The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) may open a branch of its famous Media Lab in Dublin, Ireland, as early as next year. The institute is in negotiations to create a twin to its world-renowned media and technology research center on the banks of that city's River Liffey, The Sunday Times of London reports.
The Times quoted Marie Redmond, an Irish lecturer who taught at MIT for 11 years and the institute's Dublin project coordinator. "We are in negotiations to set up here and quite a number of people are involved," Redmond said.
Pending negotiations, the Irish Media Lab will likely cost the equivalent of an estimated US$250 million to build, the Times reports, and staff from the American campus will be encouraged to spend up to 150 days per year working at the Irish facility.
An MIT spokesperson declined to comment on the report, other than to say that the institute was in "very preliminary discussions" with people in Ireland and that the report was speculative.
Ireland was chosen over other European locations, according to the report, because of the country's well-developed information-technology infrastructure.
The Times also said that Germany and Sweden were eliminated as potential hosts when MIT decided that management cultures were too different in those countries.
Founded in 1985, the Media Lab is America's leading center for research into a broad range of information technologies, including digital television, holographic imaging, computer music, computer vision, electronic publishing, artificial intelligence, human-machine interface design, and education-related technologies.
