Education & Research | 23 Nov 2009 :
Communications Minister Eamon Ryan has launched the first annual report of NDRC (National Digital Research Centre). NDRC is the sole collaboration centre in the country where all research activities have a clear commercial objective, with industry expertise directly engaged with each project.
With investment to date of €12 million, and a total of €3.25 million raised from non Exchequer funding sources, NDRC is currently managing involved in a stable of 17 projects.
Launching the 2009 Annual Report, Minister Ryan said, "Ireland's digital sector is growing from strength to strength. Over the next 10 years, the majority of our exports will be digitally-traded - as a small, open economy, this will be crucial in guaranteeing future prosperity. The National Digital Research Centre promotes innovation and creation in our digital sector and Government will continue in its support for this vital service. "
Commenting on their first full year of project operations, Mr. Ben Hurley, CEO said, "We've seen unprecedented levels of interest in our first round of open tenders and along with our industry partners have been hugely impressed with the scale, ambition and quality of the entrepreneurs out there".
He continued, "Ireland has a highly innovative, well educated workforce that is very active in the internet & mobile space, which is the exact breeding ground for great digital ideas. What has been seriously lacking is the delivery mechanism to turn those research ideas into investable products and that's where NDRC and its focus on collaborations with industry players comes in. As a participant in this delivery process, we act as the bridge across this internationally recognised "valley of death" between the lab and the marketplace".
NDRC's role as partner and facilitator was recently validated when one of its 17 projects, "Local Social", a partnership between NDRC, Rococco Software and UCD, won a major award from the Irish Software Association, proving that the model of collaboration the NDRC is pursuing between industry partners and researchers is on track to deliver marketplace success and ultimately indigenous job creation. Local Social is a platform for delivering enhanced social networking on your mobile and is already attracting interest internationally.