Atlanta’s Acuity Opens Ireland Innovation Hub

Acuity Inc. has opened a new software and research hub in Ireland as the Atlanta-based company invests more heavily into its global innovation infrastructure.

With 13,000 employees acros the world, Acuity is mainly known for its lighting solutions, now segmented into Acuity Brands Lighting, but it is increasingly investing in lighting- and building-control units through its Acuity Intelligent Spaces unit. 

Formerly known as Acuity Brands, the company is about six months into a rebranding that foregrounds its 50-year heritage of innovation while focusing on integrating a variety of technologies to solve problems for customers. 

“Acuity is positioned for long-term growth. We are innovators, disruptors and builders. We use technology to solve problems in spaces, light and more things to come.” Neil Ashe, president and CEO of Acuity Inc., said in a news release announcing the new Global Digital Centre of Excellence. 

Located in Cork, Ireland, the center will hire 100 (see 14 open roles in Cork) over the next three years to “build software expertise,” Mr. Ashe said in the release. “This expansion strengthens our multi-national footprint and gives us access to exceptional software and engineering talent to drive data-forward, innovative work that will shape the future of our technology.”

The Sept. 8 grand opening was attended by Minister of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation Jack Chambers, who praised the investment as showcasing Ireland’s strengths as a tech hub. 

IDA Ireland, the Irish government’s inbound investment agency, which has an office in Atlanta, supported the greenfield project. IDA CEO Michael Lohan called the move a “vote of confidence in Ireland’s world-class talent.” 

Tony Hayes, IDA’s Chicago-based vice president for engineering, industrial and clean technology, held up the Acuity project as an example of Ireland’s healthy investment pipeline despite global economic uncertainty during the annual Springboard to Europe event in Atlanta Wednesday. 

Ireland had 55 relocations in the first half of 2025, Mr. Hayes said, a testament to the country’s resilience in the face of “recalibration” that some companies are having to perform in light of the tough trade environment. 

Many manufacturers, for instance, are eyeing Europe as they employ a“renewed focus on in-region, for-region manufacturing,” but the country of 5 million, with access to European Union talent, has attracted more tech hubs than factories. 

“Services are unaffected (by tariffs) — software development, supply chain management, front office, financial services, that kind of thing. We’re still seeing a good stream of traffic into Ireland,” Mr. Hayes said. 

Acuity’s lighting business secured $3.6 billion in revenue in fiscal 2025, about 83 percent of its $4.3 billion in overall sales, while Intelligent Spaces generated $764 million, about 17 percent.   

In Cork, Acuity will follow some of the competitors from which it presumably hopes to snag market share: Johnson Controls Inc., the market leader in the building control space, set up a Cork innovation hub, also supported by IDA, in 2022. 

Acuity’s headquarters is in Midtown, but Acuity Brands Lighting also operates a Dekalb County factory along Interstate 20, where assembles products from brands like Lithonia Lighting.

Acuity Brands was spun out of National Service Industries Inc. in 2001 and offloaded its cleaning products business, Zep Inc., in 2007 to focus exclusively on lighting.

See a 2004 article about Acuity’s approach to China in the Global Atlanta archive (Passport members only): Lighting Products Company Moving Cautiously in China