
Innovation, Business models, Strategy & Marketing
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Brendan Wafer, Managing Director
B.Comm (UCC), MBA (Strathclyde University), FMII
Brendan has worked in both the private and public sectors in Ireland and the UK. He has been involved in 4 start-ups, mentored more than 20 companies and been a Director of the National Training Network (part of Rehab Group) and ETEPS an international STI and Foresight Consortium. He is a former National Chairman of the Marketing Institute of Ireland, and Head of Marketing at the Irish Science & Technology Agency. Brendan has undertaken international and national STI policy studies and evaluations, company innovation projects, numerous training courses and mentoring assignments. He has represented Ireland on EU Research Committees and has been invlolved in professioonal marketing education at all levels.
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Economic Analyst, Leadership, Management & Governance
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Dr. Tom McCarthy, Associate Director BA & MA Economics (UCC), PhD (Queen's University)
Tom is an economist with a strong record as an innovator in academia and in Irish company management. He is a trusted adviser and consultant to public and private sector organisations and has a breadth of insight into issues related to university –industry interaction. Tom has a deep understanding of academic research practices gained from his experiences in university leadership positions, including Dean of Research at Maynooth University, and Dean of the Business School at Dublin City University. In his Maynooth role he was instrumental in the creation of the Biosciences Institute, the National Institute for Regional & Spatial Analysis (NIRSA) and the Hamilton Institute, including the processes for their interaction with clients. Other important consulting assignments include advice on development of Moorepark Technology Ltd, a pilot facility designed to support product and process trials; and high-level involvement in defining the National Research Priorities.
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Biotechnology, Life Sciences & IPR; Horizon 2020
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Dr Jim Ryan, Director
B.Sc., Ph.D.(UCD)
An experienced specialist in science policy and innovation management issues with emphasis on life sciences. He has worked extensively in R&D Management, Evaluation of RTD programmes and other S&T policy issues. Internationally, he has conducted projects in Romania, UAE, Lithuania, Estonia, Thailand, Malaysia and China. These included evaluation and re-development of national R&D funding initiatives. Past employments include 6 years as director of Ireland’s National Biotechnology Programme (1996-2001), where he had responsibility for developing strategy and for commercialising university research. He has also worked with the National Board for S&T (Ireland), Simon Fraser Univ. (Canada), & Life Science Supplies Ltd. (Irl). He also has extensive experience in EU Framework funding. He has served as National Delegate, Evaluator and has also advised many successful applicants for funding.
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Horizon 2020; Food innovation
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Jim Codd, Associate Director
Jim Codd has 20+ years of management experience in the food industry in roles including production management and innovation support. He also has almost twenty years hands on experience of supporting EU Framework Programmes (FP) research funding, including writing applications, contract negotiations and project management. He is currently financial and administrative manager to 2 large FP6 integrated projects and 3 FP7 projects. He has recent experience as an expert FP evaluator. In addition he has extensive experience of RTI programmes for industrial research funding both as a successful industrial applicant and as a technical expert evaluator.
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Lean Product Development, Design Thinking and R&D Management
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Patrick Lawlor, Senior Consultant
M.Sc. University of Surrey, MBA, University College Dublin
He has held a number of senior roles in operations and research in industry and he has also worked with the Institute of Industrial Research and Standards (Ireland) providing R&D support to Irish Industry. He was Director of R&D Europe and the USA for Magna Donnelly with responsibility for identifying and evaluating new opportunities. He has considerable knowledge of IP as a holder of several patents and in the defense of patents in Europe and the USA. He was a member of the National Research Support Fund Board and the Industrial Research Commercialisation Committee within Enterprise Ireland from 2003 to 2008
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Growth innovation, Design thinking, Start-up mentor, ICT Security
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Jim Cuddy, Associate Director
BSc CEng MIET— DIT and Manchester Metropolitan University
Jim is an electronics engineer with a background in Enterprise Ireland and previous experience in medical electronics. His specialist areas are business strategy, innovation management and college/industry interaction. He has worked at executive and management levels in RD&I programmes and European technology transfer, followed by business development of SMEs in the software and ICT sector. He managed the preparation and implementation of the Strategy for Development of the Irish Software Sector 2009. Jim has been a National Delegate on the EU Framework programme (Innovation) and is a Business Coach under the EU Horizon 2020 programme. Assignments include evaluations, skills initiatives, Design Thinking, and mentor support to start-up and established companies. He is also coordinator of InfoSecurity Ireland—a cluster of cybersecurity software companies.
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Technology and business development, Scaling, Commercialisation and Operations Management
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Tim Roche, Senior Consultant
Ph. D. (UCC), Executive Business Programmes (Havard, Kellogg, Smurfit and Michigan State University)
Tim has over 25 years’ experience in technology and business development, scaling, commercialisation and operations management in University, SME and MNC settings. He has lived and worked in Ireland, Australia, SEA and the USA and has advised Irish & international client companies and government departments on business development opportunities in Ireland, the US, Japan and East Africa. He has organised international thought leadership conferences on research, regulatory and consumer acceptance in the EU and USA as well as numerous ministerial trade missions, open innovation showcases and knowledge/technology transfer events.
Tim is an internationally Registered Technology Transfer Professional and former chair of the Irish Technology Transfer and Innovation Group. Tim was Director of Technology Transfer at University College Cork (UCC). In this role he led the largest technology transfer consortium in Ireland involving UCC/Tyndall National Institute, Cork Institute of Technology and Teagasc.
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