Taoiseach Leo Varadkar today signed off on plans to begin the development of what has been dubbed a new 'innovation district' in Grand Canal Dock, to be based around a new Trinity College campus.
This new designated innovation zone - which will result in all attempts at innovation in a non-designated innovation zone being outlawed, it's like Footloose but with innovation - will feature at its core a new technological university campus. It will be created by Trinity and is to be known as the Grand Canal Innovation District on a 5 and a half acre site in Grand Canal Quay.
The announcement of this hot new hub has invited a plethora of buzzwords such as 'cross-fertilization', 'tech ecosystem' and 'synergy' to be thrown around with a wilful abandoned that is a damning indictment on society as a whole.
The head of Trinity College Dublin, Dr Patrick Prendergast, has described the proposal as a "catalyst for collaboration and partnership between industry and universities". The planned development is part of a bid to inspire further industry investment in the area and to draw in other large multinationals, given that Google and Facebook already have their European headquarters located there.
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Though Trinity is set to be the flagpole university of the new development, and will indeed be in charge of shaping its development, there will also be other opportunities for collaboration and involvement from other Dublin universities.
