Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney TD, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD and the Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation, Dara Calleary TD, have announced a total of €58.8 million in funding for 12 new projects under Call 6 of the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF).

A UCD-led space project entitled National Space Subsystems and Payloads Initiative (NSSPI) has secured over €7.9 million in funding, the largest single amount awarded to a project by the Government in this latest DTIF funding round.

The project will support the development of an economically sustainable and expanding space industry in three initial clusters, optical communications for space, autonomous smart satellites and spacecraft and payload modelling, simulation, assembly, integration and test research support.

The NSSPI project is led by Dr David McKeown, a lecturer in Applied Dynamics at the UCD School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, and the theme lead for Spacecraft Structures, Dynamics and Control at the UCD Centre for Space Research.

Dr McKeown is also the Engineering Manager of EIRSAT-1 (Educational Irish Research Satellite-1), Ireland’s first-ever satellite, scheduled to launch later this week.

Other UCD researchers who will be involved in this project are; Professor Lorraine Hanlon, and Professor Sheila McBreen, UCD School of Physics along with Associate Professor Brian Mac Namee and Dr Nima Afraz, UCD School of Computer Science.

In addition to UCD the other NSSPI project consortium members are; Realtime Technologies Ltd; Ubotica Technologies Ltd; Mbryonics Ltd; Intel; ÉireComposites Teoranta and Equal1 Laboratories Ireland Ltd. Equal1, a UCD spin-out, is a pioneering silicon quantum computing company and is headquartered at NexusUCD in Dublin, with facilities in Silicon Valley, California, Romania and Canada.

Dr David McKeown, UCD School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and NSSPI project-lead said, “The project is a fantastic example of how university led research can naturally support the development of disruptive technologies by Irish space companies. It is a clear backing of the importance of space technology research to Ireland and comes at a very exciting time at UCD as EIRSAT-1, Ireland’s first-ever satellite is planned to launch this week.” 

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney TD said, "I am delighted to announce this significant new funding of almost €60m from the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund which underlines our commitment to advancing pioneering technology development in Ireland. The projects are diverse and some are potentially life-changing, such as providing a new minimally invasive and targeted treatment for metastatic lung cancer or using AI to detect abnormal brain activity in infants at birth.

“These disruptive projects will also ensure that Ireland’s research and innovation ecosystem is well placed to capitalise on emerging growth sectors while delivering on net zero commitments, decarbonisation and digital transformation, in line with the objectives of the White Paper for Enterprise.”

DTIF projects are utilising industrial research and experimental development to create products and services that have the potential to alter markets and the way that businesses operate.   The strong industry-academia collaboration which is required under DTIF is key to ensuring that Government investment through this fund is impactful for both the economy and society. The Research Performing Organisations awarded funding in DTIF Calls to date ensures the expertise, training and knowledge necessary to help make the projects a success.

This latest funding announcement means €364 million has to date been awarded to 103 projects across the six DTIF Calls.

Simon Harris, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, said, “Impact 2030 positions Ireland to become a leader in research and innovation and a first-choice destination for researchers. The projects emerging from Government investment through this Fund are crucial to the continued growth of Ireland’s research and innovation sector. These collaborative projects are expanding the research agenda and are providing valuable learning opportunities for graduates from home and abroad.

This supports us in driving excellence in our higher education institutions and providing a sustainable stream of skilled professionals with the expertise and knowledge needed to create and deliver emerging disruptive technologies."

Minister for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation​, Dara Calleary said, “Emerging disruptive technologies play a pivotal role in securing our continued economic progress and these 12 DTIF projects demonstrate the ability of Irish enterprises to harness such technologies and provide sustainable jobs in priority sectors of the economy.

I particularly welcome that several projects incorporate the use of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud technologies and data analytics. Not only are the projects helping to sustain Ireland’s attractiveness to global technology businesses, but it’s also evidence of a supportive innovation ecosystem which has been put in place to support AI adoption in enterprise which is central to the National AI Strategy.”

DTIF continues to drive collaboration between enterprises and research institutions across Ireland, particularly SMEs. A further 22 SMEs are partners in the 12 latest projects announced, with 8 of those SMEs leading their project.

Leo Clancy, CEO, Enterprise Ireland said, “Projects funded under previous DTIF calls are supporting ground-breaking technologies with real commercial value that have the capacity to address some of the biggest global challenges.  I expect the funding provided to 12 new projects under this investment round will have a similar impact. DTIF is a vital funding stream for both the Irish research community and innovative companies looking to collaborate and Enterprise Ireland is proud to play a role in its delivery.”

UCD is also a consortium member in the NATIVE project which has secured over €1.7 million in funding in the latest DTIF Call. The focus of the NATIVE project is to develop the world’s first commercially available, validated Additive Manufacturing process for Nitinol alloys, which is suitable for the medical device, communications, aerospace, automotive and other high value industry sectors.

The project is led by Addaptiv Design and Manufacturing Ltd with Boston Scientific Ltd, Taoglas Ltd; Irish Manufacturing Research Centre (IMR) as consortium members alongside UCD. Professor Denis Dowling, UCD School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and Director of I-Form, the SFI Research Centre for Advanced Manufacturing is the lead UCD researcher on this project.

Further information on the other funded projects announced under Call 6 of the DTIF available via https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/news-and-events/department-news/2023/november/23112023.html.

News story by Micéal Whelan, NovaUCD