79 Changing Lives Through Education: Digital for Sustainability

Professor Horacio Gonzalez Velez presented NCI’s sustainability-focused research portfolio, emphasising the growing importance of energy-efficient computing, digital transformation, and climate-aligned innovation. He argued that sustainability in computing is no longer optional: it is now a design constraint shaped by EU climate neutrality targets and the energy intensity of data centres, artificial intelligence, and digital infrastructure.

Within the Cloud Competency Centre, NCI conducts research on adaptive, energy-aware computing architectures, digital-green skills pipelines, and policy-ready evidence to inform Irish and European sustainability transitions. Professor Gonzalez Velez highlighted several major funded projects. GreenShift explores AI-enabled innovation for transport and mobility in partnership with leading European supercomputing centres. Digital for Business, a flagship €20m initiative coordinated by NCI, focuses on SDG-aligned advanced digital skills across cloud, cybersecurity, analytics and AI. Additional projects examine green ICT, smart communities, and the future of sustainable digital ecosystems.

He noted that these projects offer model practices, FAIR research outputs, and measurable insights that can support national ESD roadmaps. By integrating research, skills development and policy engagement, NCI positions digital sustainability as both an academic priority and a societal contribution, aligning the college’s work with Ireland’s digital–green transition and its commitment to producing graduates and research with direct national impact.