Dermot O’Doherty, B.B.S., B.A., M.Econ.Sc – Innovation & Business Networks Consultant
Dermot O’Doherty is an Independent Adviser on Innovation and Business Networks, mainly having operating as a consultant with Tom Martin & Associates/TMA Consultants. Organisations and areas he has worked with include firms and their industry associations on innovation and strategic business network development in areas such as renewable energy, as well as state/educational bodies and local authorities, North & South, on best-practice business education and integrated local economic development.
Currently, he is Hon. Secretary of the North-South, Irish Association for Cultural, Economic & Social Relations and Chairman of Cre Cerification DAC.
Previous positions have included:
- Associate Consultant with Genesis, Ireland
- Senior Adviser on innovation and business development at InterTradeIreland,
- Senior Adviser on technological and innovation policy in the Science, Technology and Innovation Division of Forfás
- Manager, Strategic Planning, in Eolas - the Irish Science and Technology Agency.
As Senior Adviser with Forfás, Dermot focused on innovation in firms, the links between the HE sector and industry and the role of public policies and incentives. One of the significant reports he authored at Forfás was Post-1999: HE – Industry Links – Policy Issues, which reviewed the impact on STI of EU Structural Funds and plans for their future application in the period 1999-2005. He was also responsible for a number of Irish Council for Science, Technology & Innovation (ICSTI) reports, including Innovation in Enterprises in Ireland and Statement on Public Research and Technology Services for Innovation in Enterprises.
Dermot’s work with Eolas, - the Irish Science and Technology Agency involved assisting with the development of strategic plans for more than 50 individual technology areas and their interactions with industry. Earlier organisations worked in included the National Board for Science and Technology and the Confederation of Irish Industry, both involving a focus on innovation and technology transfer within the wider industrial and economic context.
He was founder-Secretary for four years and Chairman for two years of the Ireland branch of the Licensing Executives Society, Britain & Ireland.
He is a graduate of Trinity College and University College, Dublin and throughout much of his career has been involved at international level with the EU and the OECD as well as specialised organisations such as the Six Countries Programme on Innovation.
- Bachelor of Business Studies (B.B.S.) and B.A., Trinity College Dublin
- Master of Economic Science (M.Econ.Sc.), University College Dublin
Key Skills and Professional Expertise:
- Science, Technology & Innovation - Dermot has spent many years as a professional policy analyst and programme reviewer across STI, including private sector, public-private and university industry collaboration. Other current areas include public procurement and its impact on innovation in firms; 'green' innovation and waste issues and the implications and impacts of 'open' innovation
- Business Networks Development – arising from the impact of networks on innovation in the firm and their implications for enterprise and industrial policy he has undertaken a series of planning exercises and programme initiatives aimed at establishing the optimum strategies, measures and approaches to maximising their benefit
- Strategic Planning – experience as a strategic planning manager and participating in and managing a range of foresight and forecasting exercises.
Career History:
- 2009 – Present Independent Consultant
- 2000 – 2008 Senior Adviser, Policy and Business Development (including Collaborative Business Networks), InterTradeIreland
- 1995 – 1999 Manager, Technology and Innovation Policy/Senior Policy Adviser, Forfás
- 1994 – 1995 Secretary, Industry Committee, Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (STIAC)
- 1991 – 1994 Manager, Strategic Planning, EOLAS
- 1978 – 1991 Project Manager, Policy and Planning Division, National Board for Science and Technology/EOLAS
- 1975 Science and Technology Policy Analyst, National Science Council
- 1971 Research Officer, Irish Goods Council
- 1970 Business Policy Analyst, Confederation of Irish Industry
Main Publications/Reports:
- Editor: The Cooperation Phenomenon - Prospects for Small Firms & the Small Economies, Graham & Trotman, LONDON, 1990.
- ‘Strategic Alliances – an SME and Small Country Perspective’, Science and Public Policy, Vol.17, No.5, Guildford, October 1990
- ‘Globalisation and Performance of Small Firms within the Smaller European Economies’ in The Impact of Globalisation on Europe's Firms and Industries, Pinter, LONDON, 1993
- EC MONITOR/FAST ‘Report on the Effects of Globalisation on Technology and the Economy in Ireland, Greece and Portugal’, published in The European Community and the Globalisation of Technology and the Economy, CEC, Luxembourg, 1994
- Editor/Author: Globalisation, Networking and Small Firm Innovation, Graham and Trotman, LONDON, 1995
- Co-Author: Good Practice in Managing Technology Transfer Networks - ten years of experience in the SPRINT Network, DG 13D, Luxembourg , 1995
- Success Through Industrial Innovation - a new focus for firms and Government in Ireland: Summary Report, Forfás, Dublin, 1996
- Competitiveness through the Management of Technology: Summary Report, Forfás, Dublin, 1997
- Innovation Ireland – Directory of State Assistance for Industrial Innovation, (with Gillian Coleman and Kevin Lydon) Forfás, Dublin, 1997
- Globalisation and Small & Medium sized Enterprises - Irish Country Report (with Jim McDevitt, Science Policy Research Centre, UCD), OECD, Paris, 1997
- International Technological Cooperation – the role of Small Firms – Paper delivered at OECD Conference, Seoul, October 1997
- “(Interfirm) Networking in Ireland – Policy Responses” in Sustaining Competitive Advantage, NESC Research Series, Dublin, March 1998
- Statement on Innovation in Enterprises in Ireland, Irish Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (ICSTI), Dublin, July 1998
- Statement on Scientific & Technical Services for Innovation in Enterprises in Ireland, Irish Council for
- Science, Technology and Innovation (ICSTI), Dublin, November 2000
- Directory of Information Sources – a North-South Guide, InterTradeIreland, November 2000
- Policy Lessons for Cluster Formation & Development Among SMEs:- the case of Ireland, Autumn 2002(for the Korea Development Institute & the World Bank)
- Understanding Innovation – the need for a systemic approach, with Erik Arnold, The IPTS Report, Seville, February 2003
- Seán Lemass and Laurence Kettle: Agents for technical change and industrial research
History Ireland Features, Issue 1 (January/February 2014), Volume 22 - The appliance of science: STI (science, technology & innovation) and economic development
History Ireland Issue 1 (January/February 2017), Platform, Volume 25 - Fostering Innovation in Irish Innovation Policy - CITO-UCD,
Publicpolicy.ie, March 2020