Minister Treacy Announces Approval of 6 Irish R&D Projects under the EUREKA Programme and Sets out Ireland's Future Support Mechanisms for EUREKA involvement as Part of our National Development Plan Strategy for Research and Development

Speaking today (Tuesday 29th June 1999) in Istanbul on the occasion of the 1999 EUREKA Ministerial Conference Meeting, Mr. Noel Treacy T.D. Minister for Science, Technology and Commerce announced that during the Turkish EUREKA Chairmanship Year 1998/9, Enterprise Ireland had assisted five Irish Organisations, in becoming involved in 6 EUREKA international collaborative R&D projects, as follows:

Guinness (Ireland) Ltd (Dublin) in a Danish-led project (also involving Guinness UK) concerned with developing a new process for the continuous fermentation of beer;

The National Microelectronics Research Centre (Cork) in two large strategic projects, mainly relating to pre-competitive and applied microsystems developments;

M V Technology Limited (Dublin) in a French-led cluster of projects concerned with improved manufacturing methods for electronic sub-assemblies;

Electro Automation Limited (Dublin), in partnership with an Italian company, developing low environmental impact integrated traffic control systems; and

the Dublin Institute of Technology (Building Information Centre) in a project with an Austrian/German collaboration which will develop a timber and wood world-wide-web information guide."

Welcoming these approvals, Minister Treacy said that industry should take cognisance of the specific benefits accruing in the case of R&D work, carried out in collaboration with other companies, as opposed to being done on a stand-alone basis.

"Collaborative R&D not only spreads the load in terms of sharing the risks and costs involved, but also confers a unique positioning on participating firms when the time comes for exploiting the results. The projects approved are all excellent examples of this approach of being high tech and close to market and I urge Irish industry to take a more proactive approach in this regard," the Minister said.

Minister Treacy also stated that he had asked Enterprise Ireland, in accordance with its strategic remit in relation to company development, and in the formulation of its plans for the post-1999 funding for Research, Technology and Innovation (RTI), to examine how best to make use of the low-cost and non-bureaucratic EUREKA Programme, in the context of the National Development Plan 2000-2006. Minister Treacy outlined to the Conference, a number of proposals intended to raise Ireland's profile in EUREKA over the coming years, namely:

continuation of the In-Company Research, Technology and Innovation Initiative with an increased preference for collaborative projects;

use of the Enterprise Ireland Feasibility Study Grant Scheme to help companies to explore opportunities in collaborative R&D;

a streamlined travel-and-subsistence funding scheme to encourage companies to send staff to EUREKA Brokerage Events abroad;

organisation of R&D Brokerage Events in Ireland; and

a sustained promotional campaign, directed at those companies most likely to consider taking up opportunities to collaborate in R&D.