Tánaiste Leo Varadkar officially opened Future Mobility Campus Ireland (FMCI) in Shannon, County Clare, on Friday, 15th July, 2022, Ireland’s first full-scale development centre and test-bed for mobility technologies.
Based in Shannon, the facility focuses on technology research and development spanning ground and air uses.
Investment of around €5.5m has been made in the state-of-the-art commercial campus which is stimulating international investment and job creation, as well as consolidating Ireland’s reputation for leadership in connected, automated, electrified and shared mobility solutions.
Projects involving unmanned drones, electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL), Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), autonomous driving, micro-mobility, smart cities, and V2X vehicle communication systems are accommodated.
Congratulating all those involved in the establishment of FMCI, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said: “We want Ireland to be at the cutting-edge of new technologies, and that means we must continually invest in research, testing new ideas, seeing what works and how it can be improved. Future mobility is a particularly important and interesting area, given our need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, while at the same time making our cities more liveable.”
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The facility supports a range of parties including large and small-scale enterprises, from individual researchers to multinational corporations, start-ups and Government entities.
Partners consist of companies such as Jaguar Land Rover, Shannon Group, Cisco, Valeo, Seagate, Red Hat, Taoglas, Mergon, Exida, Analog Devices, General Motors, Pipiper, Collins Aerospace and Avtrain.
Societally transformative transport solutions can be conceived, developed, trialled and deployed in Shannon for applications across Ireland, Europe and the wider world, according to Russell Vickers, CEO of Future Mobility Campus Ireland.
He said: “Our unique facility in Shannon is facilitating safe, cost-effective and sustainable transport of freight and people now and into the future. What we and our clients do here contributes to socio-economic development and technological advancement that has extensive business, public service and societal applications."
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In June, a European consortium coordinated by FMCI was approved and funded by the EU to develop a ‘Digital Sky Demonstrator’ for aerial Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) systems. The ground-breaking new research was a major vote of confidence in Ireland’s resourcing of advanced air mobility development, and in the industry operators and expertise present locally, Russell Vickers says.
The UTM research project will also support modernisation of air traffic management in Europe, building an end-to-end ecosystem that supports safe operation of unmanned flights, to help both conventional and unmanned aircraft safely integrate operations.
Enterprise Ireland CEO, Leo Clancy, says there are significant growth opportunities for Irish companies in emerging technologies that efficiently move people and goods domestically and internationally.
Commenting on the opening of the FMCI in Shannon, he said: “A key focus for Enterprise Ireland is accelerating the development of innovation capability in Irish enterprise and driving job creation in the regions. This new state-of-the-art facility will provide a real boost to the Mid-West Region, delivering a key piece of infrastructure that will support Irish industry nationally in addressing the cutting-edge future mobility industry.”
Source: Written from press release.
