SFI in association with MMI organised a Technology Platform Workshop on June 3rd 2010 at the Institute for Molecular Medicine in St James Hospital in order to showcase the breadth of technology platforms in Ireland and to highlight how these technologies are:

• Operating as national and/or all-island facilities
• Contributing to Ireland’s innovation and commercialisation agenda
• Facilitating partnerships with industry

We were delighted to note that this workshop was well attended with representation from many institutions across the country, both north and south. The workshop was opened jointly by Dr Ruth Barrington of MMI and Dr Stephen Simpson of SFI who highlighted the interest of both organisations in developing a better understanding of the contribution of technology platforms.  Dr Jan Guerin of MMI launched the Technology Platform Web-Portal developed to promote technologies that support clinical and translational research in Ireland: http://www.molecularmedicineireland.ie/tp_web_portal.  The web-portal currently profiles over 60 technology platforms available for biomedical research on the island of Ireland.

Dr Eucharia Meehan of the Higher Education Authority, whose Programme for Research in Third Level Education funded the establishment of many technology platforms throughout Ireland, chaired the first session on how technology platforms operate as national and/or all-island facilities.  Mr. Martin Shanagher from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, chaired the session focusing on how technology platforms are addressing the innovation and commercialisation agenda.  Mr Shanagher led this session by highlighting the Government’s recognition that investment in science and research is central to Ireland’s economic recovery.  Dr Brian Kelly of Celtic Catalysts and a member of the Innovation Task Force chaired the session that highlighted how technology platforms facilitate partnerships with industry.

The presentations for all three sessions included researchers from a number of universities in Ireland who clearly demonstrated how technology platforms are actively contributing to Ireland’s research and innovation agenda and forging strong partnerships with industry.  These presentations also highlighted the availability of these state-of-the-art technologies, many organised as national facilities, to researchers throughout Ireland.

In addition to the broad range of oral presentations, there were a number of posters (as highlighted in the above image) showcasing the contribution of their technology platforms to these thematic areas.

The keynote speaker was Dr. Christian Boulin, Head of Core Facilities at EMBL, who provided a comprehensive overview of the state-of-art facilities available through EMBL to Irish researchers and who encouraged more Irish researchers to avail of EMBL’s technologies and expertise.

The final session, chaired by Dr Ruth Barrington, provided a lively discussion around the use and sustainability of technology platforms.  The panel members for this session were Sean Mulvany (EI), Stephen Simpson (SFI), Enda Connelly (HRB), Christian Boulin (EMBL), John Boland (CRANN) and Bert Rima (QUB) who shared their views openly on this important topic.

To conclude the day, Ruth Barrington thanked the speakers, chairs, panel members, oral and poster presenters for participating in the workshop and for contributing to such a stimulating day.  On behalf of all those attending, she thanked Jan Guerin, Siobhan Roche and Michael Ryan for their hard work in planning and organising the workshop. She invited more researchers to display their technology platforms on the MMI Technology Platform Web-portal and said that the proceedings of the workshop would be prepared and circulated with a view to promoting a more strategic approach to sustain the substantial investment in infrastructure and expertise of the past ten years.

MMI in association with SFI are currently drafting the proceedings for the Workshop which will be made available in the coming week at the following link: http://www.molecularmedicineireland.ie/tp_web_portal

Please click here for a copy of the programme of speakers for this workshop.