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RESEARCH
L–r: Dr DiarmuidO’Brien, executive director,CRANN; and Prof JohnBoland, director,CRANN
Advanced Microscopy Lab, a €12m facility at the Trinity site, which boasts some of the most powerful microscopes in the world. And the centre is not shy about linkingwith industry to dis-
cuss its needs – CRANN already has a proven track record workingwith ICTgiants such as Intel on approaches to enable smaller, faster transistors andHewlett-Packard on developing cost-effective materials for electronics displays and sensors. “We are very proactive about howwe engagewith industry,”
says Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, CRANN’s executive director. “We pull together research teams which have real quality
and capabilities in the areas that the companies have identi- fied as being important.We have got the flexibility to bring to- gether researchers froma broad range of disciplines – physics, chemistry, engineering, pharmacology, immunology – and if that group of people focuses on the specific problemof a com- pany it can provide a huge asset to any organisation.” Andwhilematerials lie at the core ofwhatCRANNdoes, the
industrial applications are ever widening out from ICT and into other areas like adhesives, filtration and medical devices, explains Dr O’Brien. “Companies active in the medical device area have similar
requirements around materials – they need to understand the mechanical properties, they want to incorporate drug ele- ments and look at complicated hybrids.We are finding a lot of traction nowin medical device companieswhere they are see- ing the real value of being able to understand the properties of the materials they are using.” CRANN’s ability to measure the performance of materials
has also opened the doors for companies working in the areas of advanced manufacturing in energy, aeronautics and preci- sion components, where again being able to measure at the nano scale offers important insights, no matter how large the end product. “If youmake something that you need tomeasure, nano can help,” says Dr O’Brien.
30 INNOVATION IRELAND REVIEW Issue 3 Autumn/Winter 2011
BUILDING ITS OWN ECOSYSTEM The centre has also been nurturing its own
discoveries.Aswell as transferring intellectual property into industry partners, it has been hatching its own spin-outs and licensing deals based on investment into research. “We have built up a pipeline of significant IP,” says Dr
O’Brien, who describes how CRANN has appointed a com- mercialisation advisory board or ‘brain trust’ of experts to offer their insights. “We are putting in place a significant ecosystem around
CRANN which involves angel investors, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. Building up this ecosystemof people who have been through this journey and companies that commer- cialise technology is a way for us to quickly identify what are the winners we have.” Some proven winners from CRANN PIs include DermaS-
can, a dermatology device to closely measure the topography of skin, and Glantreo, a spin-out from UCC that improves a commonly used chemical separation technique called chro- matography. Several other start-ups are readying in the wings, accord-
ing to Dr O’Brien, including one that uses nanoimprinting technology to generate minute patterns on hard surfaces. “There are manyways to commercialise the knowledge,” he
says. “And for us it’s about the focus ofwaking up every morn- ing and thinking about how we do that.” Dr O’Brien believes that CRANN now stands on the brink
of moving from competitive to leading on the world stage. “CRANN has reached a critical position where a bit like Ire- land we have moved frombeing a sub-critical mass to a point where we are internationally competitive,” he says. “Now we need to move from being one of those centres that people recognise as having very high quality to a centre that people look up to as the lead centre in a particular
discipline.And that is going to be based on continuing to do very high qualitywork, expanding the PI base and attracting international leaders to Ireland to ensure that we continue to work very strongly with industry.”
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