The Irish Maritime and Energy Research Cluster (IMERC) officially opened The Entrepreneur Ship today. Billed as the first dedicated marine innovation centre in Ireland, the venture seeks to accelerate job creation and opportunities of the blue economy in Ireland.

The space is be located on the IMERC campus in Lower Cork Harbour, next to the National Maritime College of Ireland, and will allow maritime companies to access supports including training, talent, research and test bed facilities through the IMERC partners in Cork.

Speaking at the opening, minister Simon Coveney said: “The government has ambitious plans to grow Ireland’s marine economy to maximise the potential of our vast marine resources. Business incubators, accelerators, and co-creation spaces have been proven to support and fast-track start-up companies seeking to exploit emerging market opportunities.”

Startups and international companies are already using the facilities of the maritime innovation centre. DARE Technology is developing wind turbines with the potential to remove one million tonnes of CO2 each year. Exceedence has developed software to provide analytics solutions to developers in the marine renewables sector.

“The Entrepreneur Ship is a place of convergence between entrepreneurial talent, and the explosion of new ideas and technologies coming from areas such as robotics, big data, biotechnology, power generation, cyber security, unmanned systems, and power storage as they relate to our ocean and energy systems,” said IMERC director Val Cummins. “The objective is to grow this enterprise dimension to add to the critical mass of training, research and naval expertise already in the cluster.”

In Association with

IMERC was established in 2010 when three institutions came together to promote Ireland as a world-renowned research, development, training, education and enterprise location that that unlocks Ireland’s maritime and energy potential. It promotes Cork Institute of Technology, the Irish Naval Service and UCC.