The 80s were also a bad period for attempting to do anything like real academic research; despite this however I did manage to break into publication, in aspirant academic mode, on the 'science in Irish culture' question, as background to my continuing attempt to develop a consultancy around the innovation process at the university-industry interface.

• The British Association in Ireland (Crane Bag 1983, version cleaned up; there were many misprints!);
• Science in a Post-colonial Culture (Irish Review Spring 1990, full version);

I include here a copy of my 30/11/1983 internal College memo to the Provost (Bill Watts), and some related comments based on interaction with Kader Asmal:

re: Research Leave.

It occurs to me that you might like to know how I have so far used my end-contract research leave.

Up to September 82 I explored various opportunities and contacts that might have lad to an alternative job, without success. In all areas where I have any specialist experience of the traditional type I have been leapfrogged by the rising generation. Insofar as I can claim to have specialist experience that has not been leapfrogged, it is in what is now being recognised as the field of 'technology transfer': the translation of research results by specialists into viable economic technologies. See below. There are no jobs in this, as such, they have to be invented. The market in Europe is beginning to recognise this.

From September 82 to March 83 I went to ground and edited (with the aid of the College computer) my Irish Times material into a structured critique of S&T in Ireland from 67 to 76. This runs to 250,000 words. I had verbal encouragement from a publisher, who subsequently however drew back, daunted by the marketing problem. The RDS in the end may take it. It still needs substantial distillation and editing down, but it is all on tape and can be done quickly should I need to. I tend now to regard it as an exercise in refining my own philosophy. and have ceased to regard publication as a priority.

During 83 to date (overlapping the IT project) I have been developing, in consultation with Dusty Miller and others, and building on the ARC experience (which had many positive features), a scheme for using some State seed-funding for increasing the rate of generation of venture-opportunities arising from the colleges, via a process of funding of student projects subject to certain criteria, and.putting in some positive management of the transitions to more developed stages. It is quite different from anything the NBST has done; I am negotiating with them, and also with the National Enterprise Agency and the Youth Employment Agency, with the active support of Con Power of the CII. The IIRS is also interested. The proposal has the provisional name 'Techne'.

I have just returned from a conference in West Berlin on technology-transfer / university-industry-liaison. I received the invitation on the IACHEI network (which I helped to set up when ILO), and was successful in persuading the IDA to fund me to go, on foot of its relevance to the Techne proposal. The key problem is how best to set up an environment for successful spin-off companies.

Joe Watson (of UCG) was there; he suggested that it might be appropriate for me to send you a copy of my IDA report. You might also be interested in looking at the Techne proposal. It is important that the latter receive an appropriate level of institutional support.

I would welcome an indication of the extent that the College is interested in the above points, and suggestions as to whom I should discuss them with further.

May I say that I am sorry to hear of Den Bradley's illness. If there is anything I can do to help fill the consequent gap left in the management of the TCD-industry interface, in the remainder to the time left to me on the College payroll, please feel free to ask.

Yours sincerely / Roy H W Johnston

I received no reply during the following four weeks, after which I wrote to Kader Asmal, who then was a Faculty Dean. I enclosed a copy of my letter to the Provost, a copy of the IDA Report, and a copy of the Techne proposal at its then state of development. I wanted to sound out by a friendly channel to what extent I could expect institutional co-operation with the commercial Techne venture-seeding operation, as projected. I wanted to give TCD the chance to be in at the start of what promised to be a good scheme, servicing all the Dublin colleges, based on the best current European experience, as exemplified in the recent Berlin conference, on record in my report to the IDA.

I suggested to Kader that the reason for the Provost's non-reply might be that he was embarrassed by the relative failure of the role of Dan Bradley as Bursar, which had resulted in stressing the latter to the extent of serious health breakdown, attempting to do the impossible in an inappropriate College organisational role.

I subsequently met with Kader, and he explained that the Provost was taken up totally with his then current Academy role, and was seeing nobody. He suggested I cultivate the University Industry Committee, which included John Byrne and others. Subsequent contacts with the latter, and several others, including Ron Cox in Engineering, confirmed my growing impression that my earlier neglect of internal College politics had come home to roost, and there was nothing to be gained by attempting any personal reconstruction with College support.

I am inclined to the hypothesis that College politics works on the basis of a competitive struggle between Departments for limited resources, and that my attempt to develop a cross-departmental interface with industry, supplying a service, was seen as parasitic. This is supported by the experience of my attempt to sell the Techne concept as an inter-College interface, servicing with seed-capital emergent high-tech industrial start-ups, with emphasis on inter-college synergy. It was totally rejected at a meeting of Industrial Liaison Officers, which was held in Limerick around this time, on the grounds that the Colleges in this field were competitors.

I have expanded on my attempt to develop Techne as an inter-college venture-seeding enterprise in the current module of the socio-technical stream.

Some navigational notes:

Copyright Dr Roy Johnston 1999