Global technology company 3M is to establish a new research and development technical centre in Dublin, creating more than 100 new jobs in the next two to three years.
Recruitment for the 3M Digital Science Community is already underway, with staff working remotely until its office in Cumberland Place is finished.
"We see Dublin as a highly attractive location for this significant investment. Crucially, you have the education ecosystem and experienced talent that we need to launch the company's first Research and Development technical centre focused on digital technology," said Dr Michael Dolezal, vice president of the 3M Digital Science Community. "This centre is positioned to grow and optimise 3M's global digital, data security and privacy operations, to accelerate deployment of cloud-based solutions and architectures, and to enhance research and development in artificial intelligence."
The centre adds to 3M's existing presence in Dublin and Athlone, where it employs more than 500 people. 3M first established operations in Ireland in 1975.
The centre works closely with 3M Health Care’s Health Information Systems Division (HIS), one of the world’s largest providers of integrated software and consulting services designed to improve the performance and delivery of quality healthcare. It provides complex algorithms, artificial intelligence, clinical speech recognition and computer assisted coding to document patient encounters, measure the quality of healthcare delivery and improve clinical outcomes.
“This new centre will bring together elite technology professionals to share knowledge and ideas helping to address the challenges that our customers face in a dynamically changing global market,” said Dr Dolezal. “The centre will enhance our ability to address customer needs through development and deployment of scalable digital technologies enabling us to enter new market segments and geographies.”
The announcement was welcomed by Tánaiste Leo Varadkar. "This announcement from 3M provides a really welcome boost for Dublin's city centre," he said. "The establishment of this new research and development centre will create 100 highly skilled jobs over the next two to three years and is further proof that Ireland is recognised as a global hub for leading technology innovators."
The investment is being supported by the Government through IDA Ireland.
"3M is a high profile, iconic company and a leader within the healthcare IT market and its choice of Dublin for this important investment is very significant," said IDA Ireland chief executive Martin Shanahan. "This investment communicates a strong message that Ireland is an ideal location for specialist skills and technology in the health tech space."
