Cork's Tyndall Institute secured funding at three times the EU average

Funding was approved for projects in 'deep tech', healthcare, agri-businesses and energy

Georgios Fagas, Louise Burgoyne, Martin O'Connell and Cian O'Murchu of the EU Programmes Team at Tyndall National Institute.

The Tyndall National Institute in Cork has become one of the most successful institutes in Ireland for European funding after securing more than 100 Horizon 2020 awards totalling over €56m.

The figures were detailed in the research centre's 2019 annual report launched by the Minister for Further Education Simon Harris today.

In 2019 alone, 17 new projects were funded by H2020 to the value of €10m, a success rate that is three times higher than the European average. The projects that received funding last year ranged from new deep-tech discoveries, developing next-generation innovations, training early career talent and addressing challenges in health, agri-food, the environment and energy.

Minister Simon Harris announces that Tyndall National Institute has secured its 100th H2020 European Research Funding Award totalling €56m.Picture: Maxwells

For 2019, Tyndall reported income of €42m, up 17% on 2018, including €32m from competitive research projects. This also included €10m in European funding and an industry commitment to new research programmes of almost €6m.

Minister Harris said the recent successes cements Tyndall as one of Europe’s leading institutes in the area of ‘deep-tech’, the use of advanced technology that will have a profound effect on the lives of citizens, as well as industry through robotics, engineering, smart industry and medical devices.

“The ground-breaking work delivered by the Institute will transform our high-tech economy and secure Ireland’s future as a worldwide technology leader, whilst supporting key Irish technology companies and SMEs.”

CEO of Tyndall National Institute, Prof. William Scanlon said for their research to be relevant it needs to actively transfer it to industry. "We support businesses through access to the very best research talent, and we help to promote and commercialise research. In 2019, we continued to strengthen critical knowledge transfer activities with partners across the globe, including Intel and Seagate," he said.