BUSINESS
SFI invests EUR11.1m in photonics team
30-05-2003
by Andrew McLindon
Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) is to spend EUR11.1 million to bring a "world-renowned" four man fibre-optics research team to University College Cork.
The group, which is lead by Dr David Cotter, was previously based at the Corning Research Centre in the UK. They had been acquired by the R&D wing of the fibre-optics manufacturer from BT Labs in 2000 for what is thought to be amount far in excess of the SFI award.
Team members have published a number of books on the subject of photonics and have contributed to more than 300 publications in major international journals. Their achievements have also been recognised in the Guinness Book of Records for the longest transmission distance (125,000 km) of data at 22Gbps.
Photonics is the study of how light and other forms of energy can be used to transmit data. As such, the group has been looking at how fibre-optics and wireless transmission systems can be efficiently harnessed to send data at very high speeds and over long distances.
Although EUR11.1 million would appear to be a lot to spend on a single research team, the SFI believes it has got a bargain. "We usually invest EUR5 million to EUR7 million per investigator award, so this actually works out at around EUR3 million per researcher. This is a world class, leading edge team and EUR11.1 million is great value for money," said Dr Alastair Glass, director of the information and communication technologies division in SFI. The award will initially run for four years.
Dr Glass told ElectricNews.Net that bringing the group to Ireland would have a number of benefits for the country. "This will help Ireland become known as a major centre for photonics, which is an area that will eventually help bring fibre access broadband to the home. Also, commercial spin-offs from this research are expected and these should attract the interest of multinationals."
The capture of this team has been welcomed by Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Harney, TD. She said attracting talented groups of researchers was vital to ensure that Ireland would be well positioned for when the telecoms and telecoms-related markets recover.
The research group is expected to move to UCC shortly and its research programme should be fully operational by the end of the summer.
This funding is the latest in a series of investments in Ireland's research and development community as the government looks to boost the country's R&D capabilities. Earlier this month, SFI said it would grant EUR42 million to help establish three new research centres for science, engineering and technology, while on Thursday, Enterprise Ireland and the Embark Initiative said it would spend EUR12 million on 88 third-level research projects.
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