Technology firm Fujitsu is to invest in a new research programme at the Digital Enterprise Research Institute at NUI Galway.

The programme, which is supported by the Government through IDA Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland, will focus on researching new models and commercial opportunities for web-based data.

The research will be led by Prof Stefan Decker, director of the institute and one of the leading scientists in the Semantic Web field. He and the research team will be investigating models and approaches for integrating and validating data available on the Internet with a view to enabling innovative applications and businesses to be designed and brought to the market across numerous industries.

"This programme will create high-end research jobs in Ireland, adding to our team of scientists here. With a strong focus on innovation and research, we expect that more job opportunities will arise as the research progresses," said Prof Decker.

The Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI) was established in 2003 with funding from Science Foundation Ireland. DERI’s work is aimed at enabling and supporting people, organisations and systems to collaborate and interoperate on a global scale using semantic web technologies.

The semantic web is a term coined by web pioneer and DERI advisory board member Tim Berners-Lee to describe the “web of data” that enables machines to understand the semantics, or meaning, of information on the web.

Minister for Job, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton welcomed today's announcement, saying that industry-led research activity would lead to more commercial opportunities and jobs for Ireland.