A new investment programme administered by Research Ireland is aimed at fast tracking the commercialisation of promising early stage scientific research. Co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union through the ERDF Southern, Eastern & Midland Regional Programme 2021-2027, the Accelerating Research to Commercialisation (ARC) Hub programme aims to develop a cohort of entrepreneurial scientists and engineers with the skills to realise commercial opportunities from their research activities.
Hubs established under the programme will enable researchers with novel ideas to become future entrepreneurs by providing an integrated approach to research funding, entrepreneurial training and access to networks and supports.
Earlier this month, funding of €63.84 million was announced for two new hubs under the programme. Led by Prof Vincent Kelly of Trinity College Dublin, the ARC Hub for Therapeutics is a collaboration with UCD, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, and investigators throughout Ireland. The hub will accelerate translational research in the fields of small molecule therapies, biological therapies, biomaterials, biomarkers with therapeutic potential and in advanced therapy medicinal products.
The ARC Hub for ICT is led by Prof Sarah Jane Delany of TU Dublin and involves investigators throughout Ireland. The hub will accelerate translational research in ICT and artificial intelligence (AI) to commercialisation, aiming to drive digital transformation across healthcare, education, infrastructure, sustainability and data management.
“We want to provide an environment and an ecosystem that encourages researchers to consider innovation and commercialisation as a career,” says Delaney.
Kelly points to the strong track record of commercialisation in the therapeutics space. “There have been 26 spin-outs from Irish universities in the past five years in therapeutics,” he notes.
“There is already real energy in the area. Inflazome, founded by Luke O’Neill, was acquired by Roche for €380 million in 2020. Maynooth spin-out Avectus founded by Dr Michael Maguire and Dr Shirley O’Dea raised close to €40 million in funding. And UCD spin-out APC & VLE Therapeutics, founded by Dr Mark Barret and Prof Brian Glennon, announced a €100 million expansion at its Cherrywood headquarters last year. That gives an idea of how substantial this is and the potential that exists.”
That potential is vast. “Look at Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk. That company employed one fifth of the Stem graduates coming out of Danish universities last year.”
Every participant in the ARC Hub for ICT will go through an intensive entrepreneurship training programme, says Delaney.
“We want to educate researchers in entrepreneurship and commercialisation,” he adds. “That’s not really an option out there in universities at the moment. Our focus is on training and funding and taking researchers through the entrepreneurial pathway. If they have got ideas from research, we will help them to see if there is a market for it and if customers are out there for it.
“The centres will work by finding early stage research with commercial potential. It’s tough enough to get funding for that. We are linking academic research with entrepreneurship.”
The therapeutics area faces different challenges, not least the very lengthy development and approval timelines for new products.
“We are talking about drugs going into humans to treat things like cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative diseases,” says Delaney. “Researchers need to learn from individuals who have been through the process. We are bringing in people from the venture capital community and established businesses who can help researchers learn how to do it and create new companies.
“We will have people with expertise in developing therapeutics and business leaders in the sector who will be able to guide projects from the very earliest stages. We will reach into research labs and identify promising opportunities and nurture them from the very beginning.”
The emphasis is very much on early stage research which tends to be too risky to attract commercial funding. “Our focus is on identifying research with commercial potential and offering researchers pathways to take their ideas forward,” Delaney explains. “We are looking at very early stage research to invest in and bring it to a point where funding from other sources is available. We want to produce a cohort of entrepreneurially focused researchers who know how to commercialise their ideas.”
Kelly emphasises the importance of that of early engagement. “The earlier the intervention and guidance the better the product will be,” he says.
It is anticipated that the hubs will issue requests for proposals twice a year. “We will evaluate proposals from researchers who have ideas with commercial potential and our advisory committee will be involved in looking at them and looking at how they can assist,” says Delaney.
“Ireland has the ability to create new entrepreneurial ecosystems in these areas,” adds Kelly. “A lot of foreign direct investment came to Ireland because of the excellence of our universities. We want to use the ARC Hubs to inject a bit of energy into that and create new enterprises.”
