Enterprise Ireland is central to the links between education and industry, realised through support schemes. They recognise the key role that Ireland’s Universities, Colleges and Institutes of Technology play in developing innovative technologies in collaboration with industry.

The Pharmaceutical and Molecular Biotechnology Research Centre (PMBRC) in Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) was funded under the Applied Research Enhancement (ARE) Programme, a European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Enterprise Ireland supported scheme under the Southern and Eastern Operational Programme 2007-2013.

The Centre supports the sustainable growth of the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry in the south-east of Ireland and seeks to stimulate research and innovation, allowing companies to embed research and development into their activities. The centre attracted €710,000 in public funding under the programme.

Scientist at work in the PMBC

Dr. Niall O’Reilly, the centre’s manager explained that it consists of a state-of-the-art facility with 34 highly-trained research personnel. The centre is working to build links between researchers and industry both within Ireland and with the wider world.

Dr. O’Reilly said “ERDF supports our engagement with industry, our research commercialisation as well as the training programmes developed within the centre.”

Supports to facilitate the commercialisation of the research of our educational institutions and to strengthen collaboration between these institutes and industry are a core feature of the Southern and Eastern Programme 2014-2020.

Building on the significant achievements of the previous programme the objectives for Research and Innovation objective are:

  • To increase the level of research taking place in the Southern and Eastern region with Company engagement by supplying applied research
  • To increase the level of commercialisation of research by the Higher Education Institutes in the Southern and Eastern region.

A measure of the success of the programme will be:

  • The number of industry partners engaged with funded strategic research centres in the Southern and Eastern region.
  • The annual number of licenses as a result of research in the Southern and Eastern Region.