Speech by Minister Martin at the Announcement of Science Foundation Ireland’s CSET Centre for Future Diagnostics and Health

Speech by Mr. Micheál Martin TD, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment

Good afternoon, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

It is a great pleasure to be here today to launch this Science Foundation Ireland investment of up to €16.5m in the Centre for Future Diagnostics and Health.

The SFI Board recently approved this award following the rigorous review process associated with the SFI Centres for Science Engineering and Technology (CSET) Programme. The project was assessed by international experts in science as well as Government agency and industry leaders. In order to attract this level of investment from SFI, the project had to achieve the required level of research excellence as well as meeting the requirements of SFI for industrial and academic collaboration, intellectual breadth, flexibility in responding to new research opportunities and integration of research and education.

This project is therefore a tangible example of the Government's objective to create highly competitive academic research teams linking academia and industry. It is part of the overall effort by the Government and its industrial development agencies 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.

We are all familiar with the adage “Prevention is Better than Cure.” However, for many of us, it remains an aspiration rather than a way of life.

The Centre for Future Diagnostics and Health which will be located at Dublin City University can change that irrevocably. This CSET aims at no less than delivering the science and technology that will drive this century’s revolution in health management.

Specifically, the Centre will carry out cutting-edge research to develop a range of next-generation biomedical diagnostic devices that will directly affect the quality of people’s lives worldwide over the coming decades.

In addition to Point of Care applications (such as tests in doctors’ surgeries), the Centre will focus on developing accurate and reliable diagnostic devices suitable for self-test, home use, which will enable people to take control over the management of their own health.

These devices will detect life-threatening events long before a critical stage is reached. They will allow chronic diseases to be controlled more effectively, thereby reducing hospital stays and saving lives.

In many cases, the devices will exploit advanced communications technologies to enable expert monitoring to be provided remotely from the patient.

The SFI Board recently approved substantial Government funding of up to €16.5m for this ground breaking project and as a result the Centre will be in a position to address a range of diseases and conditions that pose significant challenges to society. These include cancer and cardiovascular diseases. It will also address some of the personal, social and ethical implications of early diagnosis and monitoring of these conditions.

For those working at the Centre, the scientific challenge lies primarily in creating reliable, miniaturised systems in which the presence of very low concentrations of target, disease-related, molecules can be detected in a biological sample, such as blood, urine, sweat, saliva or breath.

The Centre Director will be Professor Brian MacCraith of Dublin City University and will include top research scientists from DCU, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, National University of Ireland, Galway and the Tyndall National Institute in Cork. At steady state the Centre will employ around 60 full time researchers.

This world-class team will carry out a coordinated research programme to detect disease well in advance of the onset of clinical symptoms. Realising this ambitious vision requires substantial breakthroughs in the fundamental science and technology underpinning diagnostic devices.

Clearly, the importance of this proposal lies in the health benefits of the research and the optimisation of the use of expensive hospital resources. However, in addition there will be other tangible benefits. These include:

• The establishment of a centre of excellence in diagnostics and healthperforming world-class fundamental science.
• Technology transfer and exploitation of intellectual propertyand ‘know-how’.
• The integration of research personnel from all 6 industry partnersinto the centre, underpinning and supporting the upgrading of foreign direct investment in Ireland, in association with IDA Ireland.
• Investment in human capital through high quality education and research
• Attraction and retention of world-class scientists
• A dynamic Education and Outreachprogramme to nurture interest in science at all levels.
• The creation of indigenous start-up companies

A key component of the CSET Programme is the establishment of substantial industrial collaboration with each project. I am glad to announce that the CFDH will team up with six leading global organizations:

• Becton Dickinson (BD)
• Analog Devices Inc. (ADI)
• Hospira
• Inverness Medical Innovations (IMI)
• O-mic
• Enfer Scientific

These Industrial Partners are leading innovative companies in the diagnostic, biotechnology and ICT industries. It is very significant that each of theses partners will place research personnel in the Centre.

Many of these companies will establish links through their Irish operations into the Centre, and anticipate that the outputs of the Centre’s research programmes will impact significantly on their activities and operations in Ireland. This is indeed a very significant development that could have a long-term impact on the Irish economy.

The Medical Device and Diagnostics sector represents a vibrant growth area within the Irish economy and has been highlighted as one of the areas in which Ireland can develop a position of competitive strength, differentiation and critical mass.

With over 40 companies in Ireland, including 13 of the top 25 medical device and diagnostics companies in the world, the importance of the sector to the Irish economy is considerable. The sector exports goods in excess of €4 billion per annum, directly employs over 22,000 people (10% of the Irish manufacturing workforce), of which greater than 40% have third level qualifications.

The industry has to date, therefore, been very successful in making the transition from basic to higher added value manufacturing, and many companies have significant Research and Development activities.

Significant economic opportunities exist through the effective bringing together of the strong industrial diagnostics sector that exists in Ireland with world-class academic institutions engaged in the most leading edge research in the field of diagnostics.

At present, Ireland has a strong economy. However, in order to remain competitive, it must increase the added value of its economic output. It will achieve this by focusing on high technology industries which are driven by significant investment in R&D. Ireland has a solid medical device industry through which future technological development can be exploited.

This sector will be the central player underpinning the national innovation system. The future competitive advantage for Ireland lies in the development and support of university-industry research centres - such as the Centre for Future Diagnostics and Health - that underpin world-class fundamental research relevant to key industrial clusters in the Irish economy.

On a broader issue, I continue to emphasise that the successful economies of the future will be those that embrace knowledge and learn how to use it. For Ireland this involves promoting excellence – knowledge is in the best people and using knowledge is bringing together our best scientists, educators, engineers, entrepreneurs to work across sectors and industries. This is at the core of SFI’s strategy.

This announcement today is a prime example of the new type of investment to underpin this overall strategy. SFI has established some of the largest grants offered anywhere in the world for research that brings together academic and industrial partners in order to create a centre for excellence.

The government has already invested €2.5bn for Research, Technological Development and Innovation through a range of programmes under the current National Development Plan. SFI is a key component of our overall National strategy, to build a real knowledge based economy, and that is why we are in a position to make the type of investment being announced today.

Along with all of you gathered here today, I greatly look forward to learning of the results and outputs from the Centre for Future Diagnostics and Health.

ENDS

ETE 1405