5 Leading Multinationals Announce R&D Projects for Ireland

Minister Martin said "Today's groundbreaking R&D announcement is hugely significant for Ireland's future competitiveness. Government policy and IDA Ireland's strategy over the last few years has been focused on Ireland's evolution to a knowledge-based economy with the goal of attracting the most sophisticated and strategically important core corporate activities such as R&D.

The Minister went on to say that "The fact that 5 of the world's leading multinational corporations across different business sectors have chosen Ireland over global competition for their cutting-edge research activities is a major achievement and demonstrates our ability to compete vigorously and win these highly sought-after investments. I have no doubt that these investments will act to encourage other companies across all business areas to choose Ireland for their research", he added.

All 5 investments, supported by IDA Ireland, are at the cutting edge of technology and innovation and cross over a range of business areas; IT, Pharmaceuticals and Financial Services, some of them involving significant collaborations with academic institutions such as Dublin City University and NUI Galway.

Minister Martin continued, "The types of research and development to be carried out in Ireland by these companies is strategic and will make a vital contribution to global objectives and future development of the corporations concerned. The Ireland of the future will be one where education, skills and research are the defining advantages in an increasingly competitive world. These investments will require highly skilled and educated people, many at post-graduate and doctoral level and the 5 companies are confident of finding them here.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company proposes to establish a collaborative biopharmaceutical research capability in Ireland.

With the support of IDA Ireland, Bristol-Myers Squibb will enter into a collaborative research programme with DCU (Dublin City University) and NUI Galway (National University of Ireland, Galway) locating a research team in both universities. This proposal represents the first phase of a long-term research engagement by Bristol-Myers Squibb in Ireland, and will involve 32 researchers (25 academic and 7 Bristol-Myers Squibb researchers) collaborating in a research programme over four years. The total investment is EUR 9.645m.

The collaborative research programme is aimed at developing new technologies and methods for Bristol-Myers Squibb biopharmaceutical products and processes. The results could lead to increased productivity improvements and generate savings in a medium to large bio-manufacturing production line in the range of $50-80m annually. The research is of interest to the biopharma industry as a whole and DCU and NUI Galway will be free to exploit any IP gained from these projects.

Bristol-Myers Squibb, a New York based company, is a global manufacturer of pharmaceutical and related health care products. Its Irish technical operations are headquartered in Swords Laboratories in Swords, Co. Dublin. Established in 1964, it was the first active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) plant to be established in Ireland. The Swords and Cruiserath plants manufacture bulk and intermediary pharmaceuticals used in the treatment of oncological, cardiovascular, diabetic, hepatitis B, HIV and other diseases.

Pfizer Inc.

Pfizer Inc, the largest pharmaceutical company in the world is to invest EUR 20 million to establish a high containment development facility at Pfizer Ireland Pharmaceuticals, Ringaskiddy, Co. Cork. The investment will be strategically important for Pfizer's Irish operations and for Ireland. It will greatly enhance the Ringaskiddy facility in its future development capability. It will build on the expertise levels of the Ringaskiddy's development team and strategically enhance the facility's position within the Pfizer Group as a location for process development.

Pfizer Ireland Pharmaceuticals has nine operations in Ireland - six manufacturing facilities, two services operations and a bank - employing over 2200 people.

Mr Nat Ricciardi, President of Pfizer's Global Manufacturing said "our Ringaskiddy operation has had significant experience in successfully introducing new products. This investment will be instrumental in enhancing the facility's technical capability and interaction with R&D at an early stage in the life cycle of new products"

Genzyme Corporation

Genzyme Corporation is investing EUR 6.11 million to expand its Process Research and Development facility in Waterford.

In 2002, Genzyme Ireland was established to manufacture solid dosage pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals. It has a 5,000 sq. ft. R&D unit that carries out the tablet manufacturing processes for Renagel, a polymer product for the treatment of dialysis patients. Renagel, the only calcium-free, metal-free phosphate binder controls serum phosphorus levels in patients with chronic kidney disease on haemodialysis. More than 350,000 patients use it worldwide.

Genzyme Ireland is now developing further product line extensions in their R&D unit to support clinical trial work. This will allow them to expand their capabilities to produce clinical supplies in capsule and liquid form, on top of the current tablet form. This multi dosage development capability will put the Waterford site into a very strong position to secure liquid and capsule manufacturing capability for future polymer and small molecule products as they obtain regulatory approval.

This new development work will add to the experience levels of Waterford's R&D team and strategically enhance the site's position within the group as a location for future R&D development work. The existing R&D group is 10 and 12 further R&D staff will be recruited in 2005.

Xilinx, Inc.

Xilinx, Inc., a world leader of programmable logic solutions is to establish Xilinx Research Labs at its European Headquarters in Dublin.

The new high-level research operation will work in tandem with Xilinx Research Labs in the United States. This is the first time that Xilinx has located a research labs operation of this nature outside of the United States and it is a significant endorsement by the corporation of the strong performance to date of its European operations headquartered in Dublin.

Xilinx designs and produces programmable semiconductor chips that are capable of being programmed individually for use in a wide range of electronic systems. The Irish centre will specialise in the field of networking and emerging network architectures, an area in which programmable microchips can make a major contribution due to their versatility and high performance characteristics.

Xilinx Research Labs will involve investment of EUR 7.5 million. The company will initially recruit PhD qualified engineers as Principal Researchers, and PhD or experienced Masters degree holders as Staff Research Engineers. Xilinx Research Labs Ireland will also engage strongly in collaborative research work with other academic and commercial research facilities in Ireland. Xilinx currently operates an advanced R&D, engineering and operations centre in Dublin. It also has responsibility for Finance, Legal, IT, Strategic Marketing and overall business operations management.

"Xilinx in Ireland is a fully integrated part of the global business which operates on the basis of cohesive international teams. We have won some very high profile corporate responsibilities and continue to do so year on year, based on the quality of what we are achieving and the leadership roles which our staff have adopted," said Paul McCambridge of Xilinx Ireland. "I am confident that Xilinx Research Labs will add greatly to this culture of innovation."

Citigroup

Citigroup, the world's largest financial services company will establish an R&D Centre of Excellence with an investment of EUR 10 million at its Dublin offices in the IFSC. This is the first dedicated R&D Centre established by Citigroup worldwide and the first ever R&D investment by a financial services company in Ireland. The Centre will be responsible for the development of products and services for Citigroup's Global Transaction Services unit from `concept to commerce'. Research will initially focus on innovative solutions for the investment management industry. A start-up team of 8 multi-disciplinary researchers with specific skills in financial innovation and development will work in the Centre and be continuously augmented by internal subject matter experts.

Aidan Brady, Country Corporate Officer, Citigroup Ireland said, "The staff of Citigroup Ireland have demonstrated a strong ability to manage complex global banking and transaction services. A number of cross border products are today fully managed out of Ireland with a global footprint into 108 countries. We are excited by this initiative and proud to take an innovative lead in the financial services industry in Ireland. This is a significant addition to our Irish operations and firmly places Ireland as one of the most successful Citigroup locations worldwide."

Citigroup was one of the first foreign banks to open an office in Ireland in 1965, 40 years ago. Citigroup Ireland employs over 1,100 people and provides a wide range of financial services to local corporates, multinationals and the public sector and also operates a global processing centre. In addition, Citigroup operates in Dublin a fully licenced bank, Citibank Ireland Financial Services plc which generated a net income of EUR 168 million in 2004.