OVER 300 highly skilled jobs are to be created at UCD in the next two years, it was revealed last week.

It comes on top of another 100 positions announced by Greyhound Recycling and Recovery which recently acquired the bin collection services in Dublin city and South County Dublin.

At UCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre NovaUCD expects 300 highly-skilled jobs to be created through the 37 companies based at the centre over the coming two years.

This will more than double the number of people currently employed in companies based at the centre, which stands at 205.

The announcement was made by Professor Peter Clinch, Vice-President for Innovation at UCD.

The employment projection figures are based on the results of an annual employment survey of companies based at the centre. These companies have raised over €40 million in equity investment to date and created 80 jobs last year.

Firms located at the centre include a mixture of “spin-out” and “spin-in” operations. Spin-outs are companies established by UCD researchers to commercialise the outputs of their research activities.  Spin-ins are companies that locate at NovaUCD to interact more closely with UCD research and development and commercialisation activities.

NovaUCD companies are involved in diverse activities including social web search solutions, services for app developers, equine genetics, elearning and energy management.

Professor Clinch said NovaUCD client companies were established to translate innovative ideas into value-added products and services.

“The development and growth of such high-tech and knowledge-intensive companies is of critical importance for Ireland’s economic recovery,” he said. “I am delighted that the facilities and supports being made available to the start-ups located at UCD are helping these companies thrive and create quality jobs.”

Meanwhile, the  Clondalkin based company, Greyhound,  said 50 new positions across the company’s IT, customer care, credit control and marketing departments have been filled in recent weeks.

Appointments will be made for the remaining 50 positions over the coming months as the waste management company continues to roll out its new bin collection service across Dublin city.

“The creation of these new jobs is directly related to our decision to acquire the bin collection services in Dublin city and South County Dublin,” said Michael Buckley, joint founder and CEO of Greyhound Recycling and Recovery.

“We have developed and sourced the most efficient technologies and software from our experience of operating our business across 16 countries worldwide and applied that to our operations in the household market in Dublin.”