Research News
Posted 2 June 2011
Minister for Education Officially Opens Research Hub at AIT
The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn TD, officially opened a multimillion euro research hub at Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT) today 2 June.
The research hub supports collaboration with industry and enterprise, and ensures the optimum use of specialist research equipment. Nearly 70 research students and staff are based in the facility.
Three research platforms in chemistry, bioscience and characterisation are located in the hub. Amongst the services provided to industry are rapid prototyping fabrication, physical and mechanical testing, surface and elemental analysis.
Minister Quinn said: “AIT has a central role to play in our economic development through its world class education, research and innovation programmes. Intellectual capital is now the primary driver of growth in this century and will be critical to Ireland’s future growth and prosperity.”
AIT President, Professor Ciarán Ó Catháin, said that: “AIT is a significant knowledge partner to enterprise in the midlands region. Successful collaborations with industry, where they can access cutting-edge equipment, have helped bring innovative new products to market in the medtech, materials and ICT space. The institute also supports the work of state agencies, such as IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, in developing Ireland’s smart economy.
“An international team of researchers work together in the research hub to nurture an innovation culture in the midlands. Ireland Inc operates in a global world, where competition for new ideas, for funding, for collaboration is intense. This research hub highlights the contribution that AIT and higher education make to Ireland’s international reputation and to the delivery of a vibrant knowledge society,” he said.
Amongst the equipment in the research hub is a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), which is used to solve processing and materials problems in a wide range of technologies affecting the electronics, telecommunications, biological, chemical, automotive, aerospace and energy industries. The SEM produces images of materials down to the nanoscale level and provides a true representation of the surface profile.
Paul Killeen, Head of Research, Enterprise and Innovation at AIT, stated that: “We have very strong collaborative research partnerships with industry across the midlands and nationally. The fact that 78% of our industrial clients have used us more than twice in any given year speaks volumes for the strength of our mutually beneficial industry-academia partnerships here in the region. We are also in the top three institutes of technology participating in the Enterprise Ireland-funded Innovation Partnership Programme (IPP) from 2007 to 2010, having completed nine applied research projects with industrial partners over the past four years. The institute is also among the top five knowledge providers on the island for completion of 106 Enterprise Ireland innovation voucher projects with SMEs in the midlands and surrounding regions.”
The development of the research hub was funded by the Higher Education Authority’s (HEA) research facilities enhancement scheme (€1.8 million) and much of its equipment was funded by Enterprise Ireland’s research equipment grants.
Since September 2004, AIT has been awarded some €17.5 million in research funding. Awards include capital, equipment and research projects, while collaborative projects with industry provide a substantial level of private sector funding.
AIT has identified its research priorities in the domains of materials science, molecular biology encompassing biotechnology, toxicology, microbiology, analytical and synthetic chemistry, and software. Three research institutes operate on campus in materials, bioscience and software, as well as several research clusters at faculty level.
AIT has several research collaborations, on a regional level within Líonra, the higher education network for the Border, Midland, and Western (BMW) region, and on a national level with DCU, TCD, WIT, UCC, CIT, NUIG and GMIT.
Internationally, AIT continues to establish MOU-directed partnerships with key institutions in Europe, the US, China and India. AIT is also currently actively engaged in a number of research programmes competitively funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), Enterprise Ireland (EI), Health Research Board (HRB), and the EU Framework Research Programme.
