Earlier this year, an initiative was launched to develop a cohort of entrepreneurial scientists and engineers with the skills to realise commercial opportunities from their research activities, and potentially create a new generation of spin-out companies from Irish universities.
Co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union under two European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) regional programmes – the Southern, Eastern and Midland Regional Programme 2021-2027, and the Northern and Western Regional Programme 2021-2027, the Accelerating Research to Commercialisation Arc Hub Programme is administered by Research Ireland and seeks to drive regional development by turning the novel, cutting-edge research carried out in Irish universities into market-ready commercial opportunities.
The three Arc Hubs established by Research Ireland are focused on life sciences and ICT. The Arc Hub for Therapeutics is a collaboration between Trinity College Dublin, UCD, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Science, and investigators throughout Ireland. The hub has received funding of €68.34 million to 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 has received €68.34 million to accelerate translational research in ICT and AI to commercialisation with a focus on digital transformation across healthcare, education, infrastructure, sustainability, and data management.
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The Arc Hub for HealthTech is a collaboration between the University of Galway, Atlantic Technological University (ATU) and RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences. The hub has received €34.3 million to work in conjunction with other research bodies in the Republic to guide academic projects in the medtech and connected health sectors to commercial success on a national scale.
“The vision of the Arc Hub for ICT to build on the thriving ICT research community in Ireland,” says Delany. “We have signed agreements with every university in the country so we will fund research nationally.”
The hub already has 22 projects started or about to start and has a call open for new projects. “We are hoping to take in another 30,” she adds. “ICT is slightly different than therapeutics and healthtech. The projects are smaller, and you can achieve a lot with €150,000. We want to get as many projects in as we can, give them support for a year, and then put more money in where they have commercial potential.”
A key feature of all of the hubs is the training provided to the research teams. “We don’t expect researchers to have commercialisation skills,” Delany points out. “Every project team will undergo a very comprehensive entrepreneurship development programme which follows best practice in the area. They will get support and training on various aspects of the commercialisation journey, and we will also introduce them to investors if they have potential to spin out from the universities.”
Prof Vincent Kelly of Trinity College Dublin leads the Arc Hub for Therapeutics. “Innovation has underpinned Ireland’s economic success to date,” he says. “But people don’t realise the role universities play in that. A report from Knowledge Transfer Ireland earlier this year revealed that 137 new companies spun out of universities in the last five years. The Arc Hubs will increase that pipeline and will also increase the scale and robustness of the spin-out companies. They will collectively mature ideas to turn them into spin-outs, creating indigenous Irish companies in the process. It’s very exciting.”
Creating spin-out companies in therapeutics is challenging, he explains. “The level of capacity needed to get a project out of the lab and into a company is huge. You need very talented people. It’s an arduous task to take an idea from nothing to a drug. Turning a patent into a company is a very difficult task.”
The Hub will deal with everything from small molecules to cell and MRNA therapies and beyond, he adds. “We have 22 projects at the moment, half of them small-molecule chemicals and the other half are biologics. We may take on 35 or 40 over time.”
The projects are focusing on cancer, autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases, among others. “With Ireland’s ageing population it is very important to address relevant diseases like these. By the end of the programme in December 2029 we hope to have a number of companies ready for commercialisation. We hope to support another Elan. You don’t need many successes at that scale.”
Led by Prof Garry Duffy of University of Galway, the Arc Hub for HealthTech’s primary area of focus is on the management of chronic diseases. The hub has 23 projects ongoing at present. “We aim to fund about 40 to 45 projects in total and have a new call planned early in the new year,” says Duffy.
“The ageing population is growing in Ireland and there is a shortage in healthcare capacity to deal with chronic diseases.” We are looking at solutions in medtech, connected health and digital health. We are very good at medtech in Ireland already and we are focusing on connected health.”
Connected health can provide remote patient monitoring solutions in areas such as blood pressure and infection management post-surgery, helping to keep patients at home and relieving pressure on the health service, Duffy notes.
“The regional focus is very important for us,” he says. “There are one million patients on the western seaboard, and the same number in the catchment area of RCSI. We are able to look at rural and remote healthcare as well as metropolitan settings.”
A key aspect of the hub’s work is its collaboration with the Institute for Clinical Trials at the University of Galway. Duffy points out that the number of medtech clinical trials carried out in Ireland is very low at present and this can constrain the development of the industry here.
“Researchers and companies can create new products but have nowhere in Ireland to test them,” he says. “We are trying to change that and help companies do it in Ireland. We need to bring the benefits of their research to our own population.”
The key output of the Arc Hubs will be the people, says Kelly. “We are helping to create the next generation of entrepreneurs in these areas and set up future spin-out companies for success.”
