Taoiseach Micheál Martin has officially opened an expansion of NovaUCD that cost €6.7m and will add 800 square metres to its available space for startups.

The project involved renovating and expanding NovaUCD’s East Courtyard,and the additional space means its capacity to house high-tech startups increases by 50%.

The new facility houses 20 business units and laboratories, and a new co-working space. NovaUCD says it can now support over 450 founders and their teams.

UCD Nova DAC accounts for the year to September 2020 disclose rental income of €1.6m and operating costs of €1.5m. The expenses line does not include staff or directors payroll. The trading surplus of €70,000 for 2019/20 was after accounting for a €190,000 depreciation charge.

Martin commented: “Since opening in 2003, NovaUCD has become one of the leading hubs in Ireland’s startup ecosystem, supporting ambitious entrepreneurs and innovative high-tech companies. With NovaUCD’s strong track record, and now with its significant increase in capacity, I am sure it will continue to flourish.”

In Association with

The Taoiseach was treated to technology demonstrations NovaUCD tenants including  Equal1 Laboratories, Manna, Output Sports and PlasmaBound.

Other tenants include ReaDI-Watch, a  software startup led by Dave Byrne (pictured).

The company has developed what’s billed as a disruptive digital platform for businesses to accelerate results and create value from Research, Development & Innovation. Customers include Anam Technologies and Croom Precision Medical.

According to Byrne (26): “In today's era of digitalisation and sustainability, our platform gives companies back the innovation capability and control to drive their businesses to success by providing them with a digital framework to execute on best-practice and informed RD&I strategies.”

ReaDI-Watch will be exhibiting at next week’s Web Summit event in Lisbon.