Science Foundation Ireland has announced a €28 million investment in research equipment and facilities across 21 research projects in Ireland. The announcement was made by the Irish Minister for Jobs, Richard Bruton, TD together with the Minister for Research, Innovation and Skills, Damien English, TD.
The projects supported by the funding include those in the fields of geo-sciences, pharmaceutical manufacturing, bio-banking, marine renewable energy, internet of things, astronomy, big data, and additive manufacturing using nano-materials.
Projects focused on Internet of Things (IoT) that will get funding include a new Ireland-wide wireless network testbed to support new IoT concepts, business models and devices; a radio testbed for the development and testing of new radio technologies for IoT; and a 400+ Gigabit-per-second communications testbed to enable the development of the next generation core network and data centre technologies.
Integrated photonics manufacturing will gain funding, including a tool capable of growing complex stacks of metal and oxide thin films for applications such as integrated photonics. Infrastructure to support the packaging and assembly of a wide range of miniaturised photonic devices used in data-communications, sensing and point-of-care medical diagnostics, will also be supported.
Investment will also be made in an early life lab to monitor how the brain grows in children, a sensing suite to develop new therapeutic strategies for metabolic and neuromuscular disease, as well as work on sensing for natural disasters and additive manufacturing.
Professor Mark Ferguson, director general of Science Foundation Ireland and chief scientific adviser to the Government of Ireland, commented: ‘Ireland is increasingly becoming the location of choice for multinational companies to develop and test tomorrow’s technologies and this investment demonstrates our commitment and expanded ability to engage, discover and collaborate at all levels. Science Foundation Ireland is delighted to support and drive Ireland’s science strategy, Innovation 2020, with the addition of key infrastructure to propel important research projects. Ultimately, this is about providing Irish researchers in strategic areas with the tools to be world leading.’
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