It’s an economic truth, universally acknowledged, that innovation is at the core of most successful businesses.

Being innovative, however, is easier said than done. That’s why incubation centres are so necessary. Ireland proudly boasts nine university incubation centres, six university bio incubation centres and 15 Institute of Technology incubation centres.

And they all contribute to making Dublin one of the world’s most exciting locations for both research and development – and in which to do business.

Introducing NovaUCD

At the heart of it all is NovaUCD. Located on the campus of University College Dublin, this state-of-the-art facility opened its doors in 2003 and is based in the lovingly restored, renovated and extended mid-18th-century house, historically known as Merville House.

NovaUCD is recognised nationally and internationally as a leader in innovation and start-up activities and has been named as one of Europe’s Leading Start-Up Hubs by the Financial Times for the last three years in a row and is the only university-based hub in Ireland included in the rankings.

Merville House

NovaUCD is home to exciting high-tech early-stage ventures and start-ups looking to grow and scale on the global stage, visionary entrepreneurs and, most importantly, big, innovative ideas.

It offers an extensive business support programme for the client companies based there and a range of business accelerator programmes. With advice, seminars and workshops, as well as access to NovaUCD’s extensive ecosystem of investors, researchers and business leaders, it is a true hub of innovation.

NovaUCD came about as a result of a unique public-private partnership. Six private sector sponsors contributed 75% of the €10 million raised to develop the first two phases of the complex.

An additional €1.3 million in funding for facilities and equipment to accommodate biotechnology start-ups came via Enterprise Ireland and UCD itself.

Then, in 2021, it opened a €7 million expansion and renovation of the centre, which included 20 more business units and additional labs. This increased its capacity by 50%, which means NovaUCD can now support over 450 founders and their teams at any one time.

NovaUCD success stories

To date, NovaUCD has supported more than 650+ start-ups and early-stage ventures. These companies have raised over € 1.5 million in equity funding to date and created thousands of jobs.

Companies NovaUCD has supported to date are Equal1, Manna Air Delivery, and Output Sports.

Equal1 Laboratories is on a mission to democratise quantum computing and to make this transformative technology, which offers unprecedented potential to unlock societal advancements in areas such as climate modelling and drug discovery, accessible and affordable for all.

UCD Campus

The company, headquartered at NexusUCD, UCD’s Industry Partnership Centre, and formerly based at NovaUCD, was co-founded by Dr Dirk Leipold, Mike Asker and Professor Robert Bogdan Staszewski and is a spin-out from the UCD School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

In May 2026, Equal1 announced a milestone in the evolution of quantum computing with the global release of Equal1 RacQ. RacQ, the next-generation evolution of the company’s Bell-1 Server, represents the world’s first deployable rack-mounted silicon-spin quantum computer designed to live within a standard 19-inch data centre rack.

Equal1 has now raised over $85 million (€73 million) in funding, and investors include: Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, Atlantic Bridge, the European Innovation Council Fund, Matterwave Ventures, Enterprise Ireland, Elkstone and TNO Ventures.

The company currently employs 45 staff and plans to create 150 high-tech jobs over the next 3-4 years. In addition to NexusUCD, Equal1 also has offices in the US, Canada, Romania, Japan and the Netherlands.

Manna Air Delivery, a global leader in consumer drone delivery, was founded in 2019 by serial entrepreneur Bobby Healy. The company is a graduate of the NovaUCD ecosystem, having been previously headquartered at both NovaUCD and NexusUCD.

Manna designs, builds and operates its drones and software in Ireland, making it one of the country’s most significant homegrown aviation and autonomous technology companies. The company holds a Gold Standard Light UAS Operator Certificate (LUC) under the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) framework.

NovaUCD

Manna has completed over 300,000 successful deliveries in Ireland (Blanchardstown, Balbriggan, Cork, Moneygall and Oranmore), and has expanded internationally to Helsinki, Finland, and most recently to Tulsa, Oklahoma, US.

The company has to date secured over $110 million in funding from investors such as the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ARK Invest, Molten Ventures, Tapestry VC, Dynamo Ventures, Atlantic Bridge, ffVC, Elkstone Ventures, Coca-Cola HBC, Radius Capital and Schooner Capital.

Output Sports, a sports technology company focused on making elite-level sports science simple and scalable, was co-founded in 2020 by Dr Martin O’Reilly, Dr Darragh Whelan, Julian Eberle and Professor Brian Caulfield, as a spin-out from the UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science and the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics hosted by UCD.

The company’s technology enables strength and conditioning coaches, sport scientists and rehab professionals to capture and analyse athletic data using a single wearable sensor system.

Output Sports, headquartered at NovaUCD, currently provides more than 1500 high-performance teams in over 40 countries, including English Premier League clubs, with the insights needed to make more informed, data-backed decisions to improve athletic performance.

The company, which also has an office in Boston, works with professional US sports leagues such as the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS, and the WNBA. Output Sports has raised ca. €5.8 million in funding to date, and investors include: Apex Capital, Uni.Fund, Dopamine Sports, Elkstone, Atlantic Bridge and Enterprise Ireland.

In-house startup supports

The support programmes available at NovaUCD make it very attractive to start-ups. There’s the possibility of collaborating with UCD researchers, as well as guidance available on everything from business plan development through to grant and funding applications.

If start-ups need specific advice, there’s a whole host of business partners, mentors and experts there to guide them. There are also opportunities to be introduced to potential investors and industry advisers, including the NovaUCD annual investor day which attracts 70+ investors and angel investors.

NovaUCD

NovaUCD runs several accelerator programmes for researchers, students and start-ups and entrepreneurs, including the annual UCD VentureLaunch Accelerator Programme (for UCD researchers), UCD Student Enterprise Competition (for students) and other accelerator programmes for ambitious start-ups such as the AI Ecosystem Accelerator Programme.

NovaUCD is also partnering with IADT Media Cube, delivering an annual Enterprise Ireland New Frontiers Programme and is a consortium partner in the ESA BIC Ireland Centre.

So we can expect to hear more success stories from NovaUCD as it continues to support start-ups to grow and scale to meet their global ambitions.

To find out more, visit NovaUCD’s website.