Insight name of the game as virtual centre promises 300 spin-off jobs

A joint initiative between DCU, NUI Galway, UCC and UCD focusing on the data analytics called Insight, is hoping to create 300 jobs through 12 planned spinout companies.

Insight will be a virtual centre spread across the four universities all of whom will play an equal role or co-lead the research.

The centre will receive funding of €58m from the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through SFI’s Research Centres Programme, along with a further contribution of €30m from 30 industry partners.

Insight will work with more than 30 industry partners, ranging from small Irish start-ups to established SMEs and large multinationals, on a range of projects to advance data analytics technologies in Ireland. Cork industry partners include TreeMetrics, Avego/ Carma and UTRC/ Abtran, NitroSell and Keelvar.

Jobs Minister Richard Bruton said big data is a sector growing globally at 40% per annum.

“This is a sector where Ireland has the potential to gain competitive advantage and attract significant numbers of investments and jobs, and we are putting in place measures to ensure that we can deliver on that potential,” he said.

“The establishment of this world-class SFI research centre in data analytics, with a total investment of €88m supported by my department, is a strong signal of our ambition in this area.”

Insight maintains it will lead to the creation of 300 direct jobs over the next six years through 12 new spin-out companies, as well as to the training of the next generation of data analytics experts.

Researchers from Ireland’s leading ICT centres will develop a new generation of data analytics technologies in a number of key application areas,

Professor Barry Smyth, chief executive of Insight, said: “Data analytics represents a huge growth opportunity for Ireland and we are perfectly positioned to take advantage of it.

“Spending on big data technologies is growing at 30% per annum as demand for data analytics skills continues to outstrip supply.

“In Insight we have brought together the country’s leading data analytics researchers to meet this demand and create new opportunities for Ireland and our industry partners.”

UCC president Dr Michael Murphy said that this new level of collaboration will help Ireland become a world leader in data analytics.

“UCC is very proud to be one of the co-leading institutions in the Insight Centre for Data Analytics, which builds upon the past success of the Cork Constraint Computation Centre at UCC, but heralds a new departure in inter-institutional and industrial collaboration to achieve Ireland’s strategic goal to become a world leader in the field of data analytics,” he said.