2nd May 2018
New ‘Irish Food Tech’ cluster to be established within the Gateway network
Today, John Halligan TD, Minister of State for Training, Skills, Innovation, Research and Development, announced the Government of Ireland is providing funding of €26.75m for the Enterprise Ireland Technology Gateway Network over the five year period from 2018-2022.
Since its formation in 2013, the Technology Gateway Network has completed over 2,750 innovative projects with over 1,250 Irish based companies. Projects range from polymers to pharmaceuticals, photonics to mobile services and mechatronics, right through to biotechnology and industrial design. Typical projects focus on the development of a new product or service or the optimization of a process, across all sectors of the economy and based in every county.
The network consists of 15 individual Gateways hosted by an Institute of Technology, spread across the country providing industry with access to over 300 highly skilled and industrially focused researchers, together with specialist equipment and facilities.
Today’s €26.75m funding announcement was made at a showcase event in Dublin attended by over 100 industry representatives where the establishment of a new Food and Beverage Technology Cluster (Irish Food Tech) within the network was also announced.
Announcing the funding, Minister John Halligan TD said: “The Technology Gateway Network programme aims to bring Irish companies together with the researchers in the Institutes of Technology to provide near-to-market innovation and solutions in a range of areas, both regionally and nationally. Today I’m also delighted to announce the establishment of a new food and beverage technology focused cluster within the Gateway Network called Irish Food Tech. As with the other two sectoral clusters in the network, Applied IoT and EMD Ireland, the aim of Irish Food Tech is to optimise the power of the Network and connect industry with researchers in a wide selection of areas that include bioprocessing, food for health, process control and packaging”.
Gearoid Mooney, Manager, Research and Innovation, Enterprise Ireland added: “The Enterprise Ireland Technology Gateway Network offers an open access point for industry providing technology expertise which is industry relevant. Projects range from small starts-up in the regions making use of the Enterprise Ireland’s Innovation Voucher Scheme, to larger companies using the Innovation Partnership Programme.
“However, the most common mechanism by which companies engage via the Gateways is through projects they pay for completely themselves without leveraging any state funding.
“This is a testament to both the trust built up between the companies and the Gateways, and the capability of the research community in the Institutes of Technology”.
Companies who have collaborated with the Enterprise Ireland Technology Gateway Network provided case studies and presentations during the event while attendees also had the opportunity to meet with the Technology Gateway teams to discuss various Research, Development and Innovation funding mechanisms.
For more information, go to www.technologygateway.ie
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For further information contact Press Office, Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation: Phone: 01- 6312200; email: press.office@dbei.gov.ie.
For further information from Enterprise Ireland:
Conor O’Donovan, Head of Communications, 01-7272912, conor.odonovan@enterprise-ireland.com
Brigid Burke, Press & Media Relations, 01-7272430 / 087 1803995, brigid.burke@enterprise-ireland.com
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