Minister Martin Announces Innovation and Research Initiatives

The Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment Micheál Martin TD today (Wednesday March 21 2007) unveiled a Eur10m fund to assist small Irish firms to become more innovative.

He also outlined further details of a network of Competence Centres to be created between companies with high-level R&D spend and with highly trained researchers which are expected to significantly contribute to Ireland’s knowledge economy.

Speaking at the launch Minister Martin said “Innovation Vouchers are the push that many small Irish companies need to explore what part they can play in building our knowledge led economy. This is a great opportunity for small companies to take part not only in the Irish pilot of this innovation creation exercise, but to be amongst the first small companies in Europe to take this step”.

Pioneered in the Netherlands, Innovation Vouchers give small companies access to the vast knowledge available in Irish Institutes of Technology, Universities and other public research bodies. These vouchers worth €5,000 can be used by the average small Irish company to bring in knowledge that is new to the company.

Ireland is only the second country to introduce Innovation Vouchers as part of an effort to create a cultural shift in the small business community’s approach to innovation. While small Irish companies continue to improve their productivity performance, few outside the high-tech sector spend more than €100,000 on R&D per annum. Innovation Vouchers will open doors to knowledge providers and give the financial support to start them on the innovation ladder.

Enterprise Ireland is managing the initiative and will allocate 200 vouchers worth €5,000 each in this initial pilot phase, applications for which will close on April 30^th 2007. Small companies with a business opportunity or problem they want to explore can exchange the voucher for advice and expertise from knowledge providers.

Any small company in Ireland, in any sector can apply for a voucher. Enterprise Ireland has set up a dedicated website where applications can be made: http://www.innovationvouchers.ie/

Announcing the launch of the Competence Centres, the Minister referred to these industry-led collaborative research entities as the ‘new hope’ for Ireland Inc. “There are clear benefits in bringing together companies that have similar research problems and teaming them with highly-qualified researchers to produce new technologies. Through their collaborative research, Competence Centres will break through the technology barriers, bring their results to market and deliver a competitive advantage to Irish industry.” he said.

“Not only will the companies participating in these centres benefit from the shared intellectual property and research produced, but Ireland’s economy will benefit in terms of knowledge generated and retained in this country, knowledge that currently is generated overseas.” the Minister continued.

The types of companies who have the levels of expertise and resources to get involved initially will be indigenous and multinational companies that are already active R&D performers or are planning to significantly ramp up their R&D output. Many of them will already be household names operating in the biotechnology, IT, manufacturing and internationally traded services sectors. As they develop smaller, highly innovative companies will join and grow with the centre.

Minister Martin also highlighted the fact that the Competence Centre initiative is the first major research initiative that involves all the State industrial research and development agencies, working together under the auspices of Technology Ireland.

“I am delighted to see the Competence Centres and Innovation Vouchers initiatives come to fruition as they are two key measures outlined in the Strategy for Science Technology and Innovation.” the Minister concluded.