Research & Innovation

Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Government has launched a new photonic integration centre which will look to harness the power of light in advanced ICT and medical technology.

As part of a €30m investment in the Irish Photonic Integration Centre (IPIC), the SFI will bring together over 100 researchers from three other institutes to develop new light-enabled technologies including University College Cork (UCC), Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) and Dublin City University (DCU).

The centre, based in Tyndall National Institute, will then collaborate with 18 industry partners including multinationals, Irish SMEs and high-tech start-ups.

One such start-up is X-Celeprint, a developer in micro-transfer printing technology, will be establishing its headquarters in the IPIC with the creation of 20 jobs.
Scope for further development

With the new centre, there are hopes that the technology will develop to an extent that a further 200 jobs could be created in the key ICT and medical device sectors over the next 6 years.

The Government will provide the largest portion of the annual funding by providing €20m from the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through SFI’s Research Centres Programme, with an additional €10m leveraged from industry contributors.

Speaking at the launch, Paul Townsend, IPIC’s director, sees this as another fascinating addition to Ireland’s scope of technological research: “The launch of IPIC represents an exciting new chapter in photonic research in Ireland, which aims to achieve both measurable economic impact and global scientific recognition for Ireland in this sector.

“The Centre brings together a full research ‘value chain’ with expertise that spans from semiconductor and bio-materials, through integrated photonic and microelectronic circuits, to fully-packaged photonic systems.”

The first example of a photonic integrated circuit was developed last year using a crystal capable of both