The challenge
- Alcon's Cork site, with more than 450 associates at the time of the account, manufactures intraocular lenses and lens delivery devices.
- The site wanted access to early-stage research and development, cost-effectively, and to demonstrate the value of collaborative R&D to the wider group.
The collaboration
- Alcon Ireland ran Innovation Partnership programmes with CIT, NUIG, UCD and AMBER at Trinity College Dublin — the AMBER collaboration explored cryogenic technology to optimise intraocular lens processing.
- Those partnerships are Alcon's and the research centres'. The account describes IRDG's role as the network through which the site built contacts and attended events.
What the account reports
- The account reports that collaboration was cost-effective and gave access to early-stage R&D while expanding the site's network.
- It says the collaborative work helped enhance the site's profile and influence corporate investment towards Cork, and helped attract high-calibre candidates.
- The Cork team's remit had expanded significantly in the years before the account; the account attributes part of that to collaborative activity.