The Government has announced €8 million in funding to support 45 innovative energy projects in companies and research institutions across Ireland. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) is responsible for awarding the funding to the 45 projects which aim to develop solutions that will help our homes, businesses and communities deliver a cleaner energy future. […]
Research
Despite an intensely competitive retail environment – with just 1.5 percentage points separating the market share of the three largest retailers – all the major Irish supermarkets have grown sales for the sixth period in a row. This is according to the latest grocery market share figures from Kantar Worldpanel, for the 12 weeks ending […]
After almost a decade of inactivity and as the cost of providing new accommodation now is more aligned with its earnings potential, a strong pipeline of new hotel accommodation stock is expected to improve tourism capacity pressures in Dublin by 2020. However, this activity is still being outpaced by growing demand and an expected shortfall […]
There were 1,477 less pubs in Ireland last year than in 2005, representing a 17.1% drop in businesses across the country, according to the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI). In 2017, there were 7,140 pubs nationwide – a decline from 8,617 in 2005. The figures are based on an analysis of the liquor licence figures […]
The first sod has been turned on the site of the new extension to GMIT’s Innovation Hub (iHub) at the GMIT Galway campus. The extension will double the size of the Innovation Hub to about 2,400 sq m, providing space for an additional three dedicated MedTech R&D units; 17 incubation units for start-ups in the […]
The latest Quarterly House Price Index report from Ulster University reveals a relatively healthy housing market with strong but sustainable levels of house price growth over the last 12 months in Northern Ireland. Ulster University’s research is produced in partnership with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and Progressive Building Society.
Analysing the performance of the Northern […]
The Central Bank of Ireland has published a Research Technical Paper. The paper, “Economic Migration and Business Cycles in a Small Open Economy with Matching Frictions”, by Matija Lozej, investigates how the domestic labour market of a small open economy is affected by migration and the implications this has on the business cycle of a […]
Belfast-based agri technology company Devenish Nutrition has secured €118 million in long-term funding to enable its research, development and growth plans. This major refinancing deal is made possible by a pioneering investment of €40 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB). The EIB investment has been combined with commitments from Devenish’s new commercial finance partners, […]
Belfast-based Kraydel has developed a revolutionary smart device which could change the way we care for older people in their homes. The device is designed specifically for people who may not be familiar or comfortable with technology. The smart device sits on top of the TV as a connected device, linking the older person to their […]
Researchers from Athlone Institute of Technology have launched the second phase of a multi-million-euro cybersecurity research project called PROTECTIVE aimed at combatting the growth of cybercrime through special detection and monitoring systems. PROTECTIVE, an EU-funded H2020 project, is a €4.16 million cybersecurity safety net designed in partnership with several commercial and academic partners, including the […]
The Crowe Ireland Hotel Survey, compiled from an analysis of Irish hotels’ 2017 accounts, shows a seventh consecutive year of growth in turnover with record profit levels, room occupancy levels and average room rates recorded across all regions.
Hotel room rates have increased in all regions, up 6.9% on average rates achieved in 2017 when compared […]
The Central Bank of Ireland has published its third Quarterly Bulletin of 2018. The Bulletin examines recent trends in the domestic economy and provides the Central Bank’s forecasts for the Irish economy and its views on domestic macro-economic policy issues.The Bulletin reports:
Domestic demand to provide the main stimulus to growth, with underlying domestic demand expected […]
The latest Irish grocery market share figures from Kantar Worldpanel, for the 12 weeks ending 15 July 2018, show sales soaring by 3.1% in the midst of the recent summer heatwave. Two of the big winners have been bottled water and lager, which have seen take home sales growth of 27.3% and 11.6% respectively, buoyed […]
More than one in four Irish businesses (27%) have experienced unscheduled energy failures, with 23% of these reporting that they cost the business upwards of €10,000. This is according to new research conducted by RED C on behalf of Bord Gáis Energy to mark the launch of Centrica Business Solutions in Ireland. Centrica Business Solutions […]
The majority (60%) of senior IT decision makers consider human error to be the greatest cyber threat facing Irish businesses, according to the results of new research commissioned by specialist IT solutions distributor, DataSolutions. The July survey* of 111 Irish IT decision-makers also revealed that 93% of respondents claim that their organisations now have a […]
The number of mergers and acquisition deals among the top 50 consumer goods giants reached a 15-year high in 2017 – a 45% increase from the previous year. This is according to OC&C Strategy Consultants’ annual Global 50 report which, in collaboration with the Grocer, examines the financial performance of the world’s largest consumer goods […]
BD, a leading global medical technology company, is to create 85 new jobs for the Limerick region. The announcement was made as Minister for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection Pat Breen TD, officially opened BD’s Research Centre Ireland (RCI) in Limerick’s National Technology Park. The €21 million investment in BD’s […]
Neueda Technologies, a privately-owned IT Training, development and consulting services company headquartered in Belfast, is establishing a Software Engineering Hub in Athlone, Co. Westmeath, employing 200 staff over four years. The project is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland.
