University College Dublin has racked up a number of firsts, including creating Ireland’s first spinout unicorn, Wayflyer. Tom Flanagan, director of enterprise and commercialisation at the university’s innovation office NovaUCD, talked to Global University Venturing on how the ecommerce company was born.
UCD also established the first Irish quantum spinout, Equal1 and was one of the founding limited partners — together with Trinity College Dublin and Atlantic Bridge — of the University Bridge Fund in 2016. They are also leaning into a unique advantage in agtech: it’s the only university in Ireland — and one of only a few in Europe — that owns a farm, where it runs a programme for pre-seed startups to develop their products.
Listen to Tom's interview here, and how he recommends: "we start with the problems and look for the solutions... but going forward we should spend more time facing the other direction and looking for the unmet needs."