Tánaiste welcomes Business Expenditure on Research and Development

Government committed to investing in our science base - Coughlan

The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms. Mary Coughlan, T.D., today (Tuesday 3^rd March 2009) welcomed the first findings from the Business Expenditure on Research and Development (BERD) survey for 2007 and 2008.

In welcoming the positive findings the survey the Tánaiste said: “Economic recovery requires a rediscovery of the fundamental principle that a small open economy must compete globally and be competitive globally as this will shape our response to the daily pressures we face. We must also drive higher value added output across the economy”.

“The Strategy for Science Technology & Innovation (SSTI), extending to 2013, addresses these very demanding challenges. The significant infrastructure investment underpinning the SSTI over the 2007-2013 period, and the return on that investment are central to the robustness of our economic future. Despite the current global upheaval this Government is committed to investing in Ireland’s science base as one of the key cornerstones underpinning future jobs in Ireland and the lynchpin of our transformation to the Smart Economy”, the Tánaiste added.

Three pillars underpin the SSTI – excellence in human capital, a focus on commercialisation of our investment in R&D and fiscal incentives for the enterprise sector in the form of our R&D tax credit. The evidence from the BERD survey shows that this integrated strategy is working, seen in the following internationally comparable key indicators”

• Spending on R&D performed in the business sector in Ireland (BERD) climbed to €1.60bn in 2007, and to an estimated €1.68bn in 2008.

• The ratio of BERD to economic activity as measured by Gross National Product increased from 0.96% in 2005 to 1% in 2007.

• It is likely that this ratio will rise further in 2008 to an estimated 1.08% of GNP. Total R&D spending across all sectors of the economy is expected to climb to €2.6bn in 2008 (1.66% of GNP).

• The number of research personnel employed in R&D activities across the business sector in Ireland rose to 13,861 in headcount terms in 2007.

• Strong increases in research personnel were driven by rising research occupations between 2005 and 2007 (+608).

• The number of PhD qualified researchers rose from 830 in 2005 to 1,191 in 2007.

• Early estimates of R&D activity levels point to sharp increases in the number of firms performing significant R&D (>€2mn), with 164 significant R&D performers in 2007 compared to 118 in 2005.

• There also appears to be evidence of firms who were smaller performers of R&D in 2005 stepping up activity to become larger performers in 2007.