`I felt a little like somebody who had just gone through two divorces," says digital guru Nicholas Negroponte. On the rebound, he explains, you waver between rejecting all subsequent offers out of hand or accepting the first attractive one. Luckily for Ireland, Negroponte plumped for the latter. He had decided to establish a media lab in Europe and first entered a relationship with Germany. This had progressed to the stage where "we had a building, people had moved over and we started moving equipment in. Then we realised it was not quite as receptive a place as we had hoped." Finding it too "top down", "centralistic" and "uptight" (he cites a complaint about dog hairs), MIT Media Lab jilted Germany.

Then it was north to Sweden. Three years and four months ago, Sweden approached MIT, says Negroponte. The deal fell through when money promised from a publicly endowed foundation failed to materialise. Next, it was Ireland's turn to woo Media Lab. In a throwaway comment, Negroponte recently answered the "Why Ireland?" question with: "They're all mad." There's a grin on his face as he reassures EL that was indeed a major feature in his decision. Visiting the various research groups in Media Lab, one can see eccentricity, creativity and apparent craziness mixed with extraordinary talent are the norm. In some ways, the lab resembles a giant playpen for professors, who - as a by-theway - come up with inventions which alter the interaction between the real and virtual worlds.

"The size of Ireland is an advantage in that experiments can be done on a national level. It's also a disadvantage in that Ireland doesn't have the diversity [of a larger country]." He says the traffic and air connections are miserable. "But the truth when it comes to `Why Ireland?' is that there was a welcome at the highest level. "It has taken two long years but I don't have regrets. Ireland isn't central, but I think we've made the right choice. As a nation, the Irish seem receptive to new ideas."

Negroponte is sitting in a conference room in MIT, wearing his trademark blue and white striped shirt (bought by the dozen, one must assume). Normally present on the premises, physically, for just two or three days a month, he doesn't have an office in the Media Lab - he directs operations via e-mail. He will probably spend more time in person in MediaLabEurope (MLE - the all-one-word spelling is preferred), at least during the start-up phase. As to what we will see when we walk into MediaLabEurope, he says: "It should feel like the Media Lab in MIT, where there's a certain spirit, but the projects will be complementary. There's no sense in replicating things."

Glorianna Davenport, MLE director, has already been approached by wannabe MediaLabEurope students from around Europe. It is expected about eight postgraduate students will begin their research under the auspices of MLE this August. Faculty members choose the students they want to work with, she says. "We don't always pick the student with the best grades. That will be dramatic when it hits Europe. "We use the atelier style of learning and reseach. The faculty member chooses graduate students to work with her or him and these then choose some undergraduates to work with them. "Projects are developed at the bench. It's like learning to paint with a Renaissance painter. We try to provide a really quality experience for undergraduates and graduate students." In MIT's Media Lab faculty and researchers come from diverse worlds - psychologists, computer scientists, engineers, composers, artists, even storytellers.

Media Lab and MLE will have access to intellectual property developed in both campuses during the initial 10-year period. MLE's mission is "to prepare future generations of young researchers, inventors and artists, primarily from Ireland, but also from elsewhere in Europe, to become international entrepreneurs and leaders in communications, multimedia and the learning arts and sciences." Total costs of running MLE for the first 10 years are forecast to be about £130 million. The Government will provide £28 million and a suitable location (Guinness Hopstore is top of the list). The remainder will be raised by MLE, with the advice and assistance of MIT Media Lab, from research contracts, sponsorships and private contributions. The goal is to make MLE self-sustaining by the end of five years.

Negroponte will serve as acting executive director. Within 10 years, MLE should grow to 250 people with 20 full-time faculty members from Ireland and abroad; 15 full-time research staff; 20 part-time faculty members from universities across Ireland; more than 100 postgraduate students (at least half from Ireland) and 100 undergraduate students. It expects develop a co-operative programme for conferring joint degrees with several Irish universities, but, over time, MLE expects to develop its own post-grad programmes.