University of Galway will lead new €64.5million medical devices research centre

UNIVERSITY of Galway is to lead the new €64.5million Research Ireland Rinn Medical Devices Centre, as part of an overall Government investment of €460 million aimed at supporting coordinated research nationally.

Seven new Rinn centres have been announced in the Government's investment package into an enhanced national research network set up by Research Ireland, and University of Galway is one of two institutions in Ireland to partner on all seven centres.

The seven national Rinn centres will begin operating in July 2026 and will run for eight years. The centres will have support from more than 200 industry partners, made up of over 100 multinational corporations and almost 100 SMEs.

The initiative will directly enable multidisciplinary collaboration across 17 research-performing organisations and support 577 researchers and 800 PhDs.

“Government investment of this scale, in this new initiative recognises the vital role of research and innovation in addressing pressing societal and economic priorities for Ireland and globally,” said Professor David Burn, President of University of Galway.

“The Rinn Centres align closely with three of our research pillars - Innovation for Health; Sustainable & Resilient Environments: Earth & Ocean; and Transformative Data & AI; providing an exciting foundation for greater partnership across institutions, industry, community and the public sector."

University of Galway will lead the Rinn Medical Devices Centre, where the focus will be on developing medical device innovations that address the chronic conditions most associated with ageing. The Rinn Medical Devices Centre will be led by Professor Abhay Pandit.

The university will be a major partner in four other centres including Rinn Artificial Intelligence, Rinn Advanced Therapies, Rinn Energy and Rinn Quantum. Academics and researchers from the university will also partner in Rinn Pharma and Biopharma, and Rinn Semiconductors.