Taoiseach announces €1m funding for first phase of new competence centre
The Taoiseach Brian Cowen announced details of a €1m investment by Enterprise Ireland in the first phase of the Innovation Value Institute Consortium Competence Centre (IVIC3).
IVIC3 is the seventh industry consortium to receive research funding through the joint Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland supported competence centre initiative.
The research funding announced today by the Taoiseach will enable companies with common research needs in the area of IT services and IT innovation to find solutions to shared problems in areas like “green computing”.
The IVIC3 consortium is comprised of over 40 private and public sector organisations including Intel, Microsoft, SAP, ENZO, Xilinx, BP, The Boston Consulting Group, ESB, Ernst & Young, Aviva, Compugen, Chevron and Airtricity.
NUI-Maynooth, University of Limerick and NUI-Galway will collaborate on the initial research phase with over 40 companies, including world leaders in the IT sector. The call to research institutes to host the competence centre closes on June 19 and a technology leader will be appointed to the host institute to co-ordinate the research strands before the end of the year.
When formally established the competence centre will have the capacity to grow and it is likely that other companies, particularly SMEs, will join.
Making the announcement the Taoiseach said: “The roll-out of the industry-led competence centre programme is a key commitment in the Government’s framework for economic renewal building Ireland’s economy.
"Strategic research partnerships between industry and academia can drive innovation, create high quality employment and deliver a competitive advantage to Irish industry.
"I welcome the contribution that this initiative will make to the development of a unified and validated approach for managing IT and IT-innovation, including in the area of green computing."
