 MLE was created in July 2000 and was initiated by the Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.The lab received start-up funding of 35 million Euro from Irish Government, as well as sponsorship from industrial research partners (see below).It was located in a former Guinness warehouse in the historic Liberties area and was to have been a flagship project for the Irish Government's Digital Hub project, an urban renewal scheme aiming to encourage digital media companies to locate in the area.