Trinity College Dublin: The most innovative university in Europe.

In 2019, Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, Chief Innovation & Enterprise Officer at Trinity College Dublin, remarked, ‘Trinity has placed innovation and entrepreneurship at the heart of its strategy’. Dr O’Brien was speaking in response to the news that Trinity had been ranked first in Europe for producing venture-backed entrepreneurs from its undergraduate programmes in that year. Yesterday it was announced that Trinity has been recognised as the most successful University in Europe for producing graduate entrepreneurs for the 6th year in a row. This commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship continues at Trinity, and aims to encourage students from across faculties to become change makers, business starters and conscientious global citizens.

The core motivations of innovation and entrepreneurship have been at the heart of Trinity since its conception in 1592. Before we had the language to describe this aspirational and game-changing approach to education and research, Trinity embodied its principles. In 1842, Trinity founded the first engineering school in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Three Trinity graduates; Samuel Beckett, Ernest Walton and William Campbell have been awarded Nobel Prizes. This innovation-driven evolution of Trinity College Dublin has remained central to its progress. Trinity is now a leading university of research practices. It is the only Irish University to be a member of the League of European Research Universities and has been recognised for its research excellence in Nano Technology, Immunology, Mathematics, Humanities, Engineering, and more. Research centres at Trinity include the ADAPT Centre, Connect, CRANN, the Amber Centre, The Trinity Centre for Digital Humanities, and launched in 2019, CONSULT Trinity. Trinity’s commitment to providing a space for change makers to collaborate across disciplines, innovate together, and create for each other is clear. This Trinity ecosystem grows in importance as we enter a knowledge-based world where innovation is essential. We, as a society are facing unprecedented global challenges which require agile thinkers, innovative researchers, and loud disrupters to help solve.

In The Future of Education and Skills: Education 2030 report by the OECD, we are reminded that, ‘We must prepare for jobs that have not yet been created, for technologies that have not yet been invented, to solve problems that have not yet been anticipated.’ 

This report was published two years before the COVID-19 pandemic became a problem that many had not anticipated. New attitudes, skills and behaviours are needed that stimulate the pursuit of creative tasks, address complex problems, support sustainable employment and foster lifelong learning in innovative ways. The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us many things, but most abruptly, it has taught us that we must be adaptable and we must be resilient. Trinity is committed to providing a home for students to learn that adaptability, challenge themselves in what they can achieve, and support them as they become change-makers and entrepreneurial leaders. Entrepreneurship is a multifaceted concept that includes the attitudes and skills to create new value in society, not (just) being a business owner or founder of a start-up. These behaviours provide individuals with the willingness and ability to recognise and pursue opportunities for new value creation and problem solving in any organisational setting.

Tangent, Trinity’s ideas workspace was established in 2018 as part of Trinity’s commitment to delivering a transformative learning environment which fosters innovation and entrepreneurship. Trinity understands that putting the right people in the right place at the right time cultivates ideas and allows great things to happen. Serving all university students, faculty, the enterprise community, government bodies, and not-for-profit organisations, Tangent, a state-of-the-art innovation hub, offers a space in which multiple disciplines, schools and, indeed, the wider enterprise community can come together to learn, educate, and collaborate. By facilitating the richness granted by interdisciplinary work, Trinity, through Tangent, aims to translate ideas into transformative social, economic and cultural impact. Its regional and global programming aims to instil an innovative spirit and entrepreneurial hunger in students and participants, staff and external collaborators alike, creating change makers of the future. It invites participants to embrace the opportunities presented by change, enabling them to exploit uncertainty and complexity with lateral thinking.

Trinity’s innovative spirit is not confined to the academic or commercial realms. The Trinity Access Programme was set up in 1999 to offer another pathway into Trinity for young adults whose social, economic and cultural experiences had prevented them from going to college. TAP now works in partnerships across the education sector with students, teachers, families, communities and businesses to enhance access to third-level education to those historically excluded from the experience. Tangent, Trinity’s Ideas Workspace offers a suite of postgraduate courses, which are funded as part of the Springboard+ upskilling initiative in higher education. These courses are anchored in innovation and entrepreneurship, but courses are tailored to sector needs and feature industry leaders as contributors. They offer students the opportunity to work on real-world problems and challenges, including questions around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These are opportunities that make Trinity truly innovative. It not only recognises that innovative and entrepreneurial character is possible in anyone no matter their current career path, study faculty, background or age, but it provides pathways through which individuals can explore their potential.

Trinity is a home and playground of entrepreneurial and innovative character, and our home is growing. In 2018, The Grand Canal Innovation District was announced. In their Report of the Grand Canal Innovation District, the Advisory Group at the Department of the Taoiseach noted that, ‘Progressing an innovation district in the Docklands area is an opportunity to shape development there in a way that maximises the benefits for the local area, the city, the region and country.’ This is the next step in building a home for entrepreneurial and innovative students to care for their imaginations, excite their potential and create cultural, political, social and economic impact. The GCID provides opportunity for the Trinity community to further engage with the Irish and International entrepreneurial ecosystem as well as providing opportunities to its students to engage with that ecosystem.

Trinity challenges its students. Our programmes at Tangent invite students to challenge their thinking, apply their course learnings in a cross-disciplinary manner, and become change makers of the future. Our postgraduate offerings are accessible, our Undergraduate Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship is a European leader, and our dedicated Entrepreneurship programmes have supported over 1500 students create significant cultural, social and economic impact. By maintaining a focus on innovation and entrepreneurship, Trinity continues to nurture its talent from across disciplines.