Ireland runs a centralised, state-coordinated model for moving publicly funded research into industry use, rather than leaving each university’s technology transfer office (TTO) to operate in isolation. The two pieces of that model most relevant to a research office evaluating or comparing national systems are Knowledge Transfer Ireland (KTI), the national coordinating office housed within Enterprise Ireland, and the ARC Hub Programme, a newer (2025-launched) network of large-scale commercialisation infrastructure funded by Research Ireland (the merged Science Foundation Ireland / Irish Research Council agency). This guide covers what each actually is, how they relate to one another, and what a research administrator outside Ireland can usefully take from the model.
A note on currency: the ARC Hub programme launched in 2025 and its funding figures below come from Research Ireland’s own programme page and the individual host institutions’ launch announcements. Multi-year infrastructure programmes are periodically revised, so readers relying on exact figures for their own reporting should confirm current numbers against the primary sources linked throughout.
What Knowledge Transfer Ireland (KTI) Is
Knowledge Transfer Ireland is Ireland’s national office for knowledge and technology transfer. It is based within Enterprise Ireland, the state agency responsible for supporting Irish enterprise, and operates in partnership with the Irish Universities Association. Rather than being a technology transfer office in its own right, KTI functions as a national coordination and support layer above the individual TTOs (sometimes called Innovation Offices) that sit inside each Irish university, institute of technology, and public research-performing organisation. Its stated role is to make it simpler for business to access state-funded research, expertise, and intellectual property (IP), and to support consistent practice across the TTO network rather than each institution developing its own commercialisation approach independently.
How KTI Coordinates Ireland’s University TTO Network
Ireland’s individual TTOs remain the operational unit that actually manages invention disclosures, licensing negotiations, and industry relationships for their own institution — KTI does not replace them. KTI’s coordinating functions instead include: maintaining a directory and shared point of access to the national TTO network for businesses that don’t know which institution to approach; publishing shared tools, template agreements, and guidance so that companies negotiating with different Irish universities encounter broadly consistent terms and processes; and administering national funding programmes that support TTO capacity (see KT Boost, below). This two-layer structure — a single national coordinating office plus institution-level TTOs doing the operational work — is the defining feature of Ireland’s model, and the main point of comparison against countries where technology transfer is coordinated only at the institutional level with no national office performing this role.
Ireland’s National IP Protocol: The Policy Framework Behind the Model
KTI also maintains Ireland’s National IP Protocol, a government policy document (most recently published in a 2019 revision) that sets out how the state-funded research base and industry are expected to share the benefits of commercialising publicly funded research, and the practical arrangements research organisations and companies use to implement that policy in individual agreements. It functions as Ireland’s answer to the policy question that, in the United States, the Bayh-Dole Act addresses through federal statute: who is expected to own and manage IP arising from state-funded research, and on what terms. The Irish approach is a national protocol adopted and applied consistently by the research-performing organisations and funding bodies, rather than primary legislation — a distinction worth understanding when comparing the two systems.
KT Boost: KTI’s National Technology Transfer Funding Programme
KTI manages funding programmes, on behalf of Enterprise Ireland and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, that support the TTO network’s own capacity. The current flagship is KT Boost, a four-year, €33.4 million knowledge transfer funding programme for Irish universities and institutes of technology, managed by KTI. Programmes of this kind fund the staffing, systems, and early-stage IP protection costs that individual TTOs need to operate, rather than funding the underlying research itself.
The ARC Hub Programme: Research Ireland’s 2025 Commercialisation Infrastructure
Separately from KTI, Research Ireland (Taighde Éireann, the agency formed by the 2024 merger of Science Foundation Ireland and the Irish Research Council — see CASRAI’s Research Ireland guide for that merger’s background) launched the ARC Hub Programme in 2025. ARC stands for Accelerating Research to Commercialisation. Unlike KTI, which is a coordinating office, the ARC Hubs are physical, funded commercialisation infrastructure: three flagship hubs, each led by a university consortium and each focused on a specific technology domain, co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Regional Programmes 2021-2027.
ARC Hub for Therapeutics (Trinity College Dublin)
Led by Trinity College Dublin in collaboration with University College Dublin (UCD) and RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, the ARC Hub for Therapeutics received approximately €31.6 million in funding, co-funded through the ERDF Southern, Eastern & Midland Regional Programme 2021-2027.
ARC Hub for ICT (TU Dublin)
Led by TU Dublin, the ARC Hub for ICT is focused on accelerating translational research in ICT and AI toward commercialisation, spanning applications in healthcare, education, infrastructure, sustainability, and data management. It received approximately €32.2 million in funding. Combined, the Therapeutics and ICT hubs were announced together as a joint €63.84 million investment.
ARC Hub for HealthTech (University of Galway)
Led by the University of Galway in collaboration with Atlantic Technological University (ATU) and RCSI, and based in Ireland’s Northern and Western region, the ARC Hub for HealthTech received approximately €34.3 million, co-funded through the ERDF Northern and Western Regional Programme 2021-2027. Across all three hubs, total public investment in the ARC Hub programme is approximately €98 million.
How KTI and the ARC Hubs Fit Together
These are two different, complementary layers of the same national push toward research commercialisation, run by two different agencies. KTI (Enterprise Ireland) is the standing national coordination office for knowledge transfer generally — it existed for over a decade before the ARC Hubs and continues to operate independently of them, maintaining the TTO network, the National IP Protocol, and programmes like KT Boost. The ARC Hubs (Research Ireland) are a specific, newer, domain-focused infrastructure investment layered on top of that existing system — concentrated funding for three university-led consortia to accelerate commercialisation in therapeutics, ICT, and healthtech specifically, rather than a replacement for or reorganisation of KTI’s national coordinating role. A research office engaging with Ireland’s system should expect to interact with KTI and the relevant institutional TTO for general knowledge-transfer questions and licensing, and with the relevant ARC Hub directly for domain-specific commercialisation support within therapeutics, ICT, or healthtech.
What This Means for Research Administrators and International Partners
For an international research office or industry partner evaluating how to engage with an Irish university, the practical takeaway is: start with KTI’s national TTO directory if the target institution isn’t already known, expect a National IP Protocol-consistent approach to IP terms across institutions rather than significant institution-by-institution variation on the basic ownership framework, and check whether the relevant Irish institution is a partner in one of the three ARC Hubs if the collaboration falls within therapeutics, ICT/AI, or healthtech — that hub may offer commercialisation support (translational funding, industry connections, investor access) beyond what a standard TTO engagement provides. For comparative purposes against other national systems, see CASRAI’s broader tech transfer pillar.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Knowledge Transfer Ireland itself a technology transfer office?
No. KTI is a national coordinating office, not an institutional TTO. Invention disclosures, licensing negotiations, and day-to-day industry relationships are handled by the TTO (or Innovation Office) at each individual Irish university or institute of technology; KTI supports and coordinates that network nationally rather than performing TTO functions itself.
What does ARC stand for in “ARC Hub”?
Accelerating Research to Commercialisation. It is the name of a Research Ireland programme launched in 2025, distinct from Knowledge Transfer Ireland.
Are KTI and the ARC Hub programme run by the same organisation?
No. KTI operates within Enterprise Ireland. The ARC Hub Programme is run by Research Ireland (Taighde Éireann), the funding agency formed by the 2024 merger of Science Foundation Ireland and the Irish Research Council. Both are part of Ireland’s wider state research and innovation system, but they are separate agencies with separate remits.
Does Ireland have a direct equivalent to the U.S. Bayh-Dole Act?
Not as primary legislation. Ireland’s National IP Protocol, maintained by KTI, performs an analogous policy function — setting out how IP arising from state-funded research is expected to be owned, managed, and commercialised — but it operates as adopted government policy and institutional practice rather than a standalone statute.
How many ARC Hubs are there, and what does each focus on?
Three, each led by a university consortium: the ARC Hub for Therapeutics (led by Trinity College Dublin, with UCD and RCSI), the ARC Hub for ICT (led by TU Dublin), and the ARC Hub for HealthTech (led by the University of Galway, with ATU and RCSI).
