Kildare Innovation Campus to create 3,000 new jobs

Kildare Innovation Campus has announced plans for a €2.4bn investment in a move that will create 3,000 jobs at the site over the next six years.

The campus is located on 184 acres between Leixlip and Celbridge.

Organisations already present at the site include Mercury, MGS Ireland, Hewlett Packard Enterprises, Cully Automation, DXC Technology and Nikon Precision Europe. These companies currently employ more than 1,000 people at the campus.

Planning permission for the expansion was granted in January, with all but one of the new buildings already pre-let to technology companies.

Kildare Innovation Campus (KIC) expects that the numbers employed at the site will increase by 1,000 by the end of next year following the first phase of the new expansion.

A further 2,000 roles will be added by the end of 2030 when all stages of the development plan are expected to be completed.

The total economic output from the larger campus will be worth around €5bn to the Irish economy, according to an estimate from a recent Grant Thornton report.

The new expansion plans also include the addition of a purpose-built innovation hub.

This will focus on attracting deep tech scale-ups from across the country, as well as foreign direct investment.

This planned hub will be located in an existing building on the campus following a complete retrofit.

Preparatory works are now underway to develop the new buildings site, as well as a new cycle and pedestrian bridge, which will link Celbridge and Leixlip over the M6 motorway.

“KIC will be Europe’s most advanced carbon neutral technology and innovation campus and will be unique in terms of scale, services and flexibility welcoming innovative companies looking to scale their operations in areas such as deep tech, photonics, biotech, machine learning, robotics as well as advanced manufacturing,” KIC chief executive Allan Shine said.

Mr Shine formerly led the Kildare Chamber and joined the campus team earlier this year.

‘The total output will be worth €5bn to the Irish economy’