Their vision was to attract the best international researchers to Ireland and to carry out world leading research, which was informed by industry and could impact Irish competitiveness. This initial investment in CRANN acted as a catalyst for research in nanotechnology and advanced materials in Ireland and the country now has a proven reputation as a global leader in these fields.
In 2013, CRANN came together with the Trinity Centre for Bioengineering, University College Cork and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland to establish AMBER, the SFI* Centre for Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research. Since then AMBER has successfully secured €75M for a 12 year research progamme, as part of SFI*’s National Research Centres initiative.
Over time we have attracted new academic institutions, industrial partnerships and significantly grown our income from non-exchequer, notably European, sources. AMBER’s Investigators are driving our research excellence and in 2016 we published an impact assessment report rigorously assesses the impacts that CRANN and AMBER have made to the Irish economy and wider society. Most notably we had very positive impact for the Irish economy; with a total income of €108 million from 2007 to 2016, CRANN/AMBER generated gross output nationwide of over €505 million.
*As of August 1st, 2024, Taighde Eireann – Research Ireland, the new national competitive research and innovation funding agency, has been established through the amalgamation of the activities and functions of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Irish Research Council (IRC).
AMBER has a strong emphasis on collaboration. Central to AMBER’s research remit are collaborative projects performed with industry partners, and working with academic, industry and wider stakeholder on international and national research programmes.
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