Microelectronic Circuits Centre Ireland Reports High Growth From Research

Microelectronic Circuits Centre Ireland (MCCI) has always supported innovation, mainly through the creation and promotion of talents in microelectronic engineering, attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) into the sector as well as securing R&D jobs of the future. The Cork-based company has been able to record research revenues in excess of €7.5m that can be attributed to R&D activity in the last year.

The microelectronics sector is vital especially to the current global trends which involve concepts such as the Internet of Things, cloud and mobile computing and artificial intelligence, which are in turn crucial to making Ireland competitive. The technology centre in Cork city was funded by Enterprise Ireland as well as the IDA. It is worth noting that in addition to the €7.5 million in research revenue, the centre involved a team of over 90 researchers and engineers who were able to collaborate on more than 50 innovation projects in the country.

MCCI has been able to grow its research funding from an initial grant of €1 million to the current status through a number of strategies that include collaboration with other stakeholders in the sector and getting public funding. The centre was able to complete key projects in 2017 that included 6 IP licenses for MedTech as well as SmartAgri applications. The microelectronics industry has been able to thrive worldwide, with the industry being worth over $400 billion in 2017. As such, MCCI has stated that due to this growth, the sector is bound to have a scarcity of graduates over the next five years. However, the sector is working to address this issue by attracting undergraduate students from across Europe. The next step would be to transform these individuals into future leaders.