Government welcomes significant progress from investment of €1.4bn in Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation (SSTI)

The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms. Mary Coughlan TD, today (Monday 15^th December 2008), on behalf of the Government, welcomed publication of the first report on the implementation of the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation (SSTI) 2006-2013. The investment made in 2007 and 2008 to date is in excess of €1.4bn.

The Tánaiste noted that the Report shows that growth in research activity in Third Level Institutions is paralleled by equally dynamic growth in business sector R&D, which is almost double the level recorded in 2000.

The Tánaiste said: “Enterprise Ireland has developed a range of schemes to ensure we have the capacity to capture and transform the ideas and advances coming from higher education research into commercial reality. In January 2008, IDA and Enterprise Ireland launched a new €500m revised and simplified R&D grant scheme for companies to boost their research efforts in order to underpin future competitiveness”.

“Growth in researcher capacity, led by SFI, coupled with the enhanced R&D tax credit, continues to be a major attraction for overseas investors, and is resulting in a series of significant industrial and academic research collaborations. It is particularly welcome that as many as 40% of the 114 new projects negotiated by the IDA in 2007 were R&D investments”.

The Tánaiste highlighted some of the key positive developments detailed in the report:

• Enterprise Ireland and IDA are working closely with companies to strengthen the research and technological base of the enterprise sector in order to drive productivity, competitiveness exports and jobs;

• Science Foundation Ireland’s (SFI) success in growing our human capital at the highest level – adding more than 30 world class Principal Investigator teams each year – and our success in connecting funded research teams with industry are together transforming what Ireland has to offer as a location for inward investment;

• Collaboration between SFI researchers and industry has increased significantly. SFI’s Centres for Science, Engineering and Technology (CSETs), in particular, have engaged with a wide range of industrial and other partners. The strength of these collaborations with industry is also borne out through the acceleration in the number of patents filed, to its highest level in five years (107 patents in 2006 and 137 in 2007).

The Tánaiste also pointed out that the pipeline of R&D investments supported by IDA and Enterprise Ireland continues to be both robust and encouraging as the following recent announcements confirm:

• Business Objects, a SAP company, will invest €29m to create 100 IT research posts to make Ireland a major R&D centre for the company.

• IBM announced a €7 million investment creating 18 R&D positions and a Global Centre of Excellence for Water Management in Mulhuddart.

• Boston Scientific will invest €50 m. in strategic medical devices R&D in Galway.

• CITI, one of the world’s largest financial services companies, will base its €35 million RDI investment in next generation e-banking in Dublin.

• Beckman Coulter Inc, has launched an innovative four year collaborative research programme with NUI Galway in the field of Molecular Diagnostics

• IBM to establish Europe’s first Cloud Computing Centre, located at the IBM Innovation Campus at Mulhuddart.

• Pfizer will invest €190 million in a centre-of-excellence for process development of Pfizer Global Research & Development products.

• Enterprise Ireland support a Houghton Mifflin Harcourt €350m investment in its eLearning research and development centre - 450 high-value jobs.

• • Positive trends are also evident at the early stage commercialisation end. Real start-ups from the research investment have gone from 5 in 2005 to 13 in 2007; licences have tripled from 15 in 2003 to 55 in 2007; invention disclosures have grown from 135 in 2005 to 264 in 2007; patent filings have gone from 83 in 2005 to 137 in 2007 and, incubators employment has gone from 135 in 2005 to 264 in 2007.”

Summing up the success of the STI Initiative to date the Tánaiste concluded:

“This report shows that the trends to date from our investment in the SSTI are very encouraging. At the same time, the ramp up in investment in research in Ireland is very recent by international standards and other countries are also investing in this area. I am confident, however, that by sustaining our strategic investment in R&D, we will realise economic and employment wins and improve our competitive advantage.”

“We also need to ensure we capture the interest of young people so that they go on to study Science Engineering and Technology subjects at third and fourth level and take up and create well paid and satisfying jobs in our economy. A major international review of the awareness programme by Discover Science and Engineering has just been completed and its findings will be used to enhance science literacy particularly at first and second level education”, the Tánaiste added.

Taoiseach

Commenting on the report, the Taoiseach, Mr. Brian Cowen T.D. said, “the Government has been farsighted in recognising the impact investment in science, technology and innovation can have on national competitiveness and on Ireland’s ability to compete globally. The impact of this investment is already very evident. Ireland has almost trebled expenditure on R&D over the past 10 years to get to where we are now.”

This report reflects the progress we are making in:

• Building a world class research system;

• Capturing, protecting and commercialising ideas and know-how;

• Driving growth through research and innovation in enterprise;

• Providing solid sound foundations in education; and

• Ensuring that the different parts of the research system are working well together.

Referring to the transformational changes occurring in the higher education sector, the Taoiseach re-emphasised the importance of continued investment in research to develop our human capital at the highest level. “Government initiatives such as the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions, Science Foundation Ireland and the R&D investments in the health, agriculture, marine, environment and energy sectors are contributing to the development of a world class research base in Ireland.”

