m across a wide range of areas including ICT, Lifesciences, Food, Manufacturing Engineering and Energy. The Commercialisation Fund is a component of the Governments research prioritisation policy and is one of a number of initiatives designed to deliver economic impact from the State’s investment in science and technology. As the year progresses, more and more research will receive funding in order to discover what prospects lie ahead for researchers in Universities and Institutes of Technology throughout Ireland.
 
Enterprise Ireland held an open day for researchers in July which educated and informed researchers about how the commercialisation fund can benefit them. At this event, researchers who have previously gone down this route spoke about their journey from research to commercialisation. They gave insight into their products and services, their experiences and where their commercialised research stands now. Dr Keith O Neill gave an informative overview about the Commercialisation Fund, providing detailed information for the researchers. Researchers also got the opportunity to speak with Enterprise Ireland’s commercialisation specialists one to one in order to discuss their own personal research and to gain advice as to what to do next.