Convene Forum – Where Enterprise, Education and Research Converge
17th October 2021
Earlier this month, Taoiseach Michael Martin opened the inaugural Convene Enterprise Forum at the Technological University Dublin, a collaboration that seeks to transform university-enterprise engagement for the benefit of Irish society and the economy. The event brought together a panel of enterprise and higher education leaders to discuss lessons learned from the pandemic; how to collectively deliver the priority skills and innovation necessary to reinvigorate business; and how to support a resilient and enduring economic recovery in the wake of the unprecedented disruption caused by COVID-19.
“Great work is already in train across Ireland with new and exciting enterprise-academic partnerships working on practical plans to re-imagine our economy, to upgrade our national skills base, to fully harness the potential of the digital age and to protect our environment.”
“Our business community needs the energy and the initiatives that collaboration with our universities can provide. A continuous two-way flow of ideas between our universities and enterprise will create a win-win situation and will result in an upsurge in the agility, the innovation and the skills capacity required to ensure Ireland will bounce back from Covid 19 stronger than ever.”
“In support of this goal, last October, in the midst of this pandemic, my Government brought forward the Human Capital Initiative Pillar 3, with a very significant budget of €197 million for 22 projects, led by collaborative third-level partners, over the next five years.
Convene is one of these successful, innovative 22 projects and its work at nexus of enterprise, education and research can be a game-changer,” said Taoiseach Michael Martin.
The panel, moderated by journalist Eileen Dunne, included Michael Horgan, Chairperson, Higher Education Authority; Brid Horan, Chancellor, DCU; Dr. Andrea Johnson, Vice President, WorkHuman; and Jerry O’Sullivan, Deputy Chief Executive, ESB.
Convene’s inaugural Enterprise Forum combined many of the key ingredients for Ireland to distinguish itself as an innovation leader, succeed in the fourth industrial revolution and rebound after the pandemic: enterprise, government and academia working together to anticipate, understand and respond to emerging needs.
“Convene is about finding new ways of academia and enterprise working together. We are differentiated in a few ways – by focussing on what enterprise needs and providing a sector-facing response, co-creating skills and innovation solutions, creating a neutral ground for important debates, opening the doors to the wealth of skills, knowledge and innovation capacity in universities, and explicitly recognising enterprise’s own capacity for talent development and innovation,” commented Dr. Deirdre Lillis.
“Covid-19 has shown the value of university-enterprise cooperation in sectors such as pharma and tech with solutions developed and deployed in record time” commented Prof Suzi Jarvis,
“the pandemic won’t be the last crisis we face so let’s seize this historic opportunity and channel that same energy and urgency into ongoing cooperation so that Ireland not just survives but thrives in the fourth industrial revolution.”
Photo Caption – From left to right: Prof. Orla Feely, VP, Research, Innovation and Impact at UCD, David Carson, Chair, TU Dublin Governing Body, Prof. Suzi Jarvis, Convene Lead – UCD Innovation Academy, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Dr. Deirdre Lillis, Convene Lead – TU Dublin, and Prof. David FitzPatrick, President, TU Dublin. (Photo by Maxwell Photography).
