€460m research investment for 7 new "Rinn" Research Ireland centres

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science James Lawless unveiled the funding package today alongside the launch of Rinn, a new national research network that will coordinate the centers over the next eight years.

The seven centers will focus on areas identified as critical to Ireland's future competitiveness, including artificial intelligence, energy system decarbonization, advanced therapies, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, quantum technologies, and semiconductors.

Collectively, the centers are expected to support 577 research positions and facilitate the development of more than 800 PhD graduates.

The initiative will involve 17 research-performing organizations across the country and is backed by more than 200 industry partners, including over 100 multinational companies and almost 100 SMEs.

In addition to the State funding, a further €500m is expected to be secured from industry and other funding sources, bringing the total investment associated with the programme close to €1 bn.

Announcing the initiative, Minister Lawless said the scale of the investment demonstrated Ireland's commitment to research and innovation.

"The scale and scope of this €460m investment is a powerful statement of Ireland's ambition in research and innovation," he said.

Lawless said the new centers would help support talent development, strengthen industry partnerships, attract foreign direct investment, and promote indigenous enterprise growth.

"With these seven new Rinn, we are building on this progress by supporting talent, strengthening industry partnerships, attracting foreign direct investment, advancing indigenous industry growth, promoting regional development, and enabling Ireland to remain internationally competitive," he added.

Research Ireland CEO Dr Diarmuid O'Brien described the Rinn network as a major evolution of the country's research ecosystem, bringing together universities, technological institutions, industry and government bodies in a coordinated national effort.

"The Rinn network is about excellent multidisciplinary research, radical collaboration and deep connectivity at scale," he said.

O'Brien said the centers would help develop world-class research talent while driving greater engagement between researchers and enterprise.

The largest allocation under the programme will go to Rinn Artificial Intelligence, which will receive €121.8m to support research in data science and AI.

Significant investments have also been earmarked for semiconductor systems (€71m), medical devices (€64.5m) and pharma and biopharma manufacturing (€60.3m).

The initiative aligns with several key Government strategies, including the National Development Plan, Impact 2030, the National Semiconductor Strategy and the recently launched Digital Ireland strategy.

The seven centers were selected following a competitive international evaluation process and will officially begin operations on July 1, 2026.

* This article was originally published on BusinessPlus.