The Irish Government is pumping over €45m into science and engineering research centres over the next five years.
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughan has announced the investments made through Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).
It will provide funding to three existing research Centres for Science, Engineering and Technology (CSETs). There is also a commitment from industry of a further €14.5m investment, bringing the overall investment to over €60m.
“From its inception, the SFI CSET programme has been designed to facilitate the creation of internationally-competitive, large-scale research centres that support high-quality collaborations between higher education institutes and industry-based researchers,” said Coughan.
According to Ireland’s Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Jimmy Devins: “A total of 12 distinct indigenous and multinational companies will partner with these CSETs, and SFI funding will be bolstered by these industry partners’ contribution of an additional €14.5m in the form of funding, personnel and equipment.”
The funding announced today will directly support almost 200 researchers, graduate students between now and 2013.
The funding goes to three centres: Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre (APC) based at University College Cork which is focusing on research in gastrointestinal health; CRANN, the Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices which is hosted by Trinity College Dublin and DERI, the Digital Enterprise Research Institute, based at NUI Galway.