At the September 2014 Career Zoo in the Convention Centre Dublin, a BioCluster Zone was introduced to showcase career opportunities in Ireland’s bio-tech sector.
To find out more about this growing industry in Ireland, we spoke to Killian O’Driscoll, director of projects at NIBRT, the national institute for bioprocessing research and training. NIBRT is a partnership of industry, academia and Government established to help the growth of the bio-tech sector in Ireland, which O’Driscoll says is going from strength to strength.
In 2014, there have been over 1,000 jobs created within this sector from companies such as Amgen, Regeneron, Merck Sharp & Dohme and Eli Lilly.
O’Driscoll says these opportunities are open to all as NIBRT can provide training for people without a background in life sciences, some of it funded by Government and free of charge.
“I think, within the bio-tech sector and the pharma sector, Ireland is acknowledged as one of the leadership centres in the world,” said O’Driscoll.
“Ireland is the No 1 location in Europe for life-sciences investment. There’s now 18 bio-tech sites within in Ireland, 37pc of our exports are from the life-sciences sector, so we would be recognised as a leader in the sector. But, having said that, there are always opportunities for improvement.”
