The four programmes will focus on medtech, agritech, cybersecurity and digital health, with the goal of creating new talent and enterprises.
An Irish support scheme is supporting the launch of four programmes to boost sectors of importance to the Irish economy.
These four education and training programmes will receive €7m in funding each, which is being provided by Ireland’s Innovators’ Initiative. This EU co-funded initiative was announced last year as a way to attract high calibre individuals and interdisciplinary teams for the creation of new IPs and potentially new high-potential start-ups.
The four training programmes will be hosted in publicly funded research-performing organisations and will be funded for seven years. The goal is to create innovators who can identify unmet market needs within specific sectors of growth in Ireland.
Upon completion of a programme, the participants can either form new enterprises or return to their sectors, bringing their new skills and training with them. Participants can also access further funding and training through Enterprise Ireland’s Commercialisation Fund, which could lead to the formation of high-potential start-ups.
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Simon Coveney, TD, said the four programmes will play an important role in identifying and addressing “real market needs and opportunities”.
“The Innovators’ Initiative is a critical new component that will boost Ireland’s overall innovation ecosystem,” Coveney said. “It will deliver a comprehensive programme to create a strong cohort of high-calibre leaders, future entrepreneurs and innovation champions across the regions, with all the necessary skills and capability to drive and leverage innovation in sectors of strategic economic importance to Ireland.”
The four programmes are expected to each look at a specific sector of economic importance, consisting of medtech, agritech, cybersecurity and digital health.
The BioInnovate programme will be hosted by the University of Galway and the Sustainable Food Systems and AgTech programme will be hosted by University College Dublin and supported by Teagasc.
Meanwhile, the Cyber-Innovate programme will be hosted by Munster Technological University Cork. Finally, the DigiBio programme will be hosted by Dundalk Institute of Technology, in association with the Royal College of Surgeons, Tyndall Institute, Dublin City University and Trinity College Dublin.
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Minister Simon Coveney, TD. Image: Johannes Frandsen/Government Offices of Sweden via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
