Members of the newly established IIDB. Image: DCU
DCU has unveiled plans for a new research centre focusing on areas such as big data and blockchain for business.
Dublin City University (DCU) has today (17 January) launched a new research centre, which will examine digital technology’s growing role in the business world.
The Irish Institute for Digital Business (IIDB) takes over from the Irish Centre for Cloud Computing and Commerce (IC4), supported by IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland.
A broad range of digital technologies to investigate
The remit of the IIDB has been expanded to include social media, mobile technologies, big-data analytics, IoT and blockchain research. A key element of the new centre will be DOTlab (Digital Optimisation and Transformation), a dedicated space in DCU Business School for applied research.
DOTlab will host industrial and academic researchers from Ireland and elsewhere, who will pursue research under six key themes: the future of finance, the future of work, the future of sales and marketing, the future of information systems, the future of operations and logistics, and the future of governance.
Building on seven years of DCU research
The IIDB will have more than 28 faculty members and full-time researchers, and will be led by Prof Theo Lynn from DCU Business School. Speaking at the launch, Lynn said: “Through the Government’s investment in the Irish Centre for Cloud Computing and Commerce (IC4), DCU researchers have been actively working with organisations in Ireland to understand the business value of cloud computing, and accelerate adoption of the cloud.”
Lynn added that the IIDB builds on the seven years of research completed at IC4 and “recognises the wide range of digital business research being undertaken across DCU, and consolidates this research capacity into one new institute”.
He concluded: “Researchers, industry and policymakers will be able to leverage the expanded research expertise and capacity to solve real-world problems today, tomorrow and beyond.”
President of DCU, Prof Brian MacCraith, described the launch of the IIDB as the beginning of the next chapter in improving our understanding of how digital technologies work within a business environment.
He said: “A successor to IC4, the centre will comprise theoretical and applied research on the critical tools and trends that are shaping business today. I look forward to seeing the valuable outputs from the IIDB over the coming years as digital technologies and their role within the workplace continue their rapid and relentless evolution.”
