Food Research Ireland - Department of Agriculture

Other industry-Academic Collaborative Supports and Research
Commercialisation Funds which can be key components in optimising
the commercial and industry agenda from food research include
Technology Centres and EI funded Industry-Led Research Programmes,
Innovation Partnerships, Innovation Vouchers, Applied Research
Enhancement and Commercialisation Fund. In addition, FIRM Plus 34 is
aligned with the above programmes to ensure that publicly funded FIRM
research which has commercial potential can be developed along an
optimal commercialisation path.
Overall, the investments in research, development and innovation (RDI)
must be deployed to deliver strategic value for the sector across the
following asset bases:
■ Pipeline (of technologies)
Upstream, the pipeline of technologies for the food companies to
exploit must be deepened and broadened so as to ensure an adequate
number of commercial opportunities are developed and exploited.
■ People (investment)
Investment in upskilling and widening the available pool of RDI staff
available to work in food companies and to work in supporting the
transfer of technology into companies will be made. Unless this issue is
addressed, the investment upstream in technologies and in platforms
downstream will continue to have limited uptake by food companies.
■ Platform (of strategic investments)
In the medium to long term, industry focused and led R&D programmes
must be identified and funded so that strategic investments are made to
future proof the sector where most impact can be made.
Together, the relevant Government Departments and development
agencies and industry are creating a national policy framework and tools
within which companies can access and utilise new and known
technologies that will ultimately support them to develop their
businesses and exploit new opportunities and markets in to the future.
5.1.3 COLLABORATION
Having developed strong collaborative links with other funding agencies
through the development of Food Research Ireland, these links need to
be maintained and indeed strengthened through a continuous feedback
mechanism to ensure the outputs of the research are exploited by the
relevant end-users. Collaboration may be pursued at a number of levels.
At the National level, government investments in science, technology
and innovation have led to a strong research base and critical mass
within and between many Irish RPO’s across all areas of research. To
ensure that the industry can deliver on the export growth targets in
Food Harvest 2020, there is a need to continue to strengthen this
research base and the links between it and industry to ensure maximum
exploitation of the research outputs through either direct technology
transfer or knowledge transfer (i.e. scale-up followed by full
commercialisation of processes / technologies). Collaboration may
involve intra- and inter-institutional partnerships, public/private
partnerships or other mechanisms that are deemed appropriate. It
should be remembered that the same collaboration model may not be
applicable nor relevant for each of the sectors within the food industry.
Internationally, collaboration with different jurisdictions should be
encouraged and facilitated to ensure maximum value is gained from any
investments made. There are many benefits of collaborating with those
outside of Ireland, including the avoidance of duplication of the research
effort and the sharing of resources particularly in those research areas
associated with grand societal challenges. Indeed, international
collaboration is the way forward and is one of the key strengths of Joint
Programming mentioned previously.
34 FIRM Plus – a new initiative launched under the DAFM Competitive Call 2010 that aimed to add value with a view commercialising research outputs previously generated from FIRM funded research projects
Food Research Ireland
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