DCU ALPHA plans to support 100 companies and 800 jobs

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, has unveiled details of the next phase of development for DCU ALPHA (formerly DCU Innovation Campus).

DCU Alpha [@DCUAlpha] is an innovation cluster which has become home to more than 30 companies and 350 high-tech jobs since its establishment in late 2013, following the transfer of the old Enterprise Ireland site to Dublin City University under the 2013 Action Plan for Jobs. The office, laboratory and industrial research facility in DCU Alpha has evolved into a group of innovative companies actively bridging the digital and physical divide, with new IoT technologies.  DCU Alpha now plans to grow to 100 companies and 800 jobs over the next three years under its new brand identity, double the amount envisaged under the 2013 Action Plan for Jobs.

The first expansions under the new identity are the significant 30 new jobs announcement and R&D facility by Neosfar, an innovative Irish IoT company and the confirmation by Indian software multinational, NIIT Ltd, that its new ‘European Delivery Centre’ will be located at DCU Alpha.

The Alpha location has become a hot bed of next generation of innovation over the last two years, with the tenant and partner line-up featuring a mix of companies supported by the Department of Jobs - Enterprise Ireland-backed high potential start-ups, successful indigenous tech SMEs and IDA supported multinationals across a variety of sectors including cleantech, wearable sensors, connected health, industrial automation and machine-to-machine communications.

Speaking at the launch, Minister Bruton TD, said: “Two thirds of all new jobs are created by start-ups in their first five years of existence – that is why as part of the Action Plan for Jobs we are putting place a range of measures to support entrepreneurs.  Crucial in this is incubator and accelerator spaces and innovation clusters - facilities for companies to locate in their early years of existence where they can have access to supports, mentoring and crucially where they can be close to other entrepreneurs to share experiences and bounce ideas off.

“I was delighted to launch the DCU Innovation Campus in 2013 as part of our Action Plan for Jobs – and it is hugely encouraging to see today that they have doubled their ambitions.  Today’s announcement that DCU Alpha plans to grow to 100 companies and 800 jobs in the next three years is a huge boost for the north side, and a great indication of what is possible for start-up companies with access to the right supports”.

Also speaking at the launch, CEO of Neosfar, Mark McCarville added, “We are delighted to announce these highly skilled jobs as we embark on servicing the burgeoning IoT sector from our new base in DCU Alpha.  We already know and work with many of the companies based here and that cluster or cross-fertilisation opportunity, coupled with the access to graduate talent and key researchers in DCU, made this location an ideal one from our perspective.  We look forward to moving into our custom designed engineering lab and office space over the coming weeks and we are already well progressed in terms of hiring the key staff we need.”

Spanish Lalla, President of NIIT’s Corporate Learning Group outlined the rationale behind their move saying, “Europe is an important market for us and Ireland was our country of choice for our European Delivery Centre.  As soon as we engaged with DCU, we knew that Alpha was the right location in terms of its culture of innovation and the nearby access to key research centres and the availability of creative and technical talent in the main University.”

President of DCU Professor Brian MacCraith, highlighting the University’s ongoing commitment to engagement and innovation partnerships with industry said, “DCU Alpha is rapidly becoming recognised as a cornerstone of DCU’s reputation as Ireland’s University of Enterprise.  It has been encouraging to see the high level of engagement by businesses large and small over the last two years as they leverage the research, talent and support of DCU.

The next three years are going to be equally as exciting as we look to grow the amount of partner companies from 30 to 100 and continue to expand the number of jobs supported here as well as the number of innovation partnerships between the University and our industry partners.”