• 50 new research jobs will be created.
  • Dublin lab will focus on future communication technologies for IoT, Wi-Fi, 6G, Artificial Intelligence, and Quantum Systems.

Tyndall National Institute has opened its first research facility outside of Cork in Dublin as part of its expansion plans. The laboratory will see the creation of 50 new research jobs by 2025.

The announcement comes one year on from the launch of the ambitious Tyndall 2025 plan, which aims to double the size and impact of the national ICT research institute.

The Dublin lab, which has been set up remotely for now because of restrictions, will host a new wireless communications team who will focus on future deep technologies: Future RF, Future Access, Future Protocols, Future AI, and Future Quantum. The resulting innovations will enable ultra-flexible, ultra-fast, and ultra-reliable low latency communication for next generation IoT communications, Wi-Fi, 5G, 6G and beyond - helping industry partners to innovate and create high value start-ups with global impact.

The Wireless Communications Research Laboratory will be headed up by industry thought leader and acclaimed scientist Dr Holger Claussen, along with Dr Lester Ho and Dr Senad Bulja.  All three are former researchers with the prestigious multi award-winning Nokia Bell Labs Ireland, where they created the foundations for many of Nokia’s next generation products and pioneered Small Cell Networks, now a $6.7bn/a market.  Nokia Bell Labs is the world-renowned industrial research arm of Nokia - they invented many of the foundational technologies that underpin today’s communications technologies.

Tyndall’s aim is to build on the existing expertise of the team to create a world leading research lab focused on Future Wireless Communication Systems. The Dublin research lab will help to increase collaboration with universities and corporate partners nationally in wireless, AI and quantum systems.

The team will initially be based at CONNECT – the world leading Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Future Networks and Communications, hosted at Trinity College Dublin. The CONNECT Centre includes Ireland’s top telecommunications researchers in ten higher education institutes around Ireland, including University College Cork.

Over the past decade, the demand for capacity has increased exponentially by over 100x, driven by human demand to connect, access the internet everywhere, and ubiquitous video streaming, which now accounts for 75% of traffic. While this trend will continue, the future demand will be mainly driven by machines and real-time applications with significantly different requirements.  Future networks will provide instant access to all information and near-infinite computing resources and reliable low latency communication will become even more important than capacity. Wireless networks will bridge in real-time between the emerging digital, physical and biological worlds, and will be a key enabler for a broad range of areas including digital twins, AR/VR applications, robotics, and Industry 4.0. This will allow us to predict the future, substantially augment human capability, and create time by automating even more aspects of modern life. As a result, wireless communications will be at the heart of Ireland’s future economy, essential for many industries including IT, manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture, transport, maritime, energy and carbon mitigation.

The new Wireless Communications Research Laboratory at Tyndall National Institute will allow Ireland to take the lead in solving the fundamental problems which can enable this generational leap. 

CEO of Tyndall National Institute, Professor William Scanlon, whose own research and academic background is in the area of wireless communications, welcomed the recruitment of this world-class research team. 

“Building on such high calibre international talent will ensure that Ireland becomes a leader in the future of communications innovation. Dr Claussen and his team will be instrumental in developing ground-breaking wireless technologies and will allow Ireland to take the lead in solving the fundamental problems in wireless communications across many domains such as industry 4.0 machine-communications, virtual and augmented reality, and mobile broadband. This new location and team will help us realise our Tyndall 2025 strategy for research excellence and ambitious growth.”

Commenting, Head of the newly formed Wireless Communications Laboratory Dr Holger Claussen said, “My team and I are excited to continue with our innovative work in shaping the future of wireless networks to enable exponential growth in mobile data traffic and reliable low latency communications on behalf of Tyndall and Ireland”.

Welcoming the news, Prof. Dan Kilper, Director of the CONNECT Centre at Trinity College Dublin, said: “We look forward to collaborating closely with the researchers at Tyndall’s Dublin lab. The team’s expertise in wireless communications is an ideal complement to our own ground-breaking work in this field. CONNECT has excellent relationships with dozens of companies working in this space, and we look forward to leveraging the industry experience of Dr Claussen and his team as we explore new partnerships to develop innovative solutions for future networks. We have ambitious plans for developing our Smart Docklands initiative, and I see the Tyndall team making a great contribution to this.”