In a move which marks the delivery of one of the main commitments under the Action Plan for Jobs 2012, a new government-funded industry-led technology centre - the Irish Centre for Cloud Computing and Commerce (IC4) - has recently been opened in Dublin City University (DCU).

Boasting a rather strong industry panel - comprising bigwig companies like Microsoft, IBM, Intel, and Fujitsu - the 5-million IC4 has essentially been established with the key objective of giving a notable push to cloud computing innovation in Ireland.

The new technology centre - launched by Minister for Enterprise and Jobs, Richard Bruton TD - will chiefly accelerate the development as well as adoption of cloud technology in Ireland; along with leading to a creation of more jobs within the country's IT sector.

With the IC4 to give a common platform to researchers from different sectors - such as business, computing, and law - to work together on challenges and opportunities identified by industry, the institutes which will collaborate with DCU will include University College Cork and Athlone Institute of Technology, and some overseas institutions, like UWE and Pepperdine University, among others.

About the IC4, the Department for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation said that the research produced by the new centre "should be relevant to a large number of Irish bases companies interest in migrating their business to the cloud."