Invent’s role is to add value to promising research by fostering links between DCU’s technologies and the financial and entrepreneurial resources of industry and business.
We are keen to engage with entrepreneurs to:

• introduce new technologies to the marketplace
• license university innovations to established companies
• license university innovations to initiate start-up companies
• work with entrepreneurs to locate in Invent and collaborate on R&D

The following are a variety of mechanisms and funding schemes available to facilitate collaboration with entrepreneurs:

Funding for Exploring New Opportunities (Enterprise Ireland)
Investigating new ideas and markets can be an expensive and time consuming undertaking. To address this issue, Enterprise Ireland provides a range of measures to assist entrepreneurs and may be able to provide funding to help explore new ideas/markets.
http://www.enterprise-ireland.com/Grow/Finance/FundingforExploringNewOpportunities.htm
One particularly interesting example of such support is the CORD Enterprise Platform Programme (Enterprise Ireland)
http://www.enterprise-ireland.com/Grow/Finance/CORDEnterprisePlatformProgramme.htm

Innovation Vouchers (Enterprise Ireland)
The objective of the Innovation Voucher initiative is to build links between Ireland's research community and small businesses and to create a cultural shift in the small business community's approach to innovation. This scheme is open to any small limited Irish company with a business opportunity or problem that they want to explore with a university. The Innovation Voucher is worth €5,000.
http://www.innovationvouchers.ie/

Innovation Partnership Initiative (Enterprise Ireland)
This initiative offers financial support to companies who engage in collaborative research projects with Irish universities and institutes of technology. Enterprise Ireland provides grants of up to 80% towards eligible costs of the research project.
http://www.enterprise-ireland.com/ResearchInnovate/R+and+D+Collaboration/Innovation+Partnerships.htm

Campus-Industry Partnerships - Strategic Research Clusters (SFI)
These SRC partnerships helps link scientists and engineers across academia and industry to address crucial research questions, foster the development of new and existing Irish-based technology companies, and grow relationships with industry that could make an important contribution to Ireland and its economy. These clusters may be eligible for funding up to €5M in total over a 5 year period. In general, SFI may contribute 75% of the costs with the balance coming from the industrial partners which may be direct sponsorship of SRC activities, or in-kind contributions such as personnel, equipment, samples, devices, infrastructure, or valuable intellectual capital.

Campus-Industry Partnerships - CSETs (SFI)
These CSETs are significantly larger scale academic-industrial partnerships which link scientists and engineers across academia and industry to address crucial research questions, foster the development of new and existing Irish-based technology companies, and grow relationships with industry that could make an important contribution to Ireland and its economy. These clusters may be eligible for funding up to €15-20M in total over a 5 year period. Once again, SFI may contribute 75% of the costs with the balance coming from the industrial partners which may be direct sponsorship of SRC activities, or in-kind contributions such as personnel, equipment, samples, devices, infrastructure, or valuable intellectual capital.

The Invent team works closely with DCU’s Office of the Vice President for Research, Science Foundation Ireland and Enterprise Ireland to promote successful commercialisation of DCU research and to encourage and establish R&D links with industry through such funding schemes as outlined above.