merrion street

Jobs Minister Richard Bruton today officially opened the DCU Innovation Campus, a new national centre for innovation in the Cleantech sector, one of the fastest growing areas of economic activity and worth more than €5 trillion globally. The Cleantech sector develops innovative products and services to address major sustainability issues concerning water, waste, energy and emissions.

The new campus, which will be a location of choice for Cleantech start-ups, SMEs and larger companies, is expected to drive significant green economy growth in the North Dublin and Leinster area, supporting 200 jobs over the initial 18 months.

Speaking at the launch, Minister Bruton said:

The green economy is a sector targeted as part of the Government’s plans for jobs and growth, and late last year we published our plans in this sector aimed at driving the creation of 10,000 additional jobs in this sector over the coming years.  The DCU Innovation Campus will play a key role in this by bringing together innovative start-ups and more established companies with the skills and ideas that only a university can provide.  This is a model that has been used to great success internationally, for example in the North Carolina Research Triangle.

Today’s initiative is a great example of using scarce State resources in smart ways to drive job creation.

The Innovation Campus will be a central element of DCU’s contribution to the development of the Green Way, a collaborative venture established by industry, academic institutions and public/semi state players in the north Dublin region to create jobs and trade opportunities through its internationally recognised Cleantech cluster.