'Cog fabricated by Focused Ion Beam Nanolithography' image by Dr Ian Reid
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment Mary Coughlan T.D. has announced €56m boost to companies determined to succeed and grow in the Smart Economy. As part of the Government's Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation, the Competence Centres are being delivered jointly by Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland. Clusters of companies will work together to overcome common research challenges and drive opportunities for innovation, growth and jobs.
UCD is co-host of two of the Competence Centres. Dr Kevin O’Connor, UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science and UCD Conway Institute is part of the joint NUI Galway, UL, UCD team hosting the Bioenergy & Biorefining Competence Centre which will focus on ways to convert latent energy from plants into useful forms like heat, energy and fuels for transport.
Prof Alojz Ivankovic, Prof Michael Gilchrist and Dr Denis Dowling from UCD School of Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering are part of the UCD team co-hosting the UL-based Competence Centre for Composite Materials. The centre will research the properties and complexities of lightweight plastics so that they can be utilised to replace heavy metals in products like aircraft, cars and boats, wind turbine blades and construction materials.
Launching the Competence Centres the Tánaiste said: 'These industry-led centres will convert the research undertaken into new products and services, leading to growth in export markets and jobs in Ireland'.
There will be 180 SMEs and multinational companies involved in nine centres, five of which are now established. In addition to those co-hosted by UCD, there will be centres for IT Innovation, Applied Nanotechnology, Microelectronics, Manufacturing Productivity, Energy Efficiency, Financial Services and E-learning. Each centre will be based in a University with support from partner Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) to deliver on the research needs of the companies.
Enterprise Ireland has already ring-fenced €32 million in funding for the initial five centres and it anticipates investing a further €24 million over the next five years across the nine centres.
Frank Ryan, CEO Enterprise Ireland said: 'The centres will dramatically increase the amount of intellectual property available to Irish companies that they might otherwise never get access to'.
Speaking about the benefits of participation to the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) companies that are involved, Barry O'Leary, CEO, IDA Ireland said, 'Companies like Intel, Xilinx, Pfizer and Microsoft are engaged in these Competence Centres so they can access the collective expertise of Ireland's top Universities and work with Irish SMEs in partnership'.
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