Dr Kieran Drain, CEO of Tyndall National Institute. Photo via Connor McKenna
With increased industry funding, the production of hundreds of scientific papers and 26 Horizon 2020 (H2020) projects on the go, Tyndall had a good year.
Tyndall National Institute in Cork has released its 2015 report, with total revenues marginally down on 2014, despite a stark increase in industry support.
Up 65pc, the €8m in industry funding received by the Cork operation represents over one-quarter of Tyndall’s total revenues, with EU funding of €5m largely coming through its work in H2020.
Peer-to-peer
In total, 220 peer-reviewed publications were released in 2015, with the 2015 report showing 26 ongoing H2020 projects worth over €140m.
“Tyndall has been one of the highest performers on the national landscape in European programmes,” said CEO Dr Kieran Drain. “We see ourselves as a partner to industry and to other research institutions, and our vision is to make those partnerships even more effective.
“Our excellent standards of research and development along with our ability to cover a broad range of technology readiness levels help us to support industry, the national economy, and the wider European research technology organisation (RTO) community.”
Tyndall’s position as one of Europe’s top RTOs is underlined by comments from Muriel Attané, secretary-general of the European association of RTOs, who said the Irish operation was a “great example” in the field.
Crucial role
Through the likes of the ASCENT programme – focused on international nanoelectronics research partnerships – Tyndall’s “crucial” role has also been noted.
“The programme delivers an open science concept with not just European value but global value, opening infrastructure access and making core tech platforms readily available for development and the validation of tools,” said Giorgos Fagas, European programme manager at Tyndall.
Elsewhere, success stories such as PhD researcher Lisa Helen’s ‘smart needle’ creation show that there’s probably plenty still to come from Tyndall.
“As a growing innovation hub and leading RTO, our role is to practically translate research excellence for our partners, bringing them to the manufacturing process and proof of concept,” said Drain.
“We also work with industry partners along all steps in European programmes, and act as consultants to SMEs to help them link up with the European funding ecosystem through instruments like Horizon 2020.”
