Director-Lifesciences and Food Research

The Commercialisation Game 

After 3 years as Director of Lifescience and Food Research Commercialisation at Enterprise Ireland, Dr. Paul Roben is leaving the position to explore new opportunities. 

As his last day working for Enterprise Ireland approaches, he shares some of his views on the research commercialisation system, why it is so important to the Irish economy and what he has learned from the job.

 “Fundamentally, research commercialisation is about bringing good ideas to the people in society that wants them. This sounds simple enough, but in reality, the path is far from clear and littered with many potential pitfalls.  It requires the specialised skills of many different types of people who bring expertise to different parts of the process.’

‘Scientists generate ideas - some fundamental and some more applied - but all necessary for the overall progress of knowledge. Business people turn those ideas into products that you and I buy on a daily basis. Financial experts find the money to pay for it all. They all speak different languages, and often find it difficult to communicate in a way that allows them to travel the commercialisation path together.” 

Dr. Roben operates in the complex zone between the scientists and the business people, linking good ideas with strong investors and smoothing out the intellectual property issues that arise along the way.

 ‘It’s a complicated job as no two deals are the same, but it is this variety that makes the job so stimulating’, says Roben. 

“Enterprise Ireland provides both the funding and the expertise to educate the academic sector on the needs of industry and to enable them to conduct research to meet those needs, without compromising the integrity of their work. We also bring industry and academia together in an effort to get them speaking a common language so that relationships can develop and ideas can transfer between these two key sectors.”

This approach is beginning to show dividends. The number of licences of technology from universities to industry is increasing year on year, as is the number of companies spinning out of the Irish public research system. The relationship between Irish companies and public research organisations is developing significantly, and with that, their ability to absorb new technologies is improving. There has been an increase in the number of companies that are raising investment, developing more new innovative products, and generating more sales.

Reflecting on his experiences with Enterprise Ireland, Dr. Roben said;

“Gaining a complete overview of the life-science and food sectors in Ireland took time but it was well worth it. This role put me in a position where I was influencing government policy across a broad range of issues that affect these key sectors in the Irish economy. I got the chance to work closely with other State agencies involved in this area like Science Foundation Ireland, IDA Ireland and the Health Research Board, which gave me a unique understanding of trends, opportunities and challenges facing the sector. It was tough but rewarding to be involved in writing new policies that move the industry forward’.

‘There aren’t many jobs where you get the opportunity to make a real difference by designing new supports that have a positive impact on economic and academic development.” 

When asked what he would take with him from the job he said

“Being Director of lifescience and food research commercialisation gave me immediate access to a huge network of key people, and allowed me to operate at the highest levels of government, industry and academia”. 

Paul is moving on to new challenges now so there is an opportunity for a new leader in this dynamic research area.

For more information contact Gerry Kennedy, Director, The RFT Group + 353 (0)1 2302400 email: gerry@rftgroup.ie