TU Dublin awarded €2.1 million under Regional Enterprise Development Fund

Published: 9 Jan, 2020

Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) is delighted to have been awarded Regional Enterprise Development funding totalling €2,149,940 to develop The Collaboratory, an Industry Solutions Hub, focusing on Cyber Security, Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence.

Based on our Blanchardstown Campus, the centre will support start-ups, scale-ups, SMEs and MNCs in the Dublin North West region and nationwide in catalysing opportunities available through these emergent technologies.

The Collaboratory will house state of the art technical training and product development facilities alongside applied research and consultancy centres in these sector-specific disciplines. It will aggregate market intelligence, knowledge and new discoveries and deliver a centre of excellence for Irish SMEs to ensure that companies are secure and competitive. The centre will also support a community platform in each of the three areas containing our industry partners, collaborators and external stakeholders, such that reciprocal knowledge transfer occurs.

Introduced in 2017, the Regional Enterprise Development Fund, co-finances the development and implementation of collaborative and innovative enterprise projects that can make a significant impact on regional enterprise developments to help sustain and add to employment at county, regional and national level. The fund is administered by Enterprise Ireland as an initiative of the Government under Project Ireland 2040, aligning with the Future Jobs Ireland framework. The TU Dublin project was selected through a rigorous multi-stage evaluation process managed by Enterprise Ireland, based on criteria which included: impacts and value for money; collaboration and participation; viability and sustainability; building regional strengths; and significance for innovation.

Welcoming the announcement Professor David FitzPatrick, President TU Dublin said The Collaboratory would provide unique support to industry and to research. “I would like to congratulate my colleagues on their submission, which has resulted in this award of €2.1 million. The potential for this centre is enormous, and we are delighted that it will be located on our Blanchardstown campus. This is an excellent start to 2020 for TU Dublin!”

As Irelands first Technological University, TU Dublin has a strong commitment to the development and support of the knowledge economy and provides state-of-the-art business incubation facilities to technology-based start-ups in the greater Dublin region from our campuses in Grangegorman, Tallaght and Blanchardstown, as well as an off-campus facility at Citywest Business Park.

Further details of the Regional Enterprise Development Fund are available at www.enterprise-ireland.com/REDF

For more details on The Collaboratory, please contact Claire.MacNamee@tudublin.ie