Erasmus+ Connection with University of Maryland
Published on: Thursday, 01 June 2017
It is becoming obvious that the transfer of innovation and knowledge produced by research and technological organisations (RTOs) and higher education to local & regional businesses remains one of the most important gaps and difficulties in terms of realising growth through innovation. Research is showing this is not just a European problem but also something which occurs across the US.
The Cork Institute of Technology (CIT), a partner in the ecoRIS3 Interreg Europe project, are hosting Professor Scott Dempwolf, University of Maryland from the 25th of May until the 8th of June. Professor Dempwolf is visiting Ireland as part of a faculty exchange funded under an ERASMUS+ International Credit Mobility award won by Dr John Hobbs of the School of Business, CIT.
A seminar hosted by the Department of Economics in University College Cork (UCC) on the 30th of May relating to the topics ‘RIS3, Clustering, Innovation and Entrepreneurship.’ The seminar contained presentations from Professor Eleanor Doyle, UCC; Dr Breda Kenny, CIT; Dr Hobbs and Professor Dempwolf. It was a key component of a two day benchmarking visit to Cork for a group of eight staff from universities and regional development organisations across Northern Finland visiting Cork organised by CIT’s School of Business.
Image: Dr John Hobbs, Senior Lecturer Economics, Cork Institute of Technology and Professor Scott Dempwolf, University of Maryland @ at the CPD Seminar: The Imperative of Teams held by Engineers Ireland and Johnson & Johnson Campus Ireland in the Nexus Centre, Cork Institute of Technology. Picture. Darragh Kane
Dr Hobbs and Dr Kenny were able to provide the audience with an introduction to the overall goal and aims of the ecoRIS3 project, and the role which CIT will play in working with stakeholders and partner regions to develop a RIS3 strategy for the South West of Ireland.
Professor Dempwolf’s work in Maryland is concerned with modelling innovation networks, clustering and ecosystem analysis where he is researching as part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL). It is obvious there are strong links to both the 1) ecoRIS3 priorities and 2) CIT’s ongoing research in the Hincks and V-LINC research centres. One of the items Professor Dempwolf discussed during the seminar related to a previous study of clusters as part of the Illinois Science & Technology Roadmap: “we noticed that innovation activities tended to be organised into two main components – research and industry – with a small group of activities that seemed to span these two components. We call this third component the bridge. When we opened up the bridge for closer inspection, we found this is where key enablers of knowledge transfer operate through: 1) corporate sponsored research; 2) technology gateways; 3) accelerators and incubators; and finally 4) public-private partnerships such as federal labs.”
Image: The Innovation Bridge in the Illinois Science & Technology Roadmap – Presented by Professor Scott Dempwolf, University of Maryland @ at the ‘RIS3, Clustering, Innovation and Entrepreneurship’ seminar held in the Department of Economics in University College Cork on the 30th of May 2017.
Professor Dempwolf suggests that “denser, more connected bridging components will be characterised by faster innovation sequences and more innovation sequences leading to new products.” Dr John Hobbs believes that in the context of ecoRIS3 “a complementary understanding of ‘the bridging components’ will further support the realisation of more effective policy pertaining to coordination between these key facilitators of innovation allows the bridge between research and industry to be reduced in size. Thus allowing regions to support faster innovation locally.
For Further Information Contact:
Dr John Hobbs Tel: +353 21 4335149 E-mail: john.hobbs@cit.ie
