CRANN secures €8.1m Non-Exchequer Funding

CRANN revealed last week that is has secured €8.1m in non-exchequer funding over the past 12 months providing employment for over 50 people. The funding was drawn from eleven projects which involve collaborative work with twenty-six 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. The majority of the funding has come from Europe, through a number of sources including the FP7 Cooperation, Ideas and Capacities blocks.

Professor 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 collaboration between industry and academia.

“Ireland was recently ranked eighth in the world for our work in material science and this is crucial in increasing our competiveness and will help increase the non exchequer funding that we can attract, which will substantial increase the return on investment by the Government in nanoscience over the past decade.”

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 approximately €12m, to develop new nanomedical technology which will enable the early and rapid diagnosis of cancer.
• Professor Jonathan Coleman, Principal Investigator at CRANN, and Professor in the School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin was recently awarded a prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Starter Grant of €1.5 million. The awards are given to only 300 top scientists across Europe, representing less than 10% of those who apply.

CRANN was the primary driver in Ireland’s recent global ranking of eighth in materials science research, which saw Ireland beat off strong competition from larger countries such as France, Canada and Australia.

According to Lux Research, nanotechnology impacted $254 billion worth of products in 2009 globally. This impact is forecasted to grow to $2.5 trillion by 2015.

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