It was announced yesterday that Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) is set to double the size of its Innovation Hub (iHub) building at the Galway campus following €5m funding approval from Enterprise Ireland.  
 
GMIT’s Building & Estates Office are in the process of appointing a Design Team for the extension works. It’s hoped that construction work will commence in 2018. The proposed extension aims to increase the floor space of the iHub to 2,400 square metres from its current 1,150 sqm. 
 
Enterprise Ireland will contribute €3m towards the cost of the building extension while GMIT will provide €500,000; Enterprise Ireland also approved funding of €1.8m for the New Frontiers Programme 2016 – 2020 which is delivered in GMIT’s two Innovation Hubs by New Frontiers Manager, Tony O’Kelly.

New Frontiers is Enterprise Ireland’s national entrepreneur development programme for innovative, early stage start-ups. Previous participants on the GMIT New Frontiers programme include DiaNia Technologies, Contego Sports, TaxHug, Allergy Lifestyle, Wildwood Vinegars, Rockfield Medical, BriteBiz and VT Networks.
 
Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation, Mary Mitchell O’ Connor announced the funding details during a visit to GMIT yesterday, welcomed by GMIT President, Dr Fergal Barry, Enterprise Ireland Director - West Region, Barry Egan, and Dr Rick Officer, VP for Research & Innovation, GMIT.
 
Speaking yesterday, Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor said, "Supports such as the Enterprise Ireland’s Campus Incubation and New Frontiers Programmes are all the more crucial now in the current trading environment where companies need to be more innovative and competitive. I welcome the planned extension to the GMIT IHub Incubation Centre which will see its capacity increase three-fold. The New Frontiers is a further key support for innovative, early-stage start-ups and I would urge anyone with a business idea to consider applying to this important entrepreneur development programme."

Source: www.businessworld.ie