02 February, 2021

On 1st of February the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, TD, announced an investment of €196 million in five Science Foundation Ireland research centres, to be rolled out over six years.

Among the centres set to benefit from this investment is ADAPT, the SFI Research Centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology, led by Trinity College Dublin. ADAPT will receive €42 million in investments, to expand and drive breakthroughs in digital content technologies.

With a goal of a Balanced Digital Society by 2030, ADAPT is pioneering new Human Centric AI techniques and technologies including personalisation, natural language processing as well as setting the standard for data governance, privacy, and ethics for digital content. ADAPT researchers are based across eight leading Irish Higher Education Institutions: TCD, DCU, MTU, TU Dublin, UCD, NUIM, NUIG and AIT

MTU ADAPT researchers are currently involved in wide-ranging fields of studies including the design and  implementation of new eHealth use cases, social media analysis and information extraction applications through deep learning algorithms.

Dr. Haitham Afli, ADAPT research lead and MTU Lecturer, said, “Being part of ADAPT Centre, our MTU group aims to strengthen its position in leading research in the use of artificial intelligence, natural language processing and machine learning in the domains of healthcare, life sciences, digital humanities and fintech".

Michael Loftus, Vice President for External Affairs for MTU said that the newly formed university will double its research impact and activity over the next 10 years, adding, “Engaging with research centres such as ADAPT will contribute to MTU’s development in this context. We look forward to continuing our participation in ADAPT in areas that are important to society and the many stakeholder organisations with which we engage routinely”.

Other research centres set to gain from the €196 million investment are:
• CONNECT –SFI Research Centre for Future Networks and Communications, led by Trinity College Dublin
• CÚRAM –SFI Research Centre for Medical Devices led by NUI Galway
• iCRAG –SFI Research Centre in Applied Geosciences led by University College Dublin
• Lero –SFI Research Centre for Software, led by University of Limerick

Minister Harris emphasised the importance of the investment in Irelands positioning on the world’s stage and reflects the countries reputation as a global leader in research and innovation. “The investment will ensure that we are prepared for the changes and disruption that we are facing in addressing global societal and economic challenges,” he said.

The investment is additionally backed by large-scale support from over 200 industry partners, committing over €91 million in cash and in-kind contributions. It will support approximately 1,060 graduate and post-doctorate studies, along with research fellows working in the respective centres.

Professor Mark Ferguson director general of SFI outlined how Ireland has benefited from SFI research during the Covid-19 pandemic: “SFI research centres support both basic and applied research, spanning a wide range of sectors at varying levels and stages, and as a country we have benefited from their considerable contributions in the recent Covid-19 pandemic”.

To read about more organisations that have partnered with MTU check out our case studies.

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