The company will undertake software development services for global telecommunications and financial services clients at […]
Digitalisation of Irish SMEs and National Research Investment to Benefit From European Best-practice
Crucial future investment to improve Ireland’s competitiveness will be strengthened by assessment of international best-practice in two key policy areas. EIB (European Investment Bank) advisory experts will identify ways to ensure more effective funding to support research and innovation in Ireland and to accelerate digitalisation by Irish small businesses.
The two new advisory programmes have been […]
The latest grocery market share figures from Kantar Worldpanel, for the 12 weeks ending 17 June 2018, reveal that the soaring temperatures have increased sales of summer grocery favourites by 9% – ahead of the overall market at 2.1%. This surge in summer essentials, such as sun care products and ice cream, has boosted the Irish […]
Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys, TD has welcomed Ireland’s strong innovation performance reported in the European Commission’s European Innovation Scoreboard 2018. The annual Innovation Scoreboard provides a comparative assessment of the research and innovation performance of the EU Member States and the relative strengths and weaknesses of their research and innovation systems.
Minister Heather […]
Ireland’s first Centre of Excellence for Diversity and Inclusion has been launched at Dublin City University. The DCU Centre of Excellence for Diversity and Inclusion will focus on diversity and inclusion research and practice in Ireland for industry, higher education and Government.
The first of its kind in Ireland, the Centre will help organisations to build cultures of inclusion […]
In the year to April, residential property prices at national level increased by 13.0%, according to the latest CSO figures. This compares with an increase of 12.6% in the year to March and an increase of 9.5% in the twelve months to April 2017.
In Dublin, residential property prices increased by 12.5% in the year to […]
An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, TD (pictured above left), has officially opened AllinAll Ingredient’s new state-of-the-art manufacturing and Research and Development facility in Rosemount, Dublin. The company, which has been in the food industry for over 20 years, develops and manufactures ingredients, sauces and blends for the processed food market. Its R&D lead team have developed […]
Between now and 2030 worldwide demand growth for milk and milk products will be three times the level of current US milk production. This was one of the main findings of the latest publication, from the IFCN – the Dairy Research Network – discussed at the 19th IFCN Dairy Conference, held at Teagasc, Moorepark, Cork.
Today, […]
According to the latest CSO figures, the volume of output in building and construction increased by 7.4% in the first quarter of 2018 when compared with the preceding period. This reflects increases of 5.6%, 5.5% and 1.1% respectively in the volume of residential building work, non-residential building work and civil engineering work. The change in the […]
For the next long-term EU budget 2021-2027, the European Commission is proposing €100 billion for research and innovation. A new programme – Horizon Europe – will build on the achievements and success of the previous research and innovation programme (Horizon 2020) and keep the EU at the forefront of global research and innovation.
Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, […]
Huawei, the global technology leader, has unveiled its New Renaissance Hotspots report which reveals how the Ireland is witnessing a new age of technological and creative innovation with Cork, Dublin and Galway ranking highest in terms of new ways of sharing, creating and innovating respectively.
The New Renaissance Hotspots Report, commissioned by Huawei and authored independently by the Institute of Arts and Ideas and Kjaer Global, explores how […]
Funded by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has announced a fund of €500,000 to support cutting-edge Irish energy research, development and demonstration projects. The aim of the call is to support regions and local communities move towards a decarbonized energy system by 2030.
