A DELEGATION of Irish researchers will showcase their work in the US this week as part of a government-led research mission.
The group will bring their scientific breakthroughs in the likes of cancer research and quantum computing to Massachusetts - where they will meet with leading US universities and technology companies with a view to turning them into new treatments, businesses and jobs.
Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless is leading the research mission.
"Ireland's greatest resource has always been its people,” he said.
“Our economic success has been built on investment in education, skills and research, and those investments are ever more important as we compete for the industries and technologies of the future.”
Minister James Lawless is leading the research missionResearch Ireland CEO Diarmuid O'Brien is also on the trip, which features some of Ireland’s leading researchers, including representatives of seven research centres and commercialisation hubs working in life sciences and quantum technologies.
"Massachusetts demonstrates what can happen when universities, researchers, investors and enterprise work together,” Minister Lawless added.
“We are investing €4.5 billion in further and higher education, including major commitments to research infrastructure and research centres," he explained.
"I want to ensure that investment translates into new discoveries, new businesses and high-value jobs across Ireland.
"And this mission is about building the international partnerships that will help us achieve that."
The mission will bring Irish researchers into direct contact with some of the world's leading universities, scientific institutions and technology companies, including MIT, the University of Massachusetts, IBM and Boston Scientific.
Massachusetts is also home to Kendall Square, one of the world's most concentrated centres of scientific research, biotechnology and venture capital.
The area has become an international example of how discoveries made in university laboratories can develop into successful companies, new medicines and thousands of highly skilled jobs.
Ireland hopes to replicate that model through a €460m investment in its newly-launched RINN national research network, whic is designed to support research in areas including advanced therapies, medical devices, pharmaceuticals and quantum science.
Among the research being showcased by Irish researchers in the US this week are personalised therapies for conditions including ovarian cancer and multiple sclerosis, new medical devices to support healthy ageing, and quantum technologies with potential applications across healthcare and industry.
Minister Lawless will also meet senior executives at Boston Scientific and IBM, two companies with longstanding operations in Ireland.
Boston Scientific employs more than 7,500 people across Galway, Cork and Clonmel in Tipperary, and recently announced a €75m investment in its Galway campus.
IBM operates a research laboratory at Trinity College Dublin and employs more than 3,200 people across Ireland.
Among the Irish research being highlighted in will be Irish pharmaceutical innovation company APC, whose work in drug development and manufacturing demonstrates how specialist research expertise can become an internationally successful business.
"Some of the most important companies of the future will begin with discoveries being made in laboratories today," Minister Lawless added.
"We want more of those discoveries to become treatments for patients, technologies used around the world and enterprises creating employment in Ireland."
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