Strategic Industry Partnership Seed Fund
The RCSI created a new fund to stimulate high value industry partnerships which is already showing returns on investment.
The RCSI Strategic Industry Partnership Seed Fund was established by the RCSI Innovation Team to seed high value (>€250,000) strategically aligned partnerships with Industry and to further develop and commercialise RCSI IP assets. It has provided RCSI Researchers with a unique mechanism to engage with new companies with a research focus strategically aligned to RCSI’s research strengths and IP portfolio, enabling engagements not eligible under existing co-funded mechanisms from State funders. The initiative has extended the internal “reach” of the Innovation Team and has increased RCSI's ability to catalyse initial conversations with companies with whom RCSI has not previously engaged and convert these conversations into significant industry supported programmes at RCSI. 75% of the programmes supported under the initiative have involved Principal Investigators who have not secured industry funded programmes at RCSI in the last 3 years and companies who had never engaged with RCSI previously. As at the end of 2017, 3 projects commenced, 1 was approved and 2 applications were in the pipeline. The Innovation team drove this initiative from initial development of the business case required to secure college investment in the initiative all the way through to programme launch and operationalization.
Underpinning funding sources include: RCSI, Industry