BUSINESS
Profile: 3CS research centre
05-10-2010
by ElectricNews.net
Innovation is the key to growth for Irish companies, says Barry Downes of 3CS.
"Even in recession, innovation is about looking after tomorrow’s product today," said Barry Downes, Executive Director of research centre 3CS. "That’s a difficult thing to do for companies in today’s economy who are focused on getting that next sale but if you can do it, it’s the key to growth."
In a down market, research is not the first thing companies think about, but Downes, is challenging Irish companies look to different sources for innovation and growth.
3CS is an innovation and collaborative research centre, linked to Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) that works with industry to build successful companies and develop innovative products. 3CS has worked with over 90 Irish companies in the past few years in areas such as telecom management, and telecoms and Internet services. The subject experts at 3CS can help Irish companies in the following ways:
1. 3CS has specialised knowledge that companies can use to develop new products and services.
2. Companies can develop new features for existing products or simply test and validate products on 3CS’ Next Generation Network (NGN) Test Centre.
3. Companies are able to access a range of services to help with R&D to develop new technologies.
4. 3CS and Enterprise Ireland offer help with funding to make accessing these specialised skills and knowledge viable.
Ground-breaking companies
With Enterprise Ireland, 3CS offers "innovation partnerships" and “innovation vouchers” which fund Irish companies to access the specialised skills and knowledge that 3CS has. "In some cases, Enterprise Ireland will pay up to 80 percent of the costs," explained Downes. In just three years, over 52 companies have availed of this opportunity with 3CS, including: FeedHenry, O2 Ireland, ZolkC, Columba Global Systems, Headway Software and Munster Express.
Paul Savage from Zolk C, which develops interpretive technology, worked with 3CS to develop the company's underlying technology. "Undertaking an innovation partnership with 3CS was an obvious choice for Zolk C, primarily because of 3CS's competence and depth of knowledge in the new and emerging mobile platforms and technologies. This depth of knowledge will now give us the edge over our competitors in the international market as technology rapidly evolves in the coming years. The innovation voucher was an ideal stepping-stone to make us aware and comfortable with the capability of 3CS before we started to invest our research and development budget with them."
Challenges ahead
Downes believes that there are many challenges facing start-ups today. "Acquiring funding and getting that first customer is tough. But where 3CS comes in, is to help build on those initial products and get them to market. We solve the problem of where do these products go? We bring a tremendous amount of knowledge to bear about the market and help companies see innovation. This helps emerging companies extend their customer base, and reap new revenues from untapped markets."
"Another interesting aspect of 3CS is that we work with other research centres across Europe; that’s a big benefit for Irish companies because we are effectively connecting Irish companies with large and small innovators all over Europe," said Downes. "3CS brings that knowledge back to Ireland and leverages it for the companies it works with."
"The best thing about 3CS and the innovation partnership program is that we enable companies to focus on new product growth and do it with the help of support from organisations such as Enterprise Ireland," commented Downes. "Now, that’s a fantastic resource to offer Irish industry."
For anyone looking to find out more about 3CS’s innovation partnerships and funding, contact: Sinead Quealy, Innovation Voucher/Partnership Manager at squealy@3cs.info.
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