Telecoms research group to help create 600 jobs by 2020
The Irish Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn, has officially opened ‘NetLabs’, a new €5m research building in Waterford. The site will help support 600 new jobs in south east Ireland.
Speaking at the opening at the Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), Quinn said: “Over the past ten years, WIT has been successful in securing more than €130m in research funding from national, EU and international sources and leveraging that funding to create real job opportunities in strategically important industries such as ICT, pharmaceutical and healthcare and advanced manufacturing.”
The ICT centre of excellence currently consists of over 100 research scientists and engineers, 25 postgraduate students and manages an active international network in excess of 450 partners from industry, academic and research institutes spread across 35 countries worldwide.
Adding his thoughts on the opening, Dr Ruaidhrí Neavyn, president of WIT, said: “The institute has a proven track record in translating world class research into market ready products and services and has established an eco-system of mobile service companies in southeast Ireland and beyond, creating several hundred jobs directly and indirectly in the last ten years.”
NetLabs was funded under the Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions Cycle 4 and also received financing from the European Regional Development Fund.
In the last five years, Telecommunications Software and Systems Group (TSSG) has secured funding in excess of €10m under FP7 and will help create the new jobs at ‘NetLabs’. Professor Willie Donnelly, head of research at WIT and founder of TSSG, said: “TSSG aims, through collaboration with industry, to double its research funding under Horizon 2020, which will impact greatly on not just the local economy but Ireland as a whole. Our aim is to work closely with industry to create almost 600 new jobs through the development of our core research, strong connectivity with indigenous industry as well as large multinationals, supporting high potential start-ups and partnerships with other institutes. We have created a critical mass of ICT industries in the south east and will continue to be a hub for telecommunications excellence in Ireland.”
