Irish gov't announces $28M in funding for telecom research

DUBLIN – On the heels of TM Forum, Minister for Research and Innovation, Sean Sherlock TD announced government funding to the tune of $28 million (€19.5 million) for the Centre for Telecommunications Research CTVR at Trinity College Dublin on May 26th.
Minister Sherlock described the CTVR as a research arm “at the forefront of telecommunications network design over the past seven years. The demands on our communication networks increase daily with a multitude of new services and applications coming on stream at an unprecedented pace.”
RCR Wireless was fortunate enough to visit the CTVR to interview some of its students and researchers during our week in Ireland for the TM Forum. The modern building sits smack dab in the center of Dublin on Trinity’s classic campus dating back to 1592.
The state funding was provided by Science Foundation Ireland, with almost $6.8 million (€4.8 million) coming from industry sponsors. The funding will support 76 research positions within the CTVR, a research arm of Trinity specializing in wireless and optical next-generation networks. With headquarters at Trinity, CTVR has partners at six other universities and research institutions across Ireland. Industry partners include Alcatel-Lucent / Bell Labs Ireland, Xilinx Research Labs Ireland, Socowave, Eircom / Meteor, Intune Networks, NXP and MA/Com.
Currently, the CTVR is funded under the SFI Centres for Science, Engineering and Technology program.
Linda Doyle, CTVR director said, “We are in a time of unprecedented change, be it in relation to hardware, software, consumer demand levels or user patterns. Developing flexible and adaptable networks that take full account of resources constraints such as energy, bandwidth and manpower, is a key principle of CTVR.”
“The allocation of additional SFI funding from government will enable the Centre to continue to have significant impact on how the networks of the future are designed, and to tackle key research problems in an area of strategic relevance for Ireland, namely the telecommunications sector,” Professor Doyle continued.
Minister Sherlock added the importance of next-gen networks, adding: “The networks of the future must be able to keep apace with these demands and accommodate new and, indeed, as yet undeveloped innovations. The involvement and direct contribution of leading industry partners is a strong visible commitment of the value, quality and strategic relevance of the research being undertaken by CTVR. It shows that Ireland continues to be an internationally recognized location for top-class research allied to the needs of industry.”