CSET Commercialization Forum

Lero had the privilege of hosting the CSET Commercialization Forum on May 4^th, 2010 in the University of Limerick. The forum was launched in November 2009 with the objective of sharing best practice on commercialisation between the CSETs so that they can provide improved value to Ireland for the translation of research work into commercial reality.  It is a fantastic opportunity for the 10 CSET Centres to come together to share their commercialisation experiences.

Professor Paddy Nixon (Lero@UCD) opened the forum with an interesting overview of the Lero CSET and Lero’s new research focus on evolving critical systems.

Dr. Chris Horn, President of Engineers Ireland and co-founder of Iona Technologies followed with a talk on ‘Why can’t Software Engineers get their act together’. Dr. Horn also focused on the importance of critical systems in business and daily life. He gave many examples of the possible dangers that could occur from software failures and how this may lead to a requirement for Chartered Software Engineers in the future. Dr. Horn also provided plenty of useful advice for budding entrepreneurs. He encouraged Irish companies to have more international focus from the outset and also suggested that small companies should look at evolving an idea rather than the challenge of creating a completely new idea. He also spoke about the commercialisation and spin out experiences of a number of Universities including TCD, Stanford, MIT and the valuable lessons that could be learned from their experience.

The forum concluded with the final speaker Paul Dillon, Director of Limerick’s Technology Transfer Office.  Paul wrapped us the forum with an overview of the excellent services that the Technology Transfer office provides to researchers and some examples of spin off companies from UL. Paul spoke about some of the challenges facing academic commercialisation. Dr. Rory Jordan from SFI offered very supportive suggestions on how these challenges could be addressed in the future.

Dr. Chris Horn

Prof. Paddy Nixon