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SCIENCE NATION
Under the guidance of ProfMark Ferguson, Science Foundation Ireland is backing world leading research that will have both an economic and societal effect
IMPACT E
EXCELLENCEWITH
pharmaceutical therapies to prevent scarring and acceleratewound healing. In January, hewas appointed director
‘EXCELLENCE WITH IMPACT’ IS PROFMARKFERGUSON’SSTATED MISSION FOR SCIENCE FOUNDA- TION IRELAND (SFI), the Govern- ment agency he was appointed to head up earlier this year, which is charged with funding the academic researchers and research teams deemedmost likely to generate newknowledge, leading-edge technologies and competitive enter- prises in science and engineering. Fittingly for the role, Ferguson has a
background in both academia and in in-
dustry.TheNorthern Ireland nativewas appointed professor in life sciences at the University ofManchester in 1984 at the age of just 28 and is currently hon- orary professor of life sciences at the uni- versity. In 1998, he co-foundedRenovo, a biotechnology company that developed
general ofSFI for a five-year term.Of his plans for the organisation he says: “We want to fund excellent research that’s world leading and cutting-edge and we also want that research to be impactful, either economically or societally.” Given the current climate, he says economic impact is the priority at the present time. The focus for SFI going forward will
be driven bywhatFerguson describes as Ireland’s unique selling points. “These are things like geography, because it’s a small country and you can use it for a test bed, for example, or you can look at renewable energy into the grid from wind or marine. Unique selling points are also the companies that are in Ire- land –medical devices, pharma, ICTand so on, and the clusters of academic excellence. “Those are all things that are unique
to Ireland so it seems sensible to be focusing on those activities.” Another area of interest, he says, is the
interface between different activities, such as between ICTand pharma or the between ICT and energy. In terms of the outputs of research,
22 INNOVATION IRELAND REVIEW Issue 4 Spring/Summer 2012
Ferguson describesSFI as agnostic. “So, we’re really interested in working with colleagues in the IDAto attractmultina- tional companies to Ireland because of the excellence of the research and because of the availability of trained researchers and employees.We’re also very positive about interacting with the IDA and Enterprise Ireland about retaining existing companies in Ireland and allowing them to grow, often into newareas so they can expand their foot- print. And we’re equally interested in spinning out and starting new compa- nies. “All of the gambit of commercialisation
is of interest to SFI, whether it’s licens- ing technology, spinning out companies or collaborative research with major companies. The findings of pieces of research lend themselves to different things. Not everything can be spun out into a company. Some things are much better as a
licence.Many things are often done collaboratively.” The level of industrial engagement in
Ireland is already good, according toFer- guson. “Last year SFI spent around €150mof Irish taxpayers’money andwe leveraged €150m of money from elsewhere.”
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