{"id":298229,"date":"2026-02-14T19:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T19:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/298229\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T19:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T19:34:08","slug":"european-space-agency-lab-launched-in-mullingar-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/298229\/","title":{"rendered":"European Space Agency lab launched in Mullingar \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland\u2019s first European Space Agency<\/a> (ESA) lab has been launched in Co Westmeath to oversee the development of technology that could be used in space or elsewhere.<\/p>\n

ESA Phi-Lab Ireland will be headquartered at the Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR) facility in Mullingar<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The new lab is run in collaboration with the Amber Centre at Trinity College Dublin<\/a>. <\/p>\n

A variety of technology will be developed and tested at the centre, including artificial intelligence<\/a>, quantum computing and robotics. As well as the potential to be used in space, the products may end up in terrestrial manufacturing, agriculture and climate innovation.<\/p>\n

The lab was formally launched by Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke<\/a> in Mullingar on Friday as part of a wider Irish commitment to the ESA. The Department of Enterprise<\/a> is due to invest \u20ac170 million in the agency over the next five years. <\/p>\n

The Minister said the launch \u201cstrengthens Ireland\u2019s position, and the midlands region, as a hub for advanced research, innovation and high-value enterprise\u201d.<\/p>\n

He announced the first companies that will be supported by the lab \u2013 Mbryonics and Ubotica Technologies \u2013 both having been selected from an open call for submissions last year.<\/p>\n

At the event, Burke encouraged companies to apply for the second open call for proposals which will welcome projects from companies \u201cseeking to advance their position in the European space market\u201d and \u201cthat in the past have never considered their products for the space sector\u201d, a statement from the department said.<\/p>\n

Since the publication of Ireland\u2019s National Space Strategy for Enterprise in 2019, there are now 120 \u201cspace-active\u201d companies working with ESA in Ireland. <\/p>\n

Barry Kennedy, IMR chief executive, described the new lab as \u201ca significant milestone in Ireland\u2019s space and innovation ambition\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis facility positions Ireland at the forefront of European space-enabled innovation,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Dietmar Pilz, director of technology at the ESA, said the lab would help ensure that innovation developed for space \u201cdelivers real benefits for industry, society and Europe\u2019s long\u2011term competitiveness\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland\u2019s first European Space Agency (ESA) lab has been launched in Co Westmeath to oversee the development of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[218,38262,13309,61,60,57,12361,82,247,15342,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-298229","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-artificial-intelligence","9":"tag-department-of-enterprise-trade-and-employment","10":"tag-european-space-agency","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-mullingar","14":"tag-peter-burke","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-space","17":"tag-trinity-college-dublin-tcd","18":"tag-westmeath"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}