Companies, research organisations […]
ATXA Therapeutics Ltd, a University College Dublin (UCD) life sciences spin-out, which is developing novel therapeutic drugs to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), and other related cardiovascular conditions, has secured €2.5 million in funding under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 SME Instrument Programme Phase 2.
The company is one of just three Irish companies to secure funding […]
A new publication, Productivity in Ireland 2016, has been published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). This publication presents a comprehensive picture of productivity and economic growth in the Irish economy for the Domestic and Other Sector, and the Foreign-dominated sector in the economy since 2000.
Productivity measures the efficiency with which an economy transforms inputs […]
Three early-stage start-ups have become the latest companies to spin-in to NovaUCD and join the community of entrepreneurs at University College Dublin’s (UCD) Centre for New Ventures and Entrepreneurs. Over 25 companies, employing some 200 people, are currently located at NovaUCD.
The three companies, EPIC Conjoint, This is Seaweed and Travacoin, have located to NovaUCD in […]
University College Dublin (UCD), in partnership with St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group (SVHG) and The Mater Misericordiae University Hospital (MMUH), has opened Ireland’s first in-hospital Knowledge Transfer (KT) Offices. The KT Offices have been established to develop the commercial potential of the research outputs emerging from both hospitals and to extend the reach of their medical advancements […]
The second annual Skillnet Ireland SME Research Conference took place recently in Dublin. Hosted by Skillnet Ireland in partnership with the College of Business in Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), the annual conference seeks to strengthen the Irish SME sector through the adoption of the latest evidence-based research.
The conference heard contributions from leading business academics […]
The latest grocery market share figures from Kantar Worldpanel, published for the 12 weeks ending 22 April 2018, show the Irish grocery market continuing to perform strongly, with overall sales up 3.1% on last year. SuperValu has returned to pole position with a 22.3% share of the market, the first time the retailer has held […]
Research conducted by the BSI Group has underlined the growing concern that European businesses are simply not ready for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Even though 97 percent of companies admit that the implementation of the GDPR will affect their business, just 5 percent say they are fully prepared for the new data regulation, with […]
The European Commission has announced €22 million in funding for a new bio-economy research project to be led by Glanbia Ireland. The project, called AgriChemWhey, will receive €22 million in funding from the Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
It is the first dairy industry project to […]
University of Limerick (UL) recently unveiled a unique €2 million underwater robot at the docks in Limerick city. The Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) was officially launched by Minister of State for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection, Pat Breen TD.
The Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) funded ROV Étaín can operate in challenging […]
The latest grocery market share figures from Kantar Worldpanel, for the 12 weeks ending 25 March 2018, show that the Irish grocery market brushed off the Beast from the East to post strong sales growth of 3.8%.
Douglas Faughnan, consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “Although shoppers had upped their spend in preparation for the Beast […]
In 2017, average hourly labour costs in the whole economy (excluding agriculture and public administration) were estimated to be €26.8 in the European Union (EU) and €30.3 in the euro area. However, this average masks significant gaps between EU Member States, with the lowest hourly labour costs recorded in Bulgaria (€4.9), Romania (€6.3), Lithuania (€8.0), […]
65% of Irish businesses have not reviewed their supply chain to identify current business relationships that might be negatively impacted by Brexit. This was the finding of a business sentiment survey of 350 Irish Businesses carried out by one of Ireland’s leading accountancy firms, BDO.
Spokesperson Michael Costello, Managing Partner, commented: “Brexit will hit Ireland’s unprepared supply […]
With one year to go until Brexit, 62% of Irish entrepreneurs see business opportunities among the risks, according to research published by EY. The research was conducted amongst 130 top entrepreneurs across the island of Ireland who are previous finalists in the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ programme. Collectively the Alumni community employ a total […]
The ‘Beast from the East’ and Storm Emma may have caused havoc to the transport sector but the cold snap provided a huge boost to the Irish grocery market, according to Nielsen retail performance data. Shoppers spent €9.6 million more on groceries (+4%) in the week of the storms than they did the week before and […]
Futurists predict that drone technology will soon significantly transform our daily lives, changing how we deliver and collect goods, giving us new ways to monitor and understand the world around us, and even revolutionising emergency services. However, the roll out of drone applications is currently hampered by a lack of innovative technologies that can guarantee […]
The Government has announced a €29.6 million investment by the Irish Research Council in “frontier research” projects. Thirty-six researchers will receive funding under the Irish Research Council’s new Laureate Awards to conduct ground-breaking research in the life sciences, physical sciences and engineering, and the arts, humanities and social sciences. Projects to be funded under the […]
In 2017, the Irish economy grew by 7.8 per cent. In 2018, GDP is expected to grow by 4.8 per cent, according to the latest ESRI economic forecast. GDP will grow by 3.9 per cent in 2019 based on a technical assumption that a European Economic Agreement (EEA) is in place between the UK and […]
The Government has published the ‘Research Priority Areas 2018–2023’ report. Research Prioritisation, introduced by the Government in 2012, aligns the majority of competitively awarded public investment in research with 14 priority areas. Innovation 2020, Ireland’s strategy for research and development, science and technology, commits to reviewing the priority areas to ensure that they are still valid […]
A hard Brexit would increase the cost of living for all households in Ireland by 2 per cent to 3.1 per cent – an annual increase of €892 to €1,360 per household, according to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. Costs would rise the most for lower-income households. These households spend a greater share of […]
Business leaders across Ireland are firm believers in the power of technology and the important role it plays, not only in supporting their own business needs, but in overcoming the wider socioeconomic issues they face. According to research – Technology in a Transforming Ireland – of Irish business leaders commissioned by Fujitsu, nearly 6-in-10 (59 percent) say […]
Sage, a market leader in cloud accounting software, has revealed that Irish SMEs lose up to €2.2 billion annually in productivity due to burdensome administrative tasks.
The report, ‘Sweating the Small Stuff: the impact of the bureaucracy burden’, undertaken by Plum Consulting, shows businesses in Ireland spend an average of 70 working-days per year navigating the […]
Brexit is coming closer and still a lot of questions remain unanswered. People are insecure not only about their own future but also the economic future of Ireland. iReach Insights conducted a nationally representative survey and 1,000 adults were asked about their opinion about the Brexit, it’s potential impact and what Irish people would do, […]
Over 96% of the lens volume produced by Bausch + Lomb, the global eye care specialist, at its plant in Waterford has been developed by the facility’s in-house R&D Laboratory, pointed out Joe Dowling (pictured above), R&D Director, Bausch + Lomb, Waterford, at the recent 2018 Research & Innovation Conference & Exhibition held at Citywest […]
Designed to foster collaboration between industry, academia and government agencies, the 2018 Research and Innovation Conference & Exhibition attracted over 1,000 visitors from across the major industrial sectors in Ireland to the Citywest Hotel, Dublin, on Wednesday, March 14th.
The visitors who braved the inclement weather were able to meet with the key organisations that are […]
The latest grocery market share figures from Kantar Worldpanel in Ireland, for the 12 weeks ending 25 February 2018, show continued positive momentum among Irish supermarkets, with growth hitting 3.9%.
David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “Shoppers have spent an additional €96 million on groceries over the latest 12 weeks compared to last year and two […]
Imagine a future where Irish consumers will be able to gift or sell their solar power across their neighbourhood as well as sharing and managing their own electricity in a myriad of new ways. EnerPort, a new project launched at the recent International Energy Research Centre (IERC) Annual Conference, aims to accelerate peer-to-peer energy trading […]
A survey by the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) has found that on average approximately only 1 out of 10 construction workers are female. The survey found that on construction sites 99% of workers are male, whilst offsite, 54% are male and 46% are female. Of those women working in construction roles considered ‘offsite’ the majority […]
University College Cork has announced the appointment of Jim Corbett (pictured) as Director of the Food Institute UCC, which will be officially launched in 2018. The Food Institute UCC is a collaborative research and learning institute, combining all disciplines across the food spectrum into a single one-stop-shop for all stakeholders in the sector.
Corbett was formerly […]
Pilz, a leading global automation technology company, has opened a new €7.4 million software development centre in Cork. The opening of this state-of-the-art facility coincides with the 20th anniversary of the company’s presence in Ireland.
The new three story 2,500 sq m facility is located next to the existing Pilz Ireland building and doubles the capacity […]
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