About us

The Institute of Technology, Sligo was among the first in Ireland to develop a Business Innovation Centre on the campus in 1989. This consisted of 427m² of office space. However demand soon outstripped space and it was replaced in 1998 by a new 1,600m² building which housed 19 small companies as well as the Institute' Research Department. This building allowed for the accommodation of office-based companies with unit size ranging from 8.5m² to 90m². The next phase of development by the Institute has incorporated different and more flexible space.

IT Sligo was successful in securing more than €2.5 million funding from Enterprise Ireland (under The Regional Innovation Strategies – Infrastructure Support programme) to construct a 1,177m² extension to the current Business Innovation Centre (BIC) on campus. This development allows the Institute extend the range of facilities and services on offer to businesses located in the BIC and to other businesses in the region. It will make the BIC one of the largest innovation centres in the Institute of Technology sector and has now been rebranded as .

The new extension to the BIC includes provision of new types of units and services which will allow for different sorts of enterprises and better services and opportunities for networking for all ITSBIC occupants. Among the additional items included in the expansion are:

• Hot desk area, with desk-space and facilities for c.14 desks;
• Workshop / industrial space for high tech manufacturing operations (e.g. electronics etc);
• Lab space for the development of campus company operations (eg bio-medical, environmental science etc);
• Meeting / training rooms.
• On-site Business Development Office (with professional development workshops and seminars, business advice and referral services);
• New networking area with information point to allow for increased interaction between ITSBIC occupants, Institute academics and external service users.

ITSBIC will also link into the Research building on campus (which has been funded under the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions – PRTLI). Access to Institute research expertise will be of major benefit to ITSBIC occupants and other companies with research needs.