Higher Education

Also welcoming publication of the report the Minister for Education and Science, Mr. Batt O’Keeffe, T.D. said:

“Higher Education R&D investment has almost quadrupled in current terms over ten years.”

Highlighting some of the particularly positive developments to date within higher education, the Minister noted that

• “The SSTI target to double the output of PhDs by 2013 over the 2005 base is advancing significantly. The most recent data show total outputs rising from 808 in 2005 to 976 in 2006 which is well on track for achieving the overall output goal of 1,300 by 2013.

• A key objective of the strategy is not only to increase the output of PhDs, but also to maintain quality and see this knowledge intensive capacity spread through all sectors of the economy. The higher education institutions are engaged in a process with key educational and business stakeholders to progress the development of Structured PhD programmes supported by the Higher Education Authority and funding from the Strategic Innovation Fund.

• The investment in strategic world class infrastructure as a key pre-requisite for quality research and development has progressed significantly through investments of the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI). A number of national research centres have opened since the start of the SSTI, including UCD Centre for Synthesis and Chemical Biology, Marine Research Facilities at NUIG and Biosolids Research Building at Sligo IOT. The engagement with the private sector in programmes such as the National Graduate Enhancement Programme in (Bio)pharmaceuticals and Pharmacological Sciences, in forming a higher-education academic-led ‘biopharmaceutics corridor’ from Belfast to Cork, demonstrates that key linkages are happening between higher education institutions and the private sector.”

Minister O’Keeffe concluded that the Higher Education investments are critical both in enabling the growth in the number of high quality researchers based in Ireland and in increasing the quality and quantity of our research and performance. This infrastructure will also facilitate the enhanced PhD student training envisaged as part of the National Development Plan

Sectoral R&D

In addition to the R&D initiatives and achievements in enterprise and human capital outlined above the report also outlines positive R&D developments in sectoral areas of research, as outlined below:

Agriculture and Food

The priority under the Strategy is to build a knowledge economy in agri-food so as to provide a scientific foundation and support for a sustainable, competitive, market-oriented and innovative agriculture, food and forestry sector. Significant progress is being made by DAFF and its agencies in building a knowledge economy in agri-food mainly via investment under its public good competitive research programmes – FIRM, Stimulus and COFORD.

Plans are well advanced for Centres of Excellence in the areas of Animal Science, Plant/Crop Science and Environment, and Rural Research Centres, as well as Functional Foods laboratories, and a large animal research facility.

Health

The SSTI calls for Ireland to build the R&D potential within the health service and link this to investment in basic sciences. To that end the health research structure is being strengthened through:

• The development of a HSE strategy on research priorities and on medical education and training;

• The undertaking of an audit of population health research in Ireland;

• The development of three clinical research facilities (CRFs) (one each at St James’s Hospital, Dublin; University College Hospital Galway; and Cork University Hospital) to provide the infrastructure – the physical space, facilities and the experts - needed to support patient-focused research studies.

Environment

The future strategic direction of environmental research in Ireland is to anticipate and respond to changing circumstances and to engage in research to generate new knowledge of the environment and environmental technologies. In accordance with this objective, an environmental research centre is being developed as a centre of excellence within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in close cooperation with the Higher Education Institutes to build capacity in environmental data handling, modelling, assessment and guidance. This centre has the potential to become a key environmental component of the knowledge economy and will be the cornerstone of future environmental research.

A key development in 2007 was the establishment of a new Climate Change Research Programme with thirteen projects and four fellowships awarded.

Marine

The SSTI aims to build upon investment in the NDP 2000-2006 by raising the profile and standing of key Irish facilities and to develop Ireland as a global monitoring centre for climate change assessments through the medium of marine and freshwater ecosystems.

The Beaufort Marine Research Awards in Biodiscovery and in Marine Sensors and Communications have been instituted.

Galway Bay has been identified as the location for SmartBay, a revolutionary new test-bed for the development of environmental technologies and services being developed in collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Enterprise Ireland, the third level sector and other agencies. The system is being developed through a growing series of partnerships with Irish and overseas industries.

Energy

The Energy Research Council’s Strategy was published in May 2008. The Strategy addresses the key thematic research areas in relation to security of supply, rational use of energy, renewable energy technologies and national energy infrastructure. The development of cross-sectoral research initiatives, including in areas such as climate change, enterprise, agriculture and transport, are also addressed.

Over the period to 2013 a world-class research capacity investment in the areas of sustainable energy and energy efficient technologies will be made through SFI.

The Renewable Energy Development Group has been reconstituted to provide focus and coordination of research and other support mechanisms and better linkages between government and industry.

Enterprise Ireland supports appropriate investment opportunities in energy enterprises and research that have the potential to deliver new innovative products and services.

Click here to view the First Report on the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation

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