Research Ireland Centre for Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research
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AMBER’s Executive Director Lorraine Byrne, Colm McAtamney and Claire McKenna were delighted to attend the official launch of Ireland’s first Phi‑Lab, the new centre will focus on advanced materials and hardware that can support future space missions as well as commercial applications on Earth. AMBER is a partner in the Irish ESA Phi-Lab along with Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR).
Dietmar Pilz, Director of Technology, Engineering and Quality and Head of ESA ESTEC, and Philip Thomas Head of the ESA Scale Up Programme Division launched the Phi-Lab which included contributions from Peter Burke TD, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and Alan Dillon TD, Minister of State for Employment, Small Businesses and Retail & Circular Economy, with additional support from Barry Kennedy, CEO of IMR, and Enterprise Ireland.
The European Space Agency (ESA) said of the new Phi Lab:
‘At ESA Phi-Lab Ireland companies can transform cutting-edge research into commercial space technologies.
Headquarters are at Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR) collaborating with the AMBER Centre at Trinity College Dublin. The facility is one of several European Space Agency – ESA Phi-Labs located across Europe, which are part of ESA’s ScaleUp activities within its ACCESS programme.
Known as the Phi-LabNET, this network supports research into:
– Advanced manufacturing
– Materials discovery
– Artificial intelligence
– Quantum computing
– Robotics
The first successful applicants to join ESA Phi Lab Ireland are:
– MBRYONICS (Galway) – leaders in photonic satellite communications
– Ubotica Technologies (Dublin) – delivering AI‑enabled Earth observation solutions
📣 A second open call for proposals will be launched later this year.’
For more information on upcoming calls, keep an eye on https://www.esaphilab.ie/
Coverage of the launch by RTE
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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