RCSI has launched a new Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) programme to support RCSI faculty and researchers in their entrepreneurial pursuits. The programme aims to bridge the gap between academic research projects and commercial success by embedding experienced entrepreneurs within the university ecosystem to support spin-out company formation.

Four experienced entrepreneurs will participate in the programme, each bringing expertise in areas aligned with RCSI’s research outputs such as therapeutics, diagnostics, medtech and digital health.

Acting as mentors, the EIRs will provide strategic guidance and insights to help shape innovative projects and strengthen the RCSI spin-out pipeline. The EIRs will be available as a flexible mentoring resource across the full portfolio of spin-out opportunities, ensuring founders can draw on the right expertise at the right time.

The four RCSI Entrepreneurs in Residence are:

• Avril Copeland, RCSI Physiotherapy graduate and digital health entrepreneur, founder and former CEO of Innerstrength Health (acquired by Uniphar Plc). Avril brings extensive experience in AI-enabled health, remote monitoring, and patient engagement.
• Diarmuid Falavin, COO at Neuromod Devices with over 25 years of leadership experience in diagnostics, medtech, and pharmaceutical manufacturing. He has held senior roles at Biosensia, Creganna Medical, TE Connectivity, and Abbott, and has deep expertise in regulatory strategy, operations and life sciences.
• Graham Mills, Principal at life sciences venture capital firm Abingworth and co-founder of Techspert.io. With a background in translational oncology and venture investment, Graham offers expertise in clinical validation and early-stage fundraising, particularly across biotech and therapeutics.
• Joe Keenan, Global Head of Life Sciences at LetsGetChecked. He has extensive expertise in diagnostics, personalised medicine, connected health and commercialisation strategy following senior global roles and Novartis and co-founding the diagnostics company, Argutus Medical.

The RCSI Innovation team strives to maximise the economic and societal impact of RCSI research by providing industry engagement and research commercialisation support to researchers and industry partners. As part of a strategy to drive growth and increase output, the team has created a number of initiatives, the latest of which is the establishment of the EIR programme.

The EIR programme was launched during the RCSI Spin-out Company Founder's Evening, an annual event which offers RCSI spin-out company founders the opportunity to meet in an informal setting to discuss company developments and share insights from their respective journeys.

Dr Aoife Gallagher, Head of Innovation at RCSI commented: “The launch of the RCSI Entrepreneur in Residence programme reflects our commitment to promoting research commercialisation and entrepreneurship at RCSI. Our EIRs will apply their expertise to help researchers, pipeline and established spinout companies at RCSI to achieve tangible impact. We look forward to working closely with this impressive panel and we thank each of them for participating”.

RCSI Innovation’s participation in KT Boost is co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union through the ERDF Southern, Eastern & Midland Regional Programme 2021-27.