Creativity - IDA Ireland

RESEARCH »
‘The work we’re
doing in photonics
is really cutting
edge and it’s
attractive to a
number of
companies’
A SERIES OF GROUNDBREAKING DEVELOPMENTS IN
ITS SPECIALIST AREAS OF PHOTONICS, NANOTECH-
NOLOGY AND MICROSYSTEMS, as well as high-profile collaborations
with some of the world’s leading IT companies such
as Intel and Analog Devices, and positive international scientific
reviews, have helped establish the Cork-based Tyndall National
Institute as a major European research hub in information and
communications technology in the relatively short time since
being set up in 2004.
Today, with 460 people working onsite – including more than
200 staff and 140 research students, as well as interns on shortterm
secondments and a number of researchers in residence
from industry – Tyndall, which is a part of University College
Cork and has strong links with Cork Institute of Technology, is
Ireland’s largest research institute.
In addition to its three core areas of interest, the centre has a
theory, modelling and design technical centre and a fabrication
facility. Included onsite is a state-of-the-art €47.8m research
building opened in 2009 and dedicated to ICT and nanoscale
semiconductor research and development.
The institute has a strong commitment to sharing both its
knowledge and its facilities. For example, a National Access Programme
(NAP), funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), has
been running since 2004 and enables access to Tyndall’s facilities
and expertise for all academic researchers in Ireland. Tyndall’s
vision, meanwhile, is to play a central role in the future of the development
of the Irish knowledge economy.
The institute has a “from atoms to systems” philosophy, according
to Prof Roger Whatmore, who has been CEO of Tyndall
since January 2006 and previously spent 18 years in the electronics
industry in the UK and 11 years at Cranfield University.
While exploring the technologies around its key areas of interest
is vital, he believes the aspect of where the technology is going
and its applications is almost more important.
“We are looking towards where these technologies go in communications
and the digital economy, healthcare, care of the environment,
and energy, particularly from the point of view of
energy management.
“Pretty much everybody in Tyndall has ultimately a view of
where the technology is going to go sometime in the future,” he
says. “It’s not what you’d call blue skies. It is always with a view
that it might be useful somewhere. It’s curiosity driven because
we’re curious to know if we can make it better. Even the most
theoretically-minded individuals in Tyndall would still have that
point of view.”
Issue 2 Spring/Summer 2011 INNOVATION IRELAND REVIEW 29