Business ETC uses cookies. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Click here to find out more »
Dublin: 14 °C Wednesday 19 June, 2013

€60m investment released for pioneering research projects

Government funding of €60 million will support 85 research projects in areas like science, technology and mathematics.

Richard Bruton TD
Richard Bruton TD
Image: Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland

GOVERNMENT FUNDING OF €60 million is to be released to fund 85 pioneering research projects in areas like mathematics, science and technology, it has been announced.

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD and the Minister for Research and Innovation, Sean Sherlock TD, today announced the funding, which will be administered via Science Foundation Ireland’s (SFI) Investigator Programme.

The 85 research projects will directly support 250 researchers through to 2018, as well as indirectly supporting further research initiatives and many more researchers by leveraging significant additional funding from other sources including competitive European research calls, the ministers said in a statement.

The top-class projects focus on a range of national research priority areas identified by Government as key for developing new commercial products and services from scientific research – including ICT, health/life sciences, energy and manufacturing competitiveness. The projects being funded have links to 36 companies so far.

“A central part of this Government’s plan for jobs and growth is to ensure that this research is better targeted at turning the good ideas of researchers into good products and good jobs. That is why we have implemented a series of reforming measures as part of Action Plan for Jobs 2012,” Bruton said.

Those measures include:

  • Research Prioritisation – investing public money in those areas that are most likely to yield commercial success and grow jobs
  • A one-stop-shop for commercialising research – through a new Technology Transfer Centre
  • New research centres – funding centres of scale and excellence which will forge alliances between industry and research together

Bruton continued:

“Today’s announcement that Government is investing a further €60 million in 85 new research projects supporting 250 researchers will build on Ireland’s existing research strengths. Approximately 50 per cent of IDA’s company announcements last year had links with Science Foundation Ireland funded researchers. By supporting these world-class researchers in their ground-breaking work we will ensure that we continue to maintain, attract and develop dynamic companies and create the quality jobs we need.”

The individual research projects funded, range in size and scale from approximately €200,000 to €2.7 milllion over the next 5 years and will cover a
broad range of scientific topics, including:

  • Computer-assisted neurosurgery
  • Animation
  • Inflammatory diseases
  • Mathematics for enterprise, science and technology
  • Hepatitis C
  • Advanced materials and manufacturing
  • ICT
  • Tissue engineering
  • Chemistry
  • Biofilms
  • Microbiology
  • Carbon sequestration
  • Farm waste for Bioenergy
  • Genetics
  • Disease susceptibility & treatment
  • Algae & seaweed

“Over the past decade, Ireland has invested heavily in R&D and the rewards are clearly visible,” said Sherlock. “What is particularly heartening about today’s announcement is that much of this excellent research, which was selected competitively following international peer review, is being done in collaboration with companies who are seeking to find new products and services, including IBM Ireland, Intel Ireland, HP, EMC and Bord Gáis.”

Read: €200m EIB loan to finance 23 Irish water investment projects

  • Share on Facebook
  • Email this article
  •  

Read next:

Comments (18 Comments)

  • Off topic….The light over his head gives the impression of a halo…lol

    Reply
  • marcoop 25/01/13 #

    Hepatitis C is a surprise but on the otherhand I guess they have enough current and past patient history to work with since the infected blood scandal in the 90′s. Hopefully those people still get the treatment they need.

    Reply
  • M J W 25/01/13 #

    What did Cindrella do when she got to the ball?She choked.

    Reply
  • Eggfuel 25/01/13 #

    I’m all for research but it’s not going to transfer into new jobs as we all know…
    60 million spent on test tubes and lab equipment hardly seems practical use of money in these times when we need to start new markets…
    this will not do that…
    Ireland would be better adopting all the new technology that it hasn’t bothered using thus far and stop re-researching technology that is all ready commercially ready for market……
    10 years behind Europe as always……

    Reply
    • You clearly don’t know what you are talking about. There are plenty of instances of research forming new companies and new jobs. Look at NovaUCD and you will see many Irish companies that have spun out of research performed at UCD. These companies then hire people with degrees, masters and fellow PhDs. There are similar stories in other Universities.
      Google is another good example. A couple of guys did a PhD doing research into search algorithms which they then used in a simple looking search website. They made $50 billion last year. Similar(ish) story for Intel and there are many smaller companies that have come out of research.
      Not all the people who get money out of this will create a company, but they will get jobs in other companies – Intel is currently soaking up people with PhDs. Having highly educated people make Ireland more attractive for foreign direct investment.
      As far as re-researching…. where do I start?! Why would they re-research? It’ll all be new research, based on older research. You clearly don’t understand the article.
      Bottom line, this is great news.

      Reply
    • Eggfuel 25/01/13 #

      Its interesting that you use google as an example of a company that was like many “NOT STARTED IN IRELAND AS IRELAND DOESNT INNOVATE AS THEY DO IN THE USA”
      Google also had a major gripe about the level of the so called “irish education qualification system” being called into question… They maintained that the so called irish graduates were far from up to scratch on a intelligence level as credited by their so called degrees… Interesting that you link them with Ireland… You picked a pretty poor example…..
      As regards my comments i was questioning the sense of investing yet more money into research when we need jobs at this time spun off from research that was conducted years ago and that should be showing fruit….
      This is not the case on a level playing field…
      The balance of investment versus commercial business realisation seems to be very poor indeed in Ireland…

      Reply
    • I used Google as an example of what can be achieved through research – you ignored the Irish example I gave which is NovaUCD and has spun off many Irish companies through research.
      Here are a list of companies in UCD that employ people and have been as a result of research.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_College_Dublin#Research_and_innovation
      Scroll down to “Current and former campus companies”
      There are loads of other universities creating jobs through research in Ireland.

      Ireland may not innovate as they do in the USA , but the USA pumps billions into research. We do well, in Ireland, considering the amount of money we pump into research. We should be pumping a lot more money in, not less as you seem to suggest. Here is a website that shows we only pump in 1.77% of GDP to research, while