What is it?
Expertiseireland.com is an all-Island research portal developed jointly by InterTradeIreland and the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities. It aims to boost levels of collaborative research and development (R&D) activity by fostering better links between industry and academia. It is a sophisticated web-based portal aimed to improve higher education and industry links by providing industry with easier access to research expertise.
What does it do?
The site provides a searchable database with up-to-date details of academic and commercial expertise, funding information, technology transfer and collaborative opportunities on the island, North and South. Uniquely, information for the database is sourced directly from the knowledge management systems of the island’s research organisations. It aims to be the first point of contact for anyone seeking information on expertise across the spectrum of sectors and disciplines available on the island.
By providing a single access point, Expertiseireland.com aims to encourage and facilitate industry/academic linkages and business-to-business connections. It hopes to create enhanced consultancy, collaboration and help the island-wide and international business and research community tap into the world-class intellectual property available on the island.
Expertiseireland.com has also been designed to meet the requirements of the academic sector with all of the nine universities on the island being on board by the end of the year.
In addition to providing a single searchable database of research and innovation expertise, Expertiseireland.com includes bulletin/news boards and detailed profiles of research experts, including information on publications, research projects, grants secured and consultancy history.
Who is it for?
Businesses and state agencies can use the portal to seek out researcher’s knowledge and know-how. Small to medium-sized enterprises can also seek research expertise and develop commercial applications for the research outputs.
By Brian Skelly
