Two men and two women stand in a line smiling at the camera.
From left: Marina Donohoe, Enterprise Ireland; Minister of State Dara Calleary, TD; Edward McDonnell, CeADAR; and Laura Plunkett, EDIH. Image: © Fennell Photography

AI research centre creates jobs following European hub status

31 Oct 2023

The jobs will include data scientists, programme and ecosystem managers and data science coaches in machine learning and AI.

CeADAR, the Irish research centre for applied AI, has formally been selected to be the European Digital Innovation Hub (EDIH) for AI in Ireland.

As a result, EDIH will provide €14m in funding over seven years including an initial funding boost of €6m over three years, allowing the Irish research centre to create an initial nine new roles.

The new funding will be used to recruit data scientists, data science coaches in machine learning and AI, programme and ecosystems managers, as well as marketing and communications staff.

CeADAR joins 151 tech hubs across 30 countries. The EDIH is a Europe-wide initiative with funding of €700m from both the European Commission and the governments of member states.

Joining the EDIH network will also allow the Irish research centre to support companies all over Ireland, with the additional staff helping it to expand its services to companies at the early stage in their AI journey.

Its aim is to assist SMEs and public service organisations (PSOs) become more digitally intense by providing access to technical expertise in artificial intelligence and data analytics, as well as test-before-invest solutions, training and skills development and support in finding funding.

CeADAR’s centre director, Dr Edward McDonnell, shared his delight that the centre is now part of “a select group of tech centres of excellence” in Europe.

“The new funding, which is provided jointly by both the EU and the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland, will allow us to support SMEs and PSOs across the country and help them accelerate their digital journey with AI and data science,” he said.

“We plan a large hiring programme to recruit additional expertise in the areas of data science, data science coaching, programme management, ecosystems management, digital marketing and communications.”

McDonnell was recently appointed to the OECD Global Partnership Committee on AI. The primary work of CeADAR is applied research in the area of AI. The centre is also very active in research projects, spinouts and industry upskilling.

Earlier this year, the centre announced it was collaborating with Vietnam National University on an AI project that aims to tackle air pollution in Vietnam. In terms of upskilling the industry, CeADAR also collaborated with researchers across Europe to develop an ethics-focused AI master’s degree.

Current jobs available at CeADAR are on the research centre’s website.

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Jenny Darmody
By Jenny Darmody

Jenny Darmody became the editor of Silicon Republic in 2023, having worked as the deputy editor since February 2020. When she’s not writing about the science and tech industry, she’s writing short stories and attempting novels. She continuously buys more books than she can read in a lifetime and pretty stationery is her kryptonite. She also believes seagulls to be the root of all evil and her baking is the stuff of legends.

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