The Tyndall Institute - Tyndall Research Strategy

The vision of the Irish Government to drive-forward the knowledge economy in Ireland can be summarised as follows: “by 2013, Ireland will be internationally renowned for the excellence of its research and be at the forefront in generating and using new knowledge for economic and social progress, within an innovation-driven culture1”. In particular, there is a drive to double the number of PhD students in Ireland over the period 2007 to 2013.

In Tyndall, our vision is that we should play a central role in the future development of the Irish knowledge economy.

The ICT sector, in which Tyndall specialises, is of huge economic importance globally, with annual turnover in excess of €3.0 trillion. It provides the technological basis upon which most other manufacturing sectors depend for improvements in productivity, and on which all services (i.e. communications, healthcare, energy, transport and environmental management) depend for efficient and cost-effective delivery.

The Irish ICT sector is the largest single manufacturing sector in the country, and has considerable potential for increasing the level and quality of its R&D. Industry has indicated that its main needs from research institutes are: industry-friendly IP policies, R&D that is well-aligned to industrial needs, agility and speed of response and a strong output of well-trained people at post-graduate level.

Tyndall’s contribution to Ireland’s future will be through the work of world-class teams performing ground-breaking research on new materials, devices and systems with a “from atoms to systems” philosophy and focusing on “delivering value from research” to the Irish economy. There will be clear objectives to produce results of internationally acknowledged excellence and to train significant numbers of high quality graduates to PhD level.

Success in achieving these quality and training objectives will be key to future economic development in Ireland, through the attraction of inward-investment from high technology multinational companies, the encouragement of existing indigenous companies to increasingly embed their R&D in the country, and the generation of new businesses through high potential start-ups.

Tyndall’s mission will be delivered through the focusing of our ICT research activities into three strongly inter-related technical areas, identified as critical for Ireland in the future, namely: Micro/nanoelectronics; Photonics and Microsystems. In each of these areas, there will be a drive to develop appropriate high quality output “from atoms to systems”, with the aim of adding significant intellectual value to potential future products.

The drive to develop systems will be soundly based-upon leading research in materials (especially nanomaterials), electronic and photonic devices and advanced packaging/sub-systems integration. It will be supported by strong activities in Theory, Modelling and Design, and a high quality Central Fabrication Facility (CFF) for materials and devices.

Tyndall will work closely with government agencies and industry to develop its value to the Irish economy and actively support the research of other academic institutions throughout Ireland by making the Tyndall facilities and expertise available through such initiatives as the National Access Programme.