New national AI facility under €17 million Research Ireland investment

Walton Institute at South East Technological University (SETU) has secured over €1 million in funding under a €17 million national investment to build an AI facility/ This news was announced by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD.

The funding will support the development of the Walton AI Facility, an advanced artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (HPC) platform designed to strengthen Ireland’s research and innovation capacity and support industry adoption of AI.

SETU’s Walton Institute  to have national AI facility

Announcing the investment, Minister Lawless said: “Today’s Research Ireland infrastructure announcement further underscores our strong commitment to ensuring Ireland’s research community have access to world-class facilities. These nine projects will strengthen national capability in areas vital to Ireland’s future, including advanced materials, AI, and MedTech. This investment will equip researchers across the country with the tools they need to remain at the forefront of global innovation and strengthen Ireland’s long-term competitiveness.”

The AI facility in Waterford will significantly expand Walton’s existing data centre, delivering up to 100 times current computing capacity while improving energy efficiency. This comes at a time when demand for AI infrastructure is increasing, with data centres playing a central role in Ireland’s digital economy. The facility will also connect with key European research infrastructures, including the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), supporting collaboration and access to large-scale research programmes.

Dr Deirdre Kilbane, Director of Research at Walton Institute, welcomes the investment adding: “This funding strengthens our ability to build strong research collaborations that support industry and public sector partners in adopting AI with confidence. By combining advanced infrastructure with fundamental and applied research, we can help organisations move from early-stage ideas to practical deployment, while also building AI skills and capacity across the region.”

The Walton AI Facility will provide a shared resource for researchers, SMEs, industry and public sector organisations. It will enable large-scale AI model training, real-time data analysis and applied research across sectors including healthcare, climate, agriculture, finance and security.

Dr Lizy Abraham, Principal Investigator of the Walton AI Facility, said: “This investment allows us to build the computing infrastructure needed to support modern AI research at scale. It will enable researchers and industry to train advanced models and apply AI in ways that deliver real outcomes across sectors.”

This investment positions Walton Institute and SETU as a national hub for AI-driven research and innovation, with a strong focus on supporting regional growth in the South East while contributing to national and European priorities.

A core focus of the project is sustainability. The new infrastructure is designed to deliver high-performance computing with lower energy demand, supporting more efficient and responsible AI deployment.

In addition to research capacity, the project will support skills development, industry collaboration and technology transfer, helping organisations to test and adopt AI solutions with reduced risk.

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