The Digital Hub
Introduction
The Digital Hub is envisaged as an integrated development project - an important element within Dublin City Council's IAP for the Liberties/Coombe area. Its aims are to become a focal point for the digital media sector in Ireland and to provide new infrastructure to connect networks and provide new pathways to learning and entrepreneurship. In this way it will act as a catalyst for the emergence of new media producers and it will support homegrown talent and Irish entrepreneurs of the future.
The flagship project was originally Media Lab Europe, founded in 2000 as a collaborative venture between the state and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Modeled on the Media Laboratory at MIT, Media Lab Europe was established as a hybrid between academia and the corporate world, to create a unique new centre of excellence in digital technologies. Media Lab Europe closed in 2005.
The Digital Hub is clustered around the internationally renowned Guinness brewery buildings within the Liberties/Coombe area in Dublin's city centre. The core development, of some nine acres, is focused on either side of Thomas Street - a traditional shopping and market street - that effectively forms a 'spine' running parallel to the River Liffey, and connecting the area to the wider city centre.
The property within the core includes:
- Digital Hub Agency properties known as the Windmill Site and Crane Street Site
- The former Media Lab Europe property
- Dublin City Council site at School Street
Financing
The financing of the core development will be delivered through Public Private Partnerships in the following ways:
- Public sector funding for infrastructural development
- Public Private Partnerships for development funded through the commercial return of Digital Media Development's properties
- Resourcing of pilot local learning and training projects through Dublin
- Corporation's IAP and corporate sponsorship.
The Digital Hub Development Agency
The Digital Hub Development Agency is the state agency established by the Irish Government with responsibility for the management of The Digital Hub. Established in 2003 to manage The Digital Hub project, the task of Digital Hub Development Agency is to implement some of the most radical enterprise and social development strategies so far attempted by the Irish Government.
The Strategic Objectives
The Digital Hub Agency aims to create the right environment for enterprise development in The Digital Hub by delivering, with its partners, the following objectives:
- To create state-of-the-art infrastructure to cluster leading-edge Irish and international digital media companies in a core development located in Thomas Street
- To facilitate new connections between the creative, technological, research and development, educational and community sectors, for collaboration and value-added outputs nationally and internationally
- To design and deliver a sustainable, vibrant and inclusive living and working environment - to benefit the local and enterprise communities in the core development
- To deliver the project through public sector investment, public private partnership developments, and community participation
The strategy to deliver these objectives involves three inter-dependent key areas of activity:
- Establishing a vibrant base of digital media enterprise and entrepreneurship with Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and Irish colleges
- Providing dynamic and accessible pathways through learning into enterprise and employment with local and national education providers
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Providing new infrastructure, with Dublin City Council, in the core development to enhance the existing environment and heritage of the Liberties/Coombe neighbourhood
The Timeframe
The Digital Hub will be delivered on a phased basis up to 2012. Plans for The Digital Hub have been devised to reflect Enterprise Ireland's and IDA Ireland's aim of developing a world-leading digital media industry in Ireland and Dublin City Council's vision for the urban regeneration of the Liberties/Coombe area.
Planning Phase (2001)
- a multi-level consultation process with key stakeholders and partners in the project.
- property feasibility and urban framework planning.
- City Council approval of a variation to the Dublin City Development Plan to provide for core development of The Digital Hub.
- an assessment of the opportunities and risks for the project.
- the formation of the development strategy for The Digital Hub, based on the above.
Preparation Phase (2002 - 2003)
- advance telecommunications infrastructure in place.
- temporary accommodation for enterprise and learning.
- re-development of the Print Depot as flagship enterprise space.
- agree the Urban Design Framework Plan.
- developer competition underway.
- Learning and Education initiatives underway.
- cluster beginning to form.
Phase 1- (2004 – 2005)
- Seed enterprise cluster formed with 50 companies and 400 empoyees
- Mix of indigenous and foreign enterprise across media value chain
- Private sector development contracts awarded
- Establish social, community and learning projects
Phase 2- (2006 – 2011)
- Enterprise and research cluster growth
- Major private sector development of campus facilities
- Growth in community projects
Phase 3- (2112)
- Vibrant cluster established with 3000 employees
- Urban regeneration eveident
- Impact of community projects evident
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