UCD AgTech Building

Construction of multi-million euro AgTech Innovation Centre begins at UCD

Centre expected to be completed by end 2023
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Image: UCD

5 December 2022

University College Dublin (UCD) today announced the commencement of a €4.8 million development project to construct a new state-of-the-art facility incorporating the AgTechUCD Innovation Centre (ca. 890 sq.m.) and the UCD Bimeda Herd Health Hub at UCD Lyons Farm.

Funding for the facility is being provided by Enterprise Ireland through the Regional Enterprise Development Fund, UCD, and a philanthropic donation from Bimeda, a global manufacturer and distributor of veterinary pharmaceuticals and animal health products.

UCD Lyons Farm, the University’s research and teaching farm, located in Co. Kildare, is a fully functioning farm comprising of 250 hectares of land, with dairy, beef, sheep, equine, crop and environmental research, teaching and commercial facilities.

The AgTechUCD Innovation Centre will promote and accelerate early-stage start-ups and SMEs with disruptive innovations in the agri, agtech, agrifood and veterinary sectors, as they build their innovative businesses into leading enterprises creating jobs. AgTechUCD also runs an annual accelerator programme dedicated to agtech and agri-food start-ups and SMEs. The second programme commenced in October with 12 start-ups from across Ireland participating.

Niamh Collins, Director, AgTechUCD Innovation Centre, said: “As the only on-farm workspace hub in Ireland focused on promoting and accelerating agri-businesses and start-ups the AgTechUCD Innovation Centre will assist client companies to access on-farm experimental facilities, enabling them to test and trial products and services in a real-world environment. Clients will also have access to office and lab space, preferred access to UCD food processing facilities, and facilitated introductions to VCs and business angels, mentors and corporate partners.”

The establishment of the UCD Bimeda Herd Health Hub will provide a national facility for dairy herd health education, research and consultancy and is an important strategic development for the UCD School of Veterinary Medicine.

Prof Michael Doherty, Dean and Head ofUCD School of Veterinary Medicine, said: “Dairy herd health is an important element of UCD’s One Health initiative which is focused on maximising the health and well-being of people, animals and the environment. We are looking forward to collaborating with Bimeda as an industry partner in research activities focused on furthering our understanding of the health of dairy herds.

“In addition The UCD Bimeda Herd Health Hub will support the delivery of state-of-the art training to undergraduate and postgraduate students in the UCD School of Veterinary Medicine.”

The development of the UCD Bimeda Herd Health Hub will also support the provision of UCD’s flagship distance-learning graduate programme, the Graduate Certificate in Dairy Herd Health. This programme equips practising veterinarians with the latest tools for analysis of herd data, as well as practical herd evaluation skills, which they can apply in developing holistic herd-level solutions to ensure healthy and profitable dairy herds.

AgTechUCD, which is part of NovaUCD and builds upon NovaUCD’s 20-year track record of supporting high-tech start-ups with global potential, is a collaboration with AIB, Kildare County Council, and Kildare LEO; agri-company, Devenish, Carbery, and Ornua; investors The Yield Lab Europe, Thrive/SVG Ventures, Finistere and Atlantic Bridge, and leading AgTech researchers and innovators at Teagasc and Wageningen (in the Netherlands) in addition to UCD.

Construction of the AgTechUCD Innovation Centre and the UCD Bimeda Herd Health Hub is expected to be completed in Q3 2023 and facilities will include; flexible lab spaces, meeting rooms, offices and an exhibition space.

TechCentral Reporters

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