Damon Warnock
Centre Director, PMTC
Dr Rabah Mouras
Research Centre Manager, PMTC
Biopharma is a cornerstone of Ireland’s economy, establishing the country as the EU’s leading net exporter of medicines.
In 2024, biopharma in Ireland produced approximately €100 billion worth of products, with indigenous companies accounting for approximately €3.0 billion of this total. This economic value highlights biopharma’s critical role in national infrastructure, including employment, facility construction, technology and social development.
Biopharma innovation and collaboration
Manufacturing biopharmaceutical products requires highly specialised techniques and analytical capabilities to keep pace with the evolving characteristics of novel drugs. The sector must also meet numerous stringent regulatory requirements, increasing the need for bespoke technology and data analytics to support drug development, scale-up and lifecycle research.
The Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Technology Centre (PMTC), funded by Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland, drives innovation and applied research in the biopharma industry. It fosters collaboration between SMEs and MNCs, providing a platform to introduce, demonstrate and de-risk new technologies and services while showcasing indigenous capabilities and facilitating engagement with local and international partners.
All research projects are designed with
sustainability in mind, incorporating green
processes and waste management solutions.
Sustainability and innovation contributions
Central to the organisation’s success is commitment to biopharma community and industry practices, providing targeted solutions for real world needs. Looking ahead, PMTC’s next phase of development will focus on expanding productivity-oriented research for its growing membership base. This includes enhancing the centre’s capabilities with the delivery of an integrated testbed, including LAB 5.0 for advanced characterisation.
Sustainability is a key focus. All research projects are designed with sustainability in mind, incorporating green processes and waste management solutions while exploring how digitalisation, AI and machine learning can address environmental challenges.
To support the industry’s evolving needs, PMTC has identified priority research areas including digitalisation, advanced data analytics, continuous manufacturing, process optimisation and talent development. In 2025, the centre’s core research will focus on cleaning optimisation; advanced manufacturing with continuous flow reactors; process intensification through digital twin technology; and the expansion of its FoReSight research programme on digitalisation and data analytics.
Digitally driven and research-enabled
As the biopharma sector seeks to integrate digitalisation and data analytics into decision-making, PMTC’s FoReSight research programme plays a pivotal role. A recent white paper, developed in collaboration with a consortium of MNCs and reviewed by the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA), addressed the challenge of improving trust in data analytics for biopharma. Ongoing research aims to publish industry guidelines to harmonise the application of digitalisation and data analytics, paving the way for the adoption of technologies like AI in pharmaceutical manufacturing.
For more information on PMTC or if you would like to become a PMTC member, contact our Industry Engagement specialist [email protected]
