Ready to turn your research into real-world impact?
Explore is a fast-paced, practice-driven programme designed to help DCU researchers bridge the gap between breakthrough research and real-world impact. The programme focuses on commercialisation as a pathway to impact - helping you understand who needs your innovation, how to reach them, and how to build something that sustains and scales beyond the lab.

Built around Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Disciplined Entrepreneurship framework, the programme gives you the tools, structure, and confidence to develop the real-world potential of your research, even if you don't have a specific project in mind yet. You don't need a business background. You just need curiosity about how your work could make a difference beyond academia.

Over three dynamic in-person workshops and one specialist online AI session, you'll work through a clear, step-by-step system designed to remove guesswork, accelerate real-world testing, and help you identify and connect with the people and organisations best placed to adopt, use, and pay for what you've created.

Workshop 1 - Who Needs What You're Creating, and What Makes It Valuable to Them?

Tuesday, 25th August - 12 noon - 5pm (lunch included), The Spark (AG42), Albert College, DCU Glasnevin Campus

Framing Your Opportunity Define the real-world problem your research addresses, pinpoint who stands to benefit most, and identify your beachhead market - the specific group where your innovation can gain traction first.

Building a Testable Value Proposition Learn practical customer discovery techniques to move beyond assumptions, uncover genuine needs, and craft a clear, differentiated value proposition that connects your research to real-world demand.

Workshop 2 - How Do People Find, Choose, and Adopt Your Innovation?

Tuesday 1st September - 12 noon - 5pm (lunch included), The Spark (AG42), Albert College, DCU Glasnevin Campus

Mapping the Journey from Discovery to Adoption Map the decision-making process from your end user's perspective. Identify the stakeholders, influencers, and barriers that stand between your innovation and the people who need it.

Designing a Business Model That Delivers Impact Explore revenue models, pricing approaches, and commercial viability, because impact at scale requires a business model that sustains it.

Workshop 3 - How Do You Test Your Assumptions and Plan for What Comes Next?

Tuesday Tuesday, 8th September - 12 noon - 5pm (lunch included), The Spark (AG42), Albert College, DCU Glasnevin Campus

Designing the Experiments That De-Risk Your Idea Define your solution concept, align it to validated needs, and map the key assumptions - both technical and commercial - that need to be tested before committing serious time and resources.

Planning for Commercial Impact Understand routes to market, funding pathways, and what it takes to move from a tested idea to a venture that delivers impact at scale.

Online Session - Using AI to Go Further, Faster

Tuesday, 15th September - 2pm - 4.30pm, delivered online only

AI tools are woven throughout the programme to support your market research and analysis. This dedicated session goes deeper, showing you how to use generative AI to accelerate customer discovery, generate and refine hypotheses, structure outreach, and synthesise insights, so you can do in hours what used to take weeks.

DCU researchers, PhD candidates, academic staff, Heads of School, and Research Centre members, whether you have an idea ready to test or simply want to learn a proven, structured approach for translating research into real-world impact.

Please note, to benefit fully from the programme, all participants are required to attend all workshops

Places are limited. Register here to secure your place now.