Irish-owned Innopharma Labs has entered into an education partnership with Griffith College Dublin to create a new faculty to upskill people for careers in the pharma, med-tech and food-tech sectors.
The Faculty will provide pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and food science accredited qualifications for graduates interested in direct entry or conversion to careers in these economically important sectors.
As well as operating an R&D Budget of over €6 million a year, Innopharma is also the country’s leading provider of innovative training programmes in the pharmaceutical and medical devices industries. This provides Innopharma Labs and the wider tech sector with graduates to sustain technology developments and industry growth in Ireland.
The Griffith-Innopharma Faculty of Science was launched last night at Griffith College Dublin by the Minister of State for Skills, Research and Innovation, Damien English T.D.
“The pharmaceutical, med tech and food sectors have undergone significant change over the past decade,” Minister English said.
“Successful companies in these sectors have remained flexible and adaptive in their thinking, business strategy and staffing.
“This requires having an agile and flexible workforce whose skills are aligned to these relevant industry sectors which offer strong growth potential and the prospect of long-term sustainable employment. The Griffith-Innopharma Faculty of Science programme aims to achieve that objective.
More vacancies in pharma, food and med tech than qualified personnel
Responding to questions InnoPharma CEO Ian Jones explained: “In addition to new Griffith-Innopharma Faculty of Science being launched here today, Innopharma Labs delivers Springboard programmes for unemployed people to convert their skills into these essential areas of our economy.
“Over 70pc of 1,500 students that have completed our specific programmes have re-entered employment.”
According to Jones there are over 370 pharmaceutical and med tech companies that employ 70,000 directly and indirectly.
“Nine of the world’s top 10 pharma companies are based in Ireland where we are the 8th largest producer of pharmaceuticals with exports in excess of €50bn annually.
“Augmenting this position, 18 of the world’s top 20 medtech companies are also based in Ireland with exports in excess of €7bn annually.
“While thousands of jobs have been created in the medical devices and pharmaceutical sectors, we have reached a point where there are more vacancies than qualified personnel,” Jones said.
Jones said the new Griffith-Innopharma Faculty of Science will provide pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and food science accredited qualifications for graduates interested in direct entry or conversion to careers in these economically important sectors.
“Innopharma Labs’ training programmes are designed in conjunction with industry partners such as United Drug, GlaxoSmithKline and Medtronic as well as representative bodies like IBEC. This means that the programmes meet the needs of industry. This is one of the reasons behind the huge success rate for graduates in finding employment,” Jones said.
