Do you need Research, Development & Innovation assistance for a project, process or service that you are currently working on? Are you unsure where to start? Often the first step is getting in touch with those who can help.
Enterprise Ireland has a network of Technology Gateways, based in Technological Universities and Institutes of Technology around the country. Providing innovation, assistance, funding support, know-how, and guidance for companies and businesses throughout the country. The Midlands and Mid-West region has a wide range of expertise available for companies to access through the network and is home to four Technology Gateway centres that provide specialities in polymers, software, bio-resources and advanced digital technology solutions at the TUS Athlone and Limerick campuses. With a wide range of advice and information accessible, funding from Enterprise Ireland, the combination of expertise and talent is unsurpassed.
Midlands
APT Technology Gateway (Applied Polymer Technologies)
APT Technology Gateway is situated at Technological University of the Shannon: Athlone Campus and provides Polymer solutions, product development assistance, and troubleshooting capabilities for organizations that use plastics materials.
APT provides clients with access to world-class R&D infrastructure, experience, and resources, both locally and nationally. Collaboration with industry to solve difficult challenges, give R&D support, and ease technology transfer to businesses.
The Gateway provides all industrial collaborators with access to facilities and expertise available at TUS via the Materials Research Institute MRI and the larger Gateway network, as well as assistance in accessing diverse funding models to generate innovative solutions to drive sustainability, support exports, and job creation.
Specialisations:
Pilot and Production scale Injection Moulding, Blow Moulding, Thermoforming, Extrusion and Compounding equipment and knowledge.
- Advanced Analytical Facilities for materials research, testing and troubleshooting.
- Design, Rapid Prototyping, Insert Tooling and Micro-Moulding Capabilities
- Unrivalled Polymer Materials Formulation and Development Expertise
COMAND Technology Gateway
COMAND Technology Gateway situated at Technological University of the Shannon: Athlone Campus provides industry-focused technology solutions for the software industry across different media platforms.
The Gateway focuses on the research and development of future interactive media technologies such as cross-platform apps, mobile media cloud, 3D sensing, and Internet of Things interoperability. These technologies are complementary and, when combined, create the opportunity for new and innovative forms of “connected media” – personalised, real-time, interactive applications – in a variety of commercial fields such as telecommunications, gaming, television, e-health, e-learning, e-tourism, e-retailing, entertainment, and digital marketing. The purpose of COMAND is to transmit these innovations to industry in order to maximize economic gain.
Specialisations:
- Cloud media platform: leverage media processing in the cloud and end user
- Media systems: intelligent and cross-platform multimodal development
- User interfaces: multimodal interfacing
- Real-time data analytics
- Interoperability of the Internet of Things (IoT)
Mid-West
SHANNON ABC Technology Gateway
Shannon ABC Technology Gateway, based in Technological University of the Shannon: Limerick Campus, was founded to assist businesses in maximizing the value of bioresources. For over ten years Shannon ABC have worked with Irish food and beverage businesses to help them develop new products, enhance current ones, and improve procedures.
The majority of their food and beverage research is devoted to developing new ingredients and analyzing their effects. Primary research conducted is designed to be use-inspired research, or research having an application in mind. Shannon ABC is also a member of Irish Food Tech cluster, a group of Technology Gateways active in the Food and Drink industry, and collaborates with Food@LIT to offer consumer-facing services for Food and Drink enterprises.
Specialisations:
Shannon ABC can support companies from raw material to final product:
- New product development
- Ingredient screening
- Technology review
- Bioactivity testing
- Microbiological testing
- Analytical testing
- Process development and analysis
- By-product valorisation
- Shelf-life testing
- Sensory analysis
- Consumer studies
- Food labeling/claims
Smarter Factory Technology Gateway
The Smarter Factory Gateway based at the Technological University of the Shannon: Midwest delivers advanced digital technology solutions to companies regionally and nationwide.
Specialisations:
- Digital Business Tools: Supporting Operational Excellence and Data-driven Decision making
- Data-driven Energy Efficiency. Supporting Sustainable Manufacturing and Product lifecycle management (PLM).
- Smart Manufacturing: Supporting improvements in design, productivity and maintenance
- Cognitive Robotics and Vision Systems: Supporting adoption of Industry 4.0, automated and zero-defect processes
- Simulation Models for Production: Supporting Digitalisation of Processes and Business Intelligence
For additional information on our Gateways or previous projects, check out our Network page and case studies section.