WirelessLAB – A New Innovation Network for Ireland’s Wireless Technology Community

WirelessLAB, a new innovation network for Ireland’s wireless technology community was announced earlier today. WirelessLAB has been established to foster and stimulate the development of an innovation environment for Ireland’s wireless technology community.

WirelessLAB’s objectives include the development of a collaborative network which encourages interactions between members, the promotion of Ireland as a centre of excellence for wireless technology and providing members with networking opportunities and a platform to increase their visibility within Ireland and internationally. WirelessLAB also aims to assist in building active links between relevant academic researchers and the wireless industry throughout Ireland.

Joe Moore, founder of Socowave, the technology start-up developing pioneering active panel antenna technology to enable faster internet access for cellular users, is the driving force behind WirelessLAB and is the network’s first chairman. WirelessLAB will be initially located in NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at UCD where Socowave is headquartered.

Joe Moore Photo 2
Joe Moore, WirelessLAB Chairman

Announcing the establishment of WirelessLAB, Joe Moore said, “Through its collaborative programmes and events WirelessLAB aims to create the conditions for spontaneous innovation among its members in Ireland. We are excited about our formal links with the highly successful wireless cluster, Cambridge Wireless based in St. John’s Innovation Centre, Cambridge which offers an international dimension to our activities.”

Other members of WirelessLAB’s founding board include Professor Anthony Fagan, UCD School of Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering, Dr Sam Samuel, Executive Director of Bell Labs Ireland and UK, Alcatel Lucent and Dr Conor Hanley, co-founder and CEO, BiancaMed.

A key collaborative activity for WirelessLAB will be the establishment of special interest groups (SIG), or industry-led technical forums. The SIGs will be designed to keep members up-to-date with the latest developments in key areas and to assist them in exploring new business opportunities. WirelessLAB members will also participate in networking events designed to share information and encourage co-operation between members.

In addition to access to WirelessLAB’s SIGs and networking events, members will also be able to participate in Cambridge Wireless’ networking and SIG events. Established SIGs are already active in areas such as wireless healthcare, games development and wireless sensing.

Membership of WirelessLAB is offered at full, start-up and associate levels with differing benefits available at each level. Membership fees have been set on a sliding scale depending on company headcount.

WirelessLAB will be formally launched at a keynote event scheduled to take place on 1st February 2010.

For further information and to join WirelessLAB visit www.wirelesslab.ie.

ENDS

16 December 2009

For further information contact Micéal Whelan, NovaUCD, e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie, t: +353 1 716 3712.

Editor’s Notes   
      
WirelessLAB has been set up to foster and encourage the development of an innovation environment for Ireland’s wireless technology community. It aims to develop a collaborative network which encourages interaction between members and drives the development of a wireless centre of excellence in Ireland. Joe Moore, founder and CEO, Socowave, is WirelessLAB’s chairman.

NovaUCD is University College Dublin’s Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre.  NovaUCD is responsible for the commercialisation of intellectual property arising from UCD research and for the development of co-operation with the industry and business communities. NovaUCD has been funded through a unique public-private partnership that includes AIB Bank, Arthur Cox, Deloitte, Enterprise Ireland, Ericsson, Goodbody Stockbrokers, UCD and Xilinx.