NRP RIS Conference

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National Research Platform IUA Project
Thursday, September 4th, 2008
www.iua.ie
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Background

• expertiseireland.com admired by other
  countries, including Australia - Limited focus
• Many disparate systems of information
• Many related sectoral projects
• Web presence of Irish Research is very fragmented
• This limits our international visibility

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Project Opportunity

• Bring focus and order to the current situation
  and to create single web based locus through
  which the national research effort can be
  accessed and quantified in a structured and
  intelligible manner.

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Prior Learning

• Definition of need essential.
• Information alone is of limited value.
• User interface, searchability, accessibility
  critical.
• Scalability.
• Strong correlation between marketing and use.

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Project Approach

• Senior User Working Groups
• Research
• Technology Transfer
• Industry needs
• Policy Funding,
• Education Information
• Define Users Stakeholders
• Define needs

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Users, Stakeholders
and Building Blocks
Government
Higher Education Sector
General Public
National Research Platform
Researcher Mobility Portal
4th Level Ireland
Media
Industry
National Research Data Project

• Institutional Repositories

expertiseireland.com data
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Objectives of a National Research Platform
Senior User Working Groups

• Highlight the extent and quality of Irelands
  research effort, and serve to attract the best
  researchers to Ireland
• Promote the research expertise, capabilities and
  innovation of the higher education and public
  research sector in Ireland
• Provide a platform to increase collaboration
  between industry and academia and in particular
  to allow development agency staff to facilitate
  such collaboration in key strategic areas
• Promote networking to make it easier for
  academics to set up interdisciplinary,
  inter-institutional and international research

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• Explore and develop collaborative or contract
  opportunities that are of interest to industry
  and that may draw industry investment (direct or
  indirect)
• Provide Assessment/Benchmarking of research
  output to stakeholders
• Provide a platform for industry users to address
  specific research and innovation needs
• Promote the technology offers from the higher
  education and public research system and enhance
  the take up of licensing opportunities

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• Attract post graduate students to double the
  number of PhD students
• Increase the base of information on the national
  research effort available to IDA Ireland
  executives in their marketing of Ireland for high
  tech foreign direct investment
• Generate bi-lateral agreement between the
  research entity and the companies that generate
  research activities, develop technologies or
  design products

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What do people want to see
on the Platform?
Health research Clinicians Clinical
Researchers Marine Agriculture

• Additional Publication information
• citation information, links to full text such as
  for TCD
• More detailed project information - previous and
  existing Industry and academic collaborators,
  project outputs, PI, international significance
  of research

Other publicly funded research
expertiseireland.com data
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• Resources available to the researcher by way of
  research staff / labs and funding.
• Research available for license, that is patented
  (granted or filed)
• Institutional information
• research strengths and specialisations,
• key information about research groupings,
  centres and institutes,
• relevant information on group research and
  individuals achievements.

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• A one-stop-shop for easy identification of funds
  and applications to funding bodies
• A one-stop-shop for information on employment
  opportunities from postgraduate to senior
  professor
• Allow the top licensees and licensors in any
  field to be identified.
• Clearly identify other related technologies being
  investigated in other Irish institutions
• Facilitate the combination of related research
  efforts to achieve higher value licenses

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Policy Information

• Overview of the research environment/infrastructur
  e and highlight the current national research
  priorities as determined by the SSTI
• Display Key Performance Indicators for the
  sector
• A comprehensive repository of policy documents
  and best-practice examples

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Industry Services

• Allow industry to pose problems in need of a
  solution e.g.,Does anyone have expertise in
  Cobalt Chrome for use in orthopaedic
  applications and interested Institutions can
  then reply
• Identify and contact leading researchers in a
  particular field on a national level
• Identify researchers willing to engage in
  consultancy, the innovation vouchers scheme and
  long term collaborative research
• Act as a truly comprehensive research information
  resource for the industries that are/wish to be
  research active

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Public Outreach

• A public outreach facility which helps the Irish
  taxpayer to better understand why research is
  important to the future of the Irish economy and
  Irish society in general and to provide examples
  of ongoing research.

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Some Specific Functionality requested

• Have the ability to
• Identify researchers interested in, and willing
  to collaborate with Industry partners, and
  seeking to undertake collaborative research.
• Search capacity by disease expertise, materials
  expertise, and general research interests with
  specific reference to life science and medical
  technology applications e.g orthopaedics,
  cardiovascular, diagnostics, Imaging, hospital
  equipment/tools as well as industry
  collaborations.
• Matrix of results based on technology platform

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Metrics from the Platform

• Provide statistical information on research
  activity in Ireland, as benchmark figures to
  measure our research activity against
• A research dashboard would provide the executive
  overview required and immediate access to a range
  of research indicators.

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Outcomes of a National Research Platform

• Promotion of Higher Education and public sector
  research expertise and innovation, thus
  highlighting Ireland as a country renowned for
  research
• Increased collaborations
• Increased researcher networking
• Promotion of the technology offers in the third
  level sector with an increase in licensing

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Outcomes of a National Research Platform

• Be proactive in developing policies to support
  national research by coordinating best-practice
  across the Higher Education sector.
• A mechanism for maximising the research output of
  all the HEIs - each will identify a realistic
  level of research activity and reach that goal
• Provide Assessment/Benchmarking of research
  output to stakeholders

Sunday, November 15, 2009
An Irish Universities Association Presentation
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What will the Platform provide?

• Database of academics available and willing to
  consult
• Policy makers
• Industry with specific problems
• Panels of experts
• Peer reviewers for government and International
  bodies
• Marketing of the intellectual expertise available
  for consultation
• Innovation Vouchers scheme database

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What will the Platform provide?

• E-grant system
• Single entry source for all funding submissions
  or core set of data extracted from the National
  Research Platform for funding agencies
• Elimination of duplication of effort
• Annual project proposal and hiring planning

Sunday, November 15, 2009
An Irish Universities Association Presentation
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Vision

• The National Research Platform ensures that the
  message emerging from the island of Ireland is of
  strong research that is coherent, innovative and
  forward looking

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Question

• This is what we could
• be saying in a few
• years
• is this the vision that
• you all agree with?

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Question

• What can we
• learn from
• other countries?