Innovation in Ireland is thriving with ongoing investment and resources going into key sectors, from life sciences to information technology, pharmaceuticals to medical devices, hardware to software.

As announced by the Science Foundation Ireland, a funding programme of €155m from the government coupled with €90m in cash and in-kind contributions from industry partners was established to build five new large-scale research centres across the country.

These new centres will be involved in over 165 industry collaborations with partners ranging from multinationals to SMEs and including Intel, Google, Microsoft, Medtronic Vascular Galway Ltd, Xilinx, Huawei and many more.

The funding will be provided between 2014-2020 and will support cutting-edge research in emerging sectors of the economy, which are key for job creation in Ireland.

This innovation is evidenced across the country. In Dublin, the first Start-up Commissioner has been appointed to champion and support the growing start-up scene. The Dublin Tech Summit is Ireland’s foremost technology and innovation conference and brings in over 10,000 attendees every year and Dublin is regarded as one of the best cities in Europe to work in if you work in tech. The conference embodies the entrepreneurial flavour of the country running a competition for Start-Ups from all over to compete in. In Galway, there is a strong medtech cluster taking shape. And in Cork, Apple has set up their European headquarters, as well as a cluster of other leading brand names in the pharmaceutical industry, alongside the world-class science and technology at University College Cork. The University of Limerick is the lead institution for two national research centers—SSPC, the Synthesis and Solid State Pharmaceutical Centre, and Lero, the Irish Software Research Centre.

Ireland is building up a world-class reservoir of knowledge and expertise in areas such as networks and communications, big data and analytics, photonics, medical devices, geosciences, artificial intelligence, drug synthesis and marine renewable energy. All of this enables Ireland to compete effectively on the world stage and build a strong foundation for a growth-led economy.