The Guinness Enterprise Centre (GEC) is going green, creating a sustainability cluster at the incubator and investing €500,000 in making its premises more sustainable.
The cluster currently includes 10 organisations currently working in the sustainability space, and the GEC is actively looking for companies developing green technologies and sustainability solutions, and potentially support new jobs in this area.
As part of its sustainability focus, the Dublin-based incubator is partnering with Techies Go Green, which includes over 300 IT and tech-oriented companies committed to decarbonising their businesses, to act as the group’s new base.
“We see the GEC as a key partner and sustainability evangelist,” said Michael O’Hara, co-founder of Techies Go Green and managing director of DataSolutions. “The actions it has taken to date, together with the actions it has planned over the next 24 months, will position the GEC as a sustainability leader and role model for the innovative start-up businesses based there. Techies Go Green partnering with the GEC provides access to more skills that will help businesses identify and achieve tangible results when it comes to being sustainable and reducing the impact of climate change.”
The €500,000 investment, the majority of which was made available through an Enterprise Ireland Regional Enterprise Transition Scheme grant, has funded upgrades at the GEC, including more heat-efficient windows, a new heat pump system and sensor-controlled LED lighting. Also planned are the installation of electric vehicle, e-bike and e-scooter chargers, changing facilities to encourage active travel, and the potential for a solar panel installation on the roof.
“We want to be at the forefront of the circular economy and create a space where like-minded companies can work and grow in tandem,” said Eamonn Sayers, manager of the GEC. “That means broadening our own climate agenda and placing sustainability at the heart of everything we do. Education is the first step, followed by action.”
Mr Sayers said the Techies Go Green partnership would bring the best in global sustainability thinking to its client companies, while the sustainability cluster would give companies access to networks, knowledge, collaboration and empower change and innovation.
The new cluster was launched by Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan, who described the GEC’s strategy on sustainability as clever, collaborative and “the way forward”.
