Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 25 February 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Strengthening the Start-up Community: Discussion

2:10 pm

Mr. Sean O'Sullivan:

I do not know what needs to change. I have pointed out to all the powers that be that something needs to change. The change needs to come from within. We should get a greater return on that investment. The single recommendation we have here is that every student, at every level in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, STEM, education should take a commercialisation course. That would lead us down that path because there is not enough orientation towards commercialisation by the students. Instead, there is a thought that if we create the great technology somebody will license it from us. That is not really how it works. They need to spin that out of the university then leave their day jobs and go to work for that new company. That is generally what happens in successful commercialisation operations.