Diarmuid O'Brien

CEO, Cambridge Enterprise

Diarmuid is the Chief Executive of Cambridge Enterprise; the organisation responsible for commercialising research from the University of Cambridge; with a mission to support the translation of leading-edge, world-changing ideas into major societal and economic benefit.

Cambridge Enterprise is responsible for patenting the ground-breaking research from the University of Cambridge, licensing innovative technology to global businesses, connecting our exceptional faculty with the challenges of international business through consultancy and cultivating the formation of the next disruptive technology businesses through our seed fund.

Diarmuid has twenty years’ experience connecting academic based research with the enterprise community. Previously he was the Chief Innovation & Enterprise Officer at Trinity College Dublin, where he had overall responsibility for the development and enhancement of the college’s innovation and enterprise strategy.

Prior to this, Diarmuid was Director of Trinity Research and Innovation with responsibility for both the Research Development Office and the Office of Corporate Partnership and Knowledge Exchange. In that role he led the establishment of the University Bridge venture fund, which is ranked in the world’s top five collaborative university funds, according to Global University Venturing.

Diarmuid was also the Executive Director of CRANN, an internationally recognised centre of excellence for nanotechnology and materials science research. He has held senior management roles in several university-founded start-up companies, including NTera, Xoliox, and Deerac Fluidics.

Diarmuid was a Research Fellow at Princeton University. He has a PhD in Physics from the University of Sheffield and a degree in Materials Science from Trinity College Dublin.

Diarmuid joined Cambridge Enterprise in August 2021.