UCD Engineering Graduates Association will host the 2016 EGA Autumn Panel Discussion on ‘Engineering Research, Innovation and Job Creation’ in Clinton Auditorium, Belfield on October 6^th next at 6pm.

This year the Keynote Speaker will be the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD. Her priority in Government is to drive implementation of the Action Plan for Jobs 2016 aimed at creating 200,000 new jobs by 2020 to bring the total number at work in Ireland to 2.18 million. It currently stands at 2 million people. This will require an ambitious reform agenda across government departments, Enterprise Ireland, local enterprise offices (LEOs), higher education institutions, the private sector and communities across the country.

“The Autumn Panel Discussion will explore the supply chain from research and innovation to start-up enterprise towards sustainable jobs through the lens of four leading educationalists, researchers and entrepreneurs” stated UCD EGA President PJ Rudden.

The Expert Panel speakers following the Minister will be:

• Professor Orla Feely, UCD Vice President for Research, Innovation & Impact, will describe the engineering research landscape nationally and give examples where this research has led to significant innovation including but not limited to start-ups.

• Dr. Martin Curley, NUI Maynooth Professor of Technology and Business Innovation and former Vice President Innovation at Intel Ireland will discuss the importance of the ecosystem for nurturing new innovations. He will also discuss how engineering innovation and the use of agile methods can accelerate progress in both value and job creation with several case studies.

• Professor Eoin Casey, Co-Founder of start-up company OxyMem and Head of UCD School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, will describe the research innovation that led to the setting up and commercialisation of start-up company OxyMem who have developed a unique membrane-based disruptive technology for the growing water industry.

• Dr. Helen McBreen, Investment Director at Atlantic Bridge Venture Capital will discuss the importance of investing and growing early stage companies particularly the role of value added investors in creating companies of scale to create high quality jobs, exports and international investment emerging from the third level research base. She will also describe the €60 million University Bridge Fund initiated in 2016 jointly by UCD and Trinity to invest in early stage companies emerging from third level research in key sectors such as software, hardware, engineering, physical sciences, life sciences and agri-food. Both UCD and Trinity are ranked in the top 1% of higher education institutes worldwide in creating spin-outs and start-ups leading to significant job creation across key growth centres. The University Bridge Fund is open to all universities and institutes nationally. Enterprise Ireland, the European Investment Fund, AIB and Bank of Ireland are all investors in the Fund.

“With the current focus on rebuilding Ireland’s economic development and maintaining national growth levels in the face of Brexit and other challenges, we are expecting an excellent attendance to this event from government departments, state enterprise bodies, industry, third level colleges, engineering and technology sectors” stated PJ Rudden President of UCD EGA.

Please register at ega@ucd.ie to secure your place.

Contact PJ Rudden (087) 2349556