This year marks the 10th anniversary of the official opening of NovaUCD, the centre for new ventures and entrepreneurs in UCD. To mark this anniversary, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, has officially launched a report highlighting the economic impact of the centre.
The report, which is titled ‘NovaUCD – Celebrating 10 years of Entrepreneurial Success 2003-2013’, claims that by 2016 the centre will support a total of 2,527 jobs, 1,934 of which will be in Ireland. By this time the centre will also contribute €66.1 million to the Irish economy, this will be achieved through both the entrepreneurial and commercialisation activities of the centre.
NovaUCD aims to nurture and support new high-tech and knowledge-intensive start-up companies, in the hope that this will enable them to develop, grow and create jobs. Also based at NovaUCD is UCD’s technology transfer team which is responsible for the commercialisation of the intellectual property emerging from UCD’s world-class research programmes.
Since its establishment in 2003 NovaUCD has supported 126 companies through its incubation services, it has also incorporated 30 new UCD spin-out companies during that time. In 2013 these companies, supported by NovaUCD, have a combined annual turnover of €71.2 million. Already collectively employing 599 people directly, of which 489 are based in Ireland, these companies hope to create 851 new jobs in the coming 3 years, 630 of which will be based here in Ireland.
During the 10 year period in which NovaUCD has been in existence 445 inventions have been disclosed by UCD researchers to UCD’s technology transfer team and 318 patent applications have been filed by UCD. As well as this, 81 licensing deals have been reached with a variety of both Irish and international businesses. As a direct result of reaching licensing agreements with UCD, businesses have been able to increase their turnover in Ireland by average of €3.6 million and internationally by €5.8 million annually.
Currently over 45 innovative new ventures are based at NovaUCD. The majority of these ventures are spin-out companies, such as HeyStaks and Oncomark, these companies are commercialising research specifically undertaken at UCD. The remaining companies are primarily spin-in companies who have located to NovaUCD as they wish to interact more closely with the university; examples of these include Enbio and Tethras.
When speaking about the launch of the official report, Minister Bruton told UCD, “A key part of the government’s plan for jobs and growth is ensuring that we derive more benefit, in terms of commercial outcomes and jobs, from the State’s investment in science and technology – turning good ideas into good jobs.”
Minister Bruton also commended the work being done at NovaUCD adding that the report “showing that over 1,300 jobs have been created as a result of NovaUCD’s activities, illustrates clearly what can be achieved in this area. I comment them on all their work and wish them every success for the future.”
Professor Peter Clinch, UCD Vice-President for Innovation, also spoke to UCD at the launch of the report adding, “the impact of NovaUCD has been far greater than could have been imagined 10 years ago when if officially opened and I have no doubt that an exciting future lies ahead for NovaUCD.”
