Connected supply chain. Image: Ekaphon maneechot/Shutterstock
The Insight Centre for Data Analytics has received an investment of €1.5m from a US research centre to advance research in smart service delivery and supply chain management in Cork.
Based in University College Cork (UCC), the Insight Centre for Data Analytics has received an investment of €1.5m from the United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) in the US.
Starting with a cash investment of €500,000 and €1m in kind, the new funding will advance research in smart service delivery and supply chain management in Cork, focusing on four distinct areas.
The Cork team will collaborate with UTRC staff on these areas, which include: artificial intelligence, data analytics and machine learning, human machine interaction, and optimisation.
The pair of research centres have been collaborating on projects since 2010, with UTRC providing systems and services to the building and aerospace industries, employing approximately 200,000 people worldwide.
This latest €1.5m investment represents the company’s largest in Ireland and the most valuable targeted project in Science Foundation Ireland’s (SFI) research centres programme to date.
‘Vote of confidence in the Irish research community’
Insight Centre Director Prof Barry O’Sullivan said of the news: “This investment will allow us to employ more researchers at a higher level to develop technologies that are in global demand.
“This is a serious vote of confidence in the Irish research community and demonstrates that the SFI strategy – to consolidate and support Irish research in targeted fields – is working. We are attracting investment of the highest calibre, moving Irish-based research up the value chain.”
Sullivan’s counterpart at UTRC, Dr David Parekh, added: “There is great value attached to university collaborations that promote research and curriculum development in our technology areas.
“By establishing relationships with the world’s foremost engineering schools, such as UCC, we are accelerating developments within our technology portfolio and positioning ourselves to recruit the next generation of innovators who are already committed to topics of interest to UTRC.”
Earlier this month, the Insight Centre announced its researchers – along with a Japanese team from Fujitsu – had developed a new platform called Kiduku that can detect if a person has a concussion using a sensor and a smartphone.
