€5m ‘Netlabs’ has potential to create 600 jobs

A new €5m building to house telecommunications research and development could help deliver up to 600 jobs through commercialising research at Waterford Institute of Technology.

Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn opened ‘Netlabs’ research building at WIT’s West Campus.

The building will help WIT capitalise on research by the Telecommunications Software & Systems Group (TSSG) by taking great ideas from the lab right through to the market place.

Mr Quinn said that WIT has created an ecosystem that will deliver jobs to the region in a number of high-tech sectors.

“WIT and TSSG have worked hard to create an eco-system of education, innovation and creation in the South-East and it is heartening to see the dividends of that effort in Netlabs,” Mr Quinn said.

“Over the past 10 years WIT has been successful in securing more than €130m in research funding from national, EU and international sources and, in particular, in leveraging that funding to create real job opportunities in strategically important industries such as ICT, pharmaceutical and healthcare and advanced manufacturing,” he said.

Through a process of collaboration with industry, research and spinning out a number of high-potential start-ups the TSSG has set a target of creating almost 600 jobs.

Prof Willie Donnelly, founder of TSSG and head of research at WIT, said: “TSSG aims through collaboration with industry to double its research funding under the Horizon 2020 programme, which will impact greatly on not just the local economy but Ireland as a whole.

“We have created a critical mass of ICT industries in the South-East and will continue to be a hub for telecommunications excellence in Ireland,” he said.