Building Biotech Businesses in Ireland

The first in a series of Enterprise Ireland-supported incubation facilities aimed at fostering the growth of biotechnology companies has recently been opended. The bioincubator, located in Trinity College, Dublin, comprises 400 square metres of fully flexible laboratory and serviced office space.

Offering a range of on-site specialist and targeted business services, the facility will provide a nurturing 'hot house' environment for early stage biotechnology companies. Enterprise Ireland provided funding of Euro 750,000, enabling the conversion of existing facilities into a bioincubator. The Trinity bioincubator is the first of six Enterprise Ireland-funded bioincubators, which are coming on-stream in Irish research institutions in the coming months.

The Enterprise Ireland biotechnology team in Trinity College is regarded as an excellent example of how the State and universities can work together in partnership towards a common goal of nurturing ideas emerging from advanced research in the universities, leading to the development of biotechnology-based spin-off companies.

The first tenant for the Trinity College bioincubator is IdentiGEN Ltd., a company that has developed the world's first DNA-based traceability system for meat (TraceBack™) from research initially carried out at the Institute of Genetics at Trinity College.

The Irish and UK Food Control Agencies have also selected IdentiGEN's DNA-testing technology for high-profile studies. IdentiGEN's tests were shown to be the only ones sensitive enough to consistently detect the low amounts of target-DNA present in certain processed food samples.