The RDI Hub Killorglin is a large scale collaborative project, between Fexco, Institute of Technology Tralee, and Kerry County Council, which secured €3.5 Million Euros in funding from Enterprise Ireland via the Regional Enterprise Development fund (REDF1) in 2017. 

This major change initiative stemmed from a shared ethos of culturing a strong entrepreneurial spirit, promoting and enabling innovation and regional development.  In exploring opportunities for the enhancement of the SW region emerging trends in ecosystem dynamics, digital hubs and design led innovation were identified as enablers of technological change, entrepreneurship and high quality sustainable job creation. This coupled with the strengths in the region in the area of Financial Services, ICT innovation (digitization), skills and talent development (HEI sector) and public sector collaboration, emerged the proposal to develop a design led digital innovation Hub (The RDI Hub). 

To ensure embedding of state of the art within the RDI Hubs operational framework, service offering, targeted outcomes, impacts, extensive outreach, consultation and benchmarking was undertaken with an extended global network. The development team engaged with industry, from start-ups to multinationals, technology developers, business leaders, innovation hubs and ecosystems nationally and globally. 

The RDI Hub was established as a not-for-profit PPP led by company founders FEXCO & Institute of Technology Tralee (“ITT”) with the support and involvement of Kerry County Council (“KCC”). This PPP structure, a key requirement of the REDF call was established to ensure maximal economic, societal benefits by generating sustainable flow of commercial outputs, jobs and economic return to the Irish economy.  

The RDI Hub will create and deliver a state of the art “co-location centre” specialising in design-led innovation, digitisation and financial services. Digital Innovation Hub (“DIH”) regional multi-partner cooperation model integrating “Living Lab”, “Design-Driven Innovation” and “Quadruple Helix” delivering on strategies prioritised by European Commission. 

In practice this will be achieved via collaboration and outreach. The RDI Hub will connect research centres, universities, industry associations, regional development agencies, experts, innovators and funders. The RDI Hub Ecosystem that will emerge will be a unique and dynamic combination of stakeholders and organisations which collectively comprise Hub clients, users, knowledge and technology providers. The Hub will enable the flow of knowledge, technologies and expertise between these organisations, stimulate RDI, business scaling and internationalisation. It will foster the development of new ventures and entrepreneurs across the Financial Services sector and beyond with creation direct and indirect high value jobs. There will be benefits to the region in the form of inward migration 

The RDI Hub will deliver immense capacity building at IT Tralee, FEXCO and to industry across the region. This initiative clearly demonstrates the innovative, bold and creative strategy taken by IT Tralee and FEXCO to make the innovation hub conceived in 2016 a reality. The highly effective and productive nature of the collaboration is self-evidencing. This intuitive will not only lead to the enrichment and improvements within FEXCO, IT Tralee but to improvements impacts and benefits, regionally and nationally for the benefit the wider community and region. 

 http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/digital-innovation-hubs

 http://www.openlivinglabs.eu/aboutus

 http://cor.europa.eu/en/documentation/studies/Documents/quadruple-helix.pdf