Periodic Reporting for period 3 - Career-FIT (Career Development Fellowships in the National Technology Centre Programme)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2021-01-01 do 2022-12-31
The Career-FIT programme responds to the European Research Area recommendations for mobility of researchers between countries and sectors, aiming to boost research and innovation while adding to the future employability of researchers. In this context the Career-FIT strategy achieves this by placing the Fellows (experienced researchers awarded a Career-FIT fellowship) in Ireland's market-focused, industry collaborative Technology Centres and giving them the opportunity to spend up to 12 months within their 36-months contract at their partner company's, and thereby gain invaluable, first-hand insight in the industry sector.
It does this in a manner more closely linked to the agenda of cross-sectoral cooperation in research careers in the Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) than any previous MSCA COFUND Programme.
Additionally, key strategic objectives are to address skill shortages and increase the R&D competitiveness of Irish-based enterprises.
Ireland's Technology Centres located within the eight Irish universities act as Host Organisations for the Fellows. They form a key pillar of the Irish research ecosystem, addressing Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) 4-8, i.e. applied research, development and demonstration. In essence, they operate as public-private partnerships, aimed at enabling research that might not otherwise take place, and facilitate better interaction with industry towards producing tangible economic benefits. The Centres aim to address issues of value to both sides of the academic-industry link. Innovative research groups are created working on projects across disciplinary boundaries with issues that are both relevant for the industrial partners and scientifically challenging.
The programme also meets Ireland's Smart Specialisation strategy expectations in so far as the Fellows are placed in Host Organisations across the Republic of Ireland and the partner companies are also well spread geographically.
It does this in a manner more closely linked to the agenda of cross-sectoral cooperation in research careers in the Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) than any previous MSCA COFUND Programme.
Additionally, key strategic objectives are to address skill shortages and increase the R&D competitiveness of Irish-based enterprises.
Ireland's Technology Centres located within the eight Irish universities act as Host Organisations for the Fellows. They form a key pillar of the Irish research ecosystem, addressing Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) 4-8, i.e. applied research, development and demonstration. In essence, they operate as public-private partnerships, aimed at enabling research that might not otherwise take place, and facilitate better interaction with industry towards producing tangible economic benefits. The Centres aim to address issues of value to both sides of the academic-industry link. Innovative research groups are created working on projects across disciplinary boundaries with issues that are both relevant for the industrial partners and scientifically challenging.
The programme also meets Ireland's Smart Specialisation strategy expectations in so far as the Fellows are placed in Host Organisations across the Republic of Ireland and the partner companies are also well spread geographically.
In the six years of its implementation, Career-FIT has achieved all the expected results, despite the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 epidemic that were overcome by prompt and effective solutions.
Enteprise Ireland, its sole beneficiary, has successfully managed the programme, its two calls for proposals and evaluations, contractual and financial issues, monitored the implementation of the fellowships, liaised with the Advisory Board and REA, etc.
The recruitment target of 50 Career-FIT Fellows was achieved. Their profile is balanced: 40% of them are female and 60% are male researchers, and they belong to 30 different nationalities and diverse scientific areas (ranging from functional food and ingredients to photonics and from drug formulation to artificial intelligence).
Each Fellow chose and designed their Career-FIT research project freely and could rely on the support of a dedicated Academic Mentor and Company Mentor throughout its implementation.
Because of its bottom-up approach, the programme included both standardised and tailor-made training opportunities. While Fellows were free to lay out their yearly training needs (a combination of technical skills and transversal ones), they also benefited from: a Centralised Training Event organised by Enterprise Ireland on a yearly basis; coaching by the dedicated Mentors; industry secondment; Host Organisations' training events for PostDocs (e.g. research project management, Intellectual Property, leadership etc) and support provided by the Technology Transfer Offices in each institution, with expertise in identifying and licensing new technologies and IP.
On the communications, dissemination and exploitation front, the Fellows were very active. They engaged in hundreds of communication activities both in Ireland and internationally, whereby both the specific projects and the Fellows' research profiles were widely publicized. They also published extensively (over 70 publications) and on high-level journals. Exploitation of results was also considerable. The most obvious case is the Fellow who is commercialising his Career-FIT project results having successfully acquired two rounds of research commercialisation funding and now in the process of spinning-out his own company that will manufacture microneedle patches for drug delivery (https://horizoneurope.ie/horizon-europe/career-fit-programme-helps-bring-revolutionary-medtech-to-market). Five other Fellows have embarked on a similar journey in Ireland and seven additional ones have exploited the industry exposure they had gained through Career-FIT to be employed by the private sector (in Ireland and internationally). Also, at least five Invention Disclosure Forms (IDFs) and four patents resulting from Career-FIT projects were published.
Enteprise Ireland, its sole beneficiary, has successfully managed the programme, its two calls for proposals and evaluations, contractual and financial issues, monitored the implementation of the fellowships, liaised with the Advisory Board and REA, etc.
The recruitment target of 50 Career-FIT Fellows was achieved. Their profile is balanced: 40% of them are female and 60% are male researchers, and they belong to 30 different nationalities and diverse scientific areas (ranging from functional food and ingredients to photonics and from drug formulation to artificial intelligence).
Each Fellow chose and designed their Career-FIT research project freely and could rely on the support of a dedicated Academic Mentor and Company Mentor throughout its implementation.
Because of its bottom-up approach, the programme included both standardised and tailor-made training opportunities. While Fellows were free to lay out their yearly training needs (a combination of technical skills and transversal ones), they also benefited from: a Centralised Training Event organised by Enterprise Ireland on a yearly basis; coaching by the dedicated Mentors; industry secondment; Host Organisations' training events for PostDocs (e.g. research project management, Intellectual Property, leadership etc) and support provided by the Technology Transfer Offices in each institution, with expertise in identifying and licensing new technologies and IP.
On the communications, dissemination and exploitation front, the Fellows were very active. They engaged in hundreds of communication activities both in Ireland and internationally, whereby both the specific projects and the Fellows' research profiles were widely publicized. They also published extensively (over 70 publications) and on high-level journals. Exploitation of results was also considerable. The most obvious case is the Fellow who is commercialising his Career-FIT project results having successfully acquired two rounds of research commercialisation funding and now in the process of spinning-out his own company that will manufacture microneedle patches for drug delivery (https://horizoneurope.ie/horizon-europe/career-fit-programme-helps-bring-revolutionary-medtech-to-market). Five other Fellows have embarked on a similar journey in Ireland and seven additional ones have exploited the industry exposure they had gained through Career-FIT to be employed by the private sector (in Ireland and internationally). Also, at least five Invention Disclosure Forms (IDFs) and four patents resulting from Career-FIT projects were published.
Career-FIT has broadened and diversified the Fellows' career opportunities by providing them with: leadership experience (being independently responsible for carrying out their research project and in certain cases supervising PhD students),
experimental learning (being exposed to a new research environment, and the facilities of the partner company), interdisciplinary skills (generous training budget and embedment in a Technology Centre) and intersectoral experience (industry secondment at the partner company).
In many instances the impact on the recruited Fellows has been truly pivotal. Preliminary data show that seven Fellows have already transitioned to industry position and six have embarked on the journey of commercialising their research via competitive EI funding, including one who is about to launch his own spin-out company. This means that for 26% of the Career-FIT contingent, the programme has already proven to be transformational. For the remaining ones it will at the very least translate into a cohort of collaborative academics, with an appetite to work with industry on applied research projects to the benefit of consumers and society at large.
The Host Organisations have benefited from the strenghtening and gowth of the research talent that the Fellows have brought about, as well as its increased internationalisation.
The impact for the Irish socio-economic system has been considerable too: companies of all sizes (large, SMEs and start-ups) have participated in the programme, and with a good geographical spread, thereby supporting the Regional Agenda for local competitiveness and socio-economic development in Ireland. A survey conducted in 2019 among the partner companies shows that their participation in Career-FIT allowed them to work on innovative projects with high-caliber researchers and significantly advance their R&D activities. Furthermore, 40% of the selected Career-FIT projects are in the area of agrifood, and this has brought about collaborative research activities to an area which has been traditionally not as innovative.
From a global perspective, it is interesting to note that 20% of the funded fellowships are directly or indirectly related to climate action and sustainability and have therefore advanced research in this high-priority area.
experimental learning (being exposed to a new research environment, and the facilities of the partner company), interdisciplinary skills (generous training budget and embedment in a Technology Centre) and intersectoral experience (industry secondment at the partner company).
In many instances the impact on the recruited Fellows has been truly pivotal. Preliminary data show that seven Fellows have already transitioned to industry position and six have embarked on the journey of commercialising their research via competitive EI funding, including one who is about to launch his own spin-out company. This means that for 26% of the Career-FIT contingent, the programme has already proven to be transformational. For the remaining ones it will at the very least translate into a cohort of collaborative academics, with an appetite to work with industry on applied research projects to the benefit of consumers and society at large.
The Host Organisations have benefited from the strenghtening and gowth of the research talent that the Fellows have brought about, as well as its increased internationalisation.
The impact for the Irish socio-economic system has been considerable too: companies of all sizes (large, SMEs and start-ups) have participated in the programme, and with a good geographical spread, thereby supporting the Regional Agenda for local competitiveness and socio-economic development in Ireland. A survey conducted in 2019 among the partner companies shows that their participation in Career-FIT allowed them to work on innovative projects with high-caliber researchers and significantly advance their R&D activities. Furthermore, 40% of the selected Career-FIT projects are in the area of agrifood, and this has brought about collaborative research activities to an area which has been traditionally not as innovative.
From a global perspective, it is interesting to note that 20% of the funded fellowships are directly or indirectly related to climate action and sustainability and have therefore advanced research in this high-priority area.