engineering, maritime operations, maritime
technology and ecosystem governance. The
expertise within the partnership provides a unique
mix of academic, end user and professional expertise
focused on the offshore environment.
UCC has many industry-focus innovation
projects, from which start-up companies
are brought into existence. Can you give
some examples of work in this regard?
MERC has been initiated at the dawn of a new era
for maritime Ireland, stimulated by the growing
realisation of the economic opportunities around
maritime energy, and in particular with regard to
marine renewables.
UCC is a lead partner in the development of
Ireland’s first Science Park. The Cork Science
Innovation and Technology Park is being developed
in collaboration with Cork County Council, Cork
Institute of technology, IDA Ireland and
Enterprise Ireland.
This awakening is being transformed into action
through a number of complementary, strategic
national marine initiatives. These include Smart
Bay, the full scale offshore marine energy test site in
Belmullet, and MERC.
Similar to the IERC, MERC provides for an
industry-led approach to research and development.
This will be used to develop an ecosystem of
innovation that will yield intellectual property,
high potential start-up companies and jobs in the
Ireland’s Smart Economy. Examples of projects
include Innovation Partnerships to develop
technology to stimulate the deployment of wave
energy devices off the West Coast of Ireland, and to
improve the ability to access offshore wind turbines.
industry partners range from multinational
corporations such as Transas Ltd, to SMEs such as
Seftec Offshore Ltd.
The University established its Office of Technology
Transfer in 2007 to drive the commercialisation of
UCC and Tyndall research into the economy. Over
the past two years UCC has formed 7 companies
across all major disciplines: Software, ICT
Hardware, Food and Med-Tech. The pipeline for
the coming year indicates this flow will continue.
Together, the IERC and MERC form part of UCC’s
energy alliance, and represent UCC’s strategic
approach to Ireland’s energy opportunity.
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