Hub hailed as one of Europe’s most successful

A BUSINESS incubation hub, which opened a major extension yesterday, was hailed by the Taoiseach as one of the most successful of its kind in Europe.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen was speaking as he officially unveiled the new space at Cork Institute of Technology’s (CIT) Rubicon Centre.

“It’s where people of enterprise and talent from this city, through graduate programmes coming out of the institutes and universities, are creating the jobs and companies of the future that will help this country create jobs and wealth again,” Mr Cowen said.

The extension represents a one-third increase in the size of the Rubicon and brings the total incubation footprint at CIT to more than 3,000 square metres.

The centre already provides enterprise development supports to 44 knowledge-based companies employing 185 people.

Space in the extension has already been assigned to new entrepreneurs in at least six new start-ups, which will bring the total number employed at the centre to more than 220.

Companies based at the Rubicon work in areas such as ICT, international traded services, and new forms of media, energy, environment and biotechnology. Most are focused on European and US markets.

The Rubicon is part of an “entrepreneurial eco-system” at CIT which includes the Genesis, Enterprise Start and Discovery Zone programmes which all combine to help potential entrepreneurs develop their ideas.

The extension was jointly funded by CIT and Enterprise Ireland.