Science park gets advisory board

PLANS for Ireland’s first Science Innovation and Technology Park at Curraheen, Cork, have taken a further step forward with the appointment of an high powered advisory board.

It will be led by Leslie Buckley, chairman of Saon, and includes some of the country’s best known businessmen, academics and public servants.

Up to 5,900 jobs could be created when the park is fully functioning and the project is likely to contribute €450m to the economy. Phase one of the development is expected to completed in early 2012.

The project promoters, Cork County Council, University College, Cork (UCC) and Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) said the new appointments confirmed further their intention to proceed with the park at the earliest opportunity, which will be build on a 150-acre site.

When fully developed the park could contribute about €450m a year to the local a economy.

Chairman Leslie Buckley is a founding director of Digicel, is the chairman of the Saon Group and is a shareholder and director of a number of Irish companies, including Aer Lingus and INM.

He described the project as hugely significant for Cork and a pivotal development for the country as a whole.

“Global research has shown that such parks become significant drivers of growth,” he said.

Education and Science Minister Batt O’Keeffe and Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin have both welcomed the appointment of the new board.

The development was “consistent with the Government’s vision of establishing Ireland as an innovation hub based on knowledge-intensive research and development”, said Mr O’Keeffe.

Mr Martin said: “This park precisely embodies the idea of building Ireland’s smart economy .

“The establishment of the Science Innovation and Technology Park would be a massive fillip to high level employment and economic development in Cork and in the Munster region,” he said.