TWICE THE SIZE - DIT Update - Dublin Institute of Technology

SCENARIO 3: And the Winner is … (National scenario: THE FRAGILITY OF MÉ FÉIN)
Transcript of an interview with the director of Athlone Institute of Technology, Dr Siobhan
Higgins, for “Nationwide” programme, aired on 15 th December 2030.
Tom Murphy (TM), Nationwide: Dr Higgins, we learned only yesterday that the Eco-Polymer
Research Group (EPRG), at the Athlone Institute Technology, won the Irish Inventor of the Year
Award again this year. Isn’t the fourth Award in the last 10 years?
Dr Siobhan Higgins (ST), AIT: Yes, it is.
TM: What is the EPRG’s secret? The group is one of the brightest stars, if not the brightest one,
on the Irish technology sky, and is also well know globally. Irish companies haven’t been so
competitive in years…
SH: I suppose, to answer that, we need to move back to the past. In the late 2000s, AIT was very
concerned with the prospects for its future – you know, with the declining numbers of students
and increasing global insecurity, we felt that there was very little that was going for us. We
didn’t want to just drift into the future, but we needed to take steps to prepare for it. A futures
study, undertaken in 2007, helped us to get some insights into the future and through a debate
within the Institute identify the best way forward. As one of the aims, we decided that we are
going to be the best centre for plastic and polymeric technology, both in teaching and research.
The EPRG was established in 2011, and by 2018 we were already recognised globally as a centre
of excellence of global importance. At present, the Group employs 130 highly qualified
engineers and scientists and we have about 2500 students learning about various aspects of the
plastics field. They come from all over the world.
TM: But still, how did you get from just having few courses in plastics and polymer engineering
to becoming one of the global leaders in that field? There must have been other factors to your
success than just the identification of your future direction.
SH: Well, the key was and still is the attraction of the best people. And, in my opinion it was
one of the hardest things. High wages were much too little for people to move to a little place
in the middle of Ireland. We needed to offer them and their families something different, but of
the highest quality. With the help of local and central government, business community and
sponsors with very deep pockets, we built a ‘knowledge village’ near Glasson, where the
researchers would live. The village had the best facilities – residential, educational, health,
sport, recreation and cultural. The already existing urban hub in Athlone and high quality of
natural environments around it were real asset. In my opinion that was the key; however, there
were other important factors as well - already existing plastics sector, strong leadership of AIT
and collaboration with local companies, and often knowing the right people in the right places.
The field on which we wanted to focus was after all identified through long discussions with
people from the industry and experts worldwide.
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