TCD plans 160 start-up companies

Trinity College Dublin is planning to create 160 companies in the next three years as part of its new plan for innovation and entrepreneurship.

The goal of creating the companies is part of Trinity’s strategy for innovation and entrepreneurship which was launched by Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton yesterday.

The strategy targets new company creation through spin-outs, ‘spin-ins’, and support for student and graduate enterprises.

By the end of next year, Trinity aims to have supported the creation of 48 start-up companies, with that figure rising to 55 by the end of 2015, and to 58 by the end of 2016.

Trinity’s provost, Dr Patrick Prendergast, said there was an opportunity to create a creative quarter in the hear of Dublin to drive innovation.

“We see enormous potential for the development of a ‘creative quarter’, extending along the Pearse Street corridor to the Grand Canal Basin in Dublin, founded on a new model of collaboration between enterprise and academia,” he said.

As part of the development a new €70m building project involving a Trinity School of Business will be completed by 2017 which will include a 600-seat auditorium, public space where students can meet, ‘smart’ classrooms with the latest digital technology, and a rooftop conference room.

The new building will also house a new office of corporate partnership and knowledge transfer, enabling the co-creation of intellectual property and spin-out companies.