CTVR
the telecommunications
research centre
Technology Transfer
Creating Commercial Value
Centres like CTVR play a key role in creating a strong high-tech sector in Ireland, specifically through an ability to focus on leading-edge challenges over a medium-term timeframe. Critically, our industry links allow us to evaluate the relevance of our research, in order to ensure that we are working on problems that will yield significant value for our partners and for Ireland. In our strategic plan, we outline clear processes and numerical targets for the creation of IP and its effective exploitation: to date we have met or exceeded these targets. Our IP strategy has three main elements: working closely with industry to define and execute projects, helping academic partners to identify commercialisable output, and involving all partners in the IP committee. To date this committee has reviewed 26 disclosures, 16 of which lead to patent applications. To date we have been involved in one spin-out company with another two expected to be formed in the next year.
Commercialisation through CTVR Partners
Our partnership with Alcatel-Lucent has led to close interaction between CTVR researchers and teams at Bell Labs in Ireland, Murray Hill, Swindon, and Nuremburg. The collaborations have led to a substantial flow of IP, and Bell Labs has established a mentoring process to track the innovations in order to ensure that the ideas reach deployment. Successful examples to date include optimised scheduling methodologies for Alcatel-Lucent’s manufacturing facilities and statistical models to help minimise the costs associated with equipment test. Heading into CTVR 2 we now have a wider range of partners and more opportunities to take this approach.
Commercialisation through Licensing to Others
The licensing of the output of our research is an important mode of commercialisation. Our most successful licensing activities to date have been in connection with our work on small, ultra-broad bandwidth. The Antenna group at DIT, under the direction of Max Ammann, has created a completely novel way to design and build antennas. The small antennas they produce not only offer the same performance as much larger traditional antenna; they can also be optimised to various shapes to suit the required technology application, and can operate over a wider range of frequencies than any other antenna currently available. The design has been snapped up by two Irish companies – Decawave & Taoglas. Both have licensed the technology from DIT so that they can incorporate the antenna into their solutions. We continue to seek opportunities to license.
Commercialisation through Spin-outs
The establishing of new companies is a very important activity. Ireland has an ambition to become an ‘Innovation Island’ with the creation of indigenous high-tech industries high on the agenda. CTVR’s most prominent success to date has been the establishment of the company Socowave on the basis of IP licensed from NUI Maynooth. In year three of CTVR we were approached by a serial entrepreneur who selected our IP on the calibration of antenna arrays as the basis for a new enterprise. Seed funding was raised, technical staff recruited, and the company is now well established. Socowave is now in fact a CTVR partner. We are currently working towards the creation of another two companies. If successful, these will start as campus companies. The first is in the area of cognitive radio/reconfigurable communication systems. The relevant work in this area has moved to being funded by Enterprise Ireland (the body which deals with commercialisation of research in Ireland) and a business plan is under development. The hope is to spinout the company by the end of 2011. A second company which is on the horizon will be based on a CTVR patent that enables optical networks to reconfigure on nanosecond time scales while allowing higher capacity channels to be supported. The business plan for this company is currently being developed and further funding will help move this forward with the company expected to be formed in early 2011.
Seeking out Commercial Opportunities
Technology transfer and commercialisation of our research outputs requires a concerted effort by the research staff and often requires the involvement of others beyond the CTVR community. We recognise this in CTVR and continually strive to identify opportunities and find ways of taking them forward. At the start of 2010 CTVR began a process to assemble key pieces of IP in Irish universities that have applications in optical communications – we expect this to lead to a more successful marketing campaign that will yield both licenses and spin-out companies in the coming year. In September 2010 we held a commercialisation workshop in which we brainstormed a number of ideas that have potential in the wireless space. We will also leverage opportunities provided by our partners. For example, Alcatel-Lucent run an Entrepreneurial Bootcamp program that helps interested groups transform innovative ideas into business opportunity plans. They will be running such a Bootcamp in 2011 and CTVR will participate. Our aim is to explore as many avenues as possible to make commercialisation happen and exploit the research that is developed in CTVR.
© 2011 CTVR
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