€460 million investment for seven new Rinn Research Ireland centres

Seven major new Research Ireland centres – comprising an overall investment of €460million – has been announced today by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD.

As part of this announcement, an enhanced national research network, Rinn* – has been launched, under which each of the seven new Rinn centres will operate over the next eight years. This unified network reflects the step change in the scale and breadth of collaboration, governance, and funding, supporting a more coordinated and internationally engaged research system with the aim of delivering national and international impact.

Seven new Rinn Research Ireland centres

Spanning Advanced Therapies, Artificial Intelligence, Energy, Medical Devices, Pharma & Biopharma, Quantum and Semiconductors, the seven new Rinn will support 577 research positions, develop over 800 PhDs, and involve 17 research-performing organisations in a coordinated, collaborative national effort of unprecedented scale.

The seven Rinn have additional funding of €500 million to be leveraged from industry and other sources, with support from over 200 industry partners comprising over 100 multinational corporations and almost 100 SMEs.

Making the announcement, Minister Lawless said: “The scale and scope of this €460 million investment is a powerful statement of Ireland’s ambition in research and innovation. Research Ireland centres have, over the last 13 years, fundamentally reshaped our innovation landscape – turning excellent and innovative research into real-world societal and economic impact. Our higher education institutions and enterprise collaborators have been critical to that success. With these seven new Rinn, we are building on this progress by supporting talent, strengthening industry partnerships, attracting foreign direct investment, advancing indigenous industry growth, promoting regional development, and enabling Ireland to remain internationally competitive.”

Speaking at the announcement, CEO of Research Ireland, Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, said: “The Rinn network is about excellent multidisciplinary research, radical collaboration and deep connectivity at scale across 17 research performing institutions, industry, Government, public sector bodies, and the broader higher education and research system. Each Rinn will develop world-class talent, drive enterprise engagement with research, and reinforce Ireland’s international standing by creating a unique research and innovation ecosystem of international significance and scale. A key action in our recently launched strategy is the delivery of an enhanced Research Ireland centres programme that will enable the development of national centres of international scale in areas of key strategic importance. Rinn firmly sets that action in motion.”

The 7 new Rinn are:

1. Rinn Advanced Therapies – Research & Innovation in Personalised Immune Cell Therapeutics: €51,057,588
2. Rinn Artificial Intelligence – Research & Innovation in Data Science and AI: €121,752,497
3. Rinn Energy – Research & Innovation in Energy System Decarbonisation: €51,785,397
4. Rinn Medical Devices – Research & Innovation in Medical Devices: €64,488,000
5. Rinn Pharma & Biopharma – Research & Innovation in Making Medicines: €60,324,450
6. Rinn Quantum – Research & Innovation in Quantum Information Science and Technology: €39,621,376
7. Rinn Semiconductors – Research & Innovation in Heterogeneously Integrated Semiconductor Systems: €70,979,936

The 17 Rinn Participating Research Performing Bodies are: Atlantic Technological University, Dublin City University, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Economic and Social Research Institute, Munster Technological University, Maynooth University, National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training, South East Technological University, Trinity College Dublin, Tyndall National Institute, Technological University Dublin, Technological University of the Shannon, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, University College Cork, University College Dublin, University of Limerick and University of Galway.

The 7 Rinn have direct links to the Programme for Government, National Development Plan, Impact 2030, Quantum 2030, our ‘Silicon Island’ National Semiconductor Strategy, and the Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity. Rinn Artificial Intelligence and Rinn Quantum support the commitments under Ireland’s new National Digital & AI Strategy, Digital Ireland, to establish a leading AI Research Centre of scale and a Quantum Centre of Excellence. This investment will play a key role in the delivery of the research and innovation goals and objectives set down in these strategies by Government.

The announcement of the seven Rinn follows an open competitive process, where proposals underwent a rigorous, multi-stage evaluation process by independent international experts.

The 7 Rinn will officially commence their activities on July 1st 2026.

The 17 Rinn Participating Research Performing Bodies are: Atlantic Technological University, Dublin City University, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Economic and Social Research Institute, Munster Technological University, Maynooth University, National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training, South East Technological University, Trinity College Dublin, Tyndall National Institute, Technological University Dublin, Technological University of the Shannon, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, University College Cork, University College Dublin, University of Limerick and University of Galway.

The 7 Rinn have direct links to the Programme for Government, National Development Plan, Impact 2030, Quantum 2030, our ‘Silicon Island’ National Semiconductor Strategy, and the Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity. Rinn Artificial Intelligence and Rinn Quantum support the commitments under Ireland’s new National Digital & AI Strategy, Digital Ireland, to establish a leading AI Research Centre of scale and a Quantum Centre of Excellence. This investment will play a key role in the delivery of the research and innovation goals and objectives set down in these strategies by Government.

* Rinn: The Irish word for a point, tip or headland.

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