EUR €69 Million SFI Awards to Support Research Excellence and Drive Ireland's Future Competitiveness

Intel and Medtronic to partner in new SFI Centres for Science, Engineering and Technology.

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms. Mary Harney TD announced today investment awards of over €69 million recently approved by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the National Foundation for Excellence in Scientific Research. This brings to over €320 million, the investment commitments made by SFI since 2001, to support in Ireland over 750 world-class researchers working in the fields underpinning Biotechnology (BioT) and Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

One of the most significant end of year awards is funding of €10 million for a new SFI Centre for Science, Engineering and Technology (CSET) at TCD in partnership with UCC and UCD. The Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN) will develop tools and techniques to build new structures and devices atom by atom with endless possibilities for BioT and ICT. Examples of the impact of this technology include next generation microelectronics technologies and new drug delivery systems. The CRANN CSET's principal industry partner is Intel Ireland Ltd.

TCD will also receive a further €11 million for the provision of a specialised nanoscience research facility to be used by Nanoscience Investigators at TCD. This facility will meet the environmental and vibration standards required for cutting edge nanoscience research.

An additional CSET Award of €15 million has been awarded to NUI Galway for the establishment of the Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI). Regenerative Medicine is an emerging discipline that will be used to repair tissues and organs and promises to partially replace current conventional medicine with its reliance on invasive techniques. Industry partners will include Medtronic Vascular (Galway). The REMEDI CSET will play a vital role in embedding high value added R&D research activities in Ireland and will sustain the future growth of Biotechnology firms in the country.

Announcing the awards, the Tánaiste said: "CSETs such as CRANN and REMEDI linking academic researchers with industry partners in Ireland will play a significant role in building Ireland's new knowledge-driven economy. They are of strategic importance to the entire country as we believe that building partnerships between academia and industry will support the creation of new ideas and products, sustain the supply of research skills and talent into the 21st century and produce the innovation and development that successful wealth generating economies need to grow. "

Dr. William C. Harris, Director General of SFI, said, "All SFI CSETs have been established to create highly competitive academic research teams linking academia and industry as part of SFI's effort to create and sustain a lasting indigenous research base that produces ideas, products, and jobs based on knowledge and innovation. Ireland's future depends on exploiting ideas and the creativity of talented researchers here. Expectations for CRANN and REMEDI are high and I am confident that they will be met under the distinguished leadership of Professors John Pethica FRS, (CRANN) and Timothy O'Brien (REMEDI) respectively."

Other award highlights include over €8.5 million for three new Research Professorships, under the SFI Fellows-Research Professorship programme, which assists Irish research institutions to attract outstanding researchers (SFI Fellows) to their institutions from outside the state. These are Dr Daniel E. Geraghty from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, Washington, USA and Prof Alexander Stewart Fotheringham from the University of Newcastle, UK, who have both been recruited to NUI Maynooth; and Prof J. Oliver Dolly recruited from Imperial College, London to Dublin City University.

Details of the additional €25 million awarded are outlined in the attached Table of all funding awards.

Research institutions to benefit from these new awards include, University College Dublin (UCD), Dublin City University (DCU), Trinity College Dublin (TCD), NUI Maynooth, Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), University of Limerick (UL), NUI Galway and University College Cork (UCC).

All SFI funding is awarded following a rigorous review process led by international experts. In the case of the CSET Awards, the experts assessed the application's level of research quality, collaboration, intellectual breadth, flexibility in responding to new research opportunities and integration of research and education. Each CSET underwent a review that included the experts' assessment of written proposals and oral research presentations to a strategic review panel of government and industry leaders in Ireland and a stringent review by the experts at each location. Industry partners will add a minimum of 20% to SFI's support for the CSET awards in the form of funding, personnel or equipment.

(A copy of this press release is also available on the Departments website @www.djei.ie/press.htm)

ENDS/ETE1177

For more details, contact:

Seán Murphy

Manager, Communications and Public Relations,

Science Foundation Ireland

Tel: +353 1 607 3249
Mobile: +353 87 415 9842

E-mail: sean.murphy@sfi.ie

Notes to the editor

About the CRANN CSET

Research in Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices has huge commercial potential in the mid-long term not only for ICT but also for BioT. There are potential applications of this technology in all commercial sectors; building a research capability in this field is on the roadmap of most Irish-based microelectronics and pharmaceutical firms. In addition, developing skills and competencies in these new areas offer the potential for Irish small and medium enterprises and Ireland-based multinationals to develop new markets internationally. CRANN will have strong collaborations with Irish small and medium enterprises, including Allegro Technologies Ltd., Commergy Ltd., Magnetic Solutions Ltd. and Eblana Technologies Ltd.

About the REMEDI CSET

REMEDI will seek to combine adult stem cells derived from the bone marrow of adults and blood donations with gene therapy to make fundamental advances in repairing, restoring and replacing bodily tissues and organs. Gene therapy seeks to replace defective genes that cause illness and disease with healthy versions of these genes in the hope of restoring health. REMEDI will bring together researchers working at the college with scientists and engineers in industry. The REMEDI CSET has the potential to make Ireland a world leader in this key strategic area over the next five years.

About SFI

On behalf of the Irish government, SFI is investing €646 million between 2000-2006 in academic researchers and research teams who are most likely to generate new knowledge, leading-edge technologies, and competitive enterprises in the fields underpinning two broad areas, biotechnology and information and communications technology. SFI makes grants based upon the merit review of distinguished scientists. SFI also advances co-operative efforts among education, government, and industry that support its fields of emphasis and promotes Ireland's ensuing achievements around the world. SFI made its first grants in 2001, and is now funding more than 141 researchers and research teams based in Ireland with grants that will total some €320 million over the next five years. www.sfi.ie