Ireland invests €121.7M in Rinn AI as flagship research centre

Ireland has committed €460 million to seven new national research centres, with Rinn AI receiving €121.7 million in public funding. The centre will be directed by Professor Noel O’Connor of DCU and co-led by five universities: DCU, Trinity College Dublin, UCC, UCD and the University of Galway.

Rinn AI begins operations on 1 July 2026.

Scope and scale

Rinn AI encompasses 33 research themes across clusters including People-Centred AI, Democratic Governance, Society and Culture, and Health.

The broader Rinn network brings together 17 research organisations, 577 research positions and more than 800 PhD students across seven areas. Industry co-funding for the Rinn network totals around €500 million, with more than 200 industry partners including over 100 multinationals and close to 100 Irish SMEs.

John Jumper joins Anthropic from Google DeepMind

John Jumper, 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate and co-creator of AlphaFold, announced on June 19, 2026 that he is leaving Google DeepMind after nearly nine years to join Anthropic.

AlphaFold, co-created by Jumper, has predicted over 200 million protein structures.

Source: AI Ireland