The Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN) has revealed it has secured €8.1m funding.
The centre, based at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), received the funding that has come from Europe through a number of sources that include the FP7 Cooperation, Ideas and Capacities.
The €8.1m in non-exchequer funding has been secured over the past 12 months and provided employment for more than 50 people.
Prof John Boland, director of CRANN, said: “Attracting non-exchequer funding is critical to the ongoing development of nanoscience in Ireland. The success in achieving international funding has several implications as it benchmarks Irish leadership in this area and clearly demonstrates the power and importance of close interdisciplinary collaborations between industry and academia.”
Collaborative work
The funding was drawn from 11 projects which involve collaborative work with 26 industry partners across Europe and the US, including multinational companies and smaller indigenous European companies. In addition, CRANN is working with 55 international universities on these projects.
“Ireland was recently ranked eighth in the world for our work in material science and this is crucial in increasing our competitiveness and will help increase the non-exchequer funding that we can attract, which will substantially increase the return on investment by the Government in nanoscience over the past decade,” added Boland.
Key projects funded
A European consortium in partnership with Intel, led by CRANN: This project focuses on the development of new “smart” materials which will drive the next generation of electronic chip and thus, faster, lighter and more efficient computers, mobile phones and home gaming machines.
The Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM) and TCD School of Medicine in partnership with CRANN is leading a pan-European team that has attracted funding worth about €12m, to develop new nanomedical technology which will enable the early and rapid diagnosis of cancer.
According to Lux Research, nanotechnology impacted $254bn (around €183bn) worth of products in 2009 globally. This impact is forecast to grow to $2.5trn (around €1.8trn) by 2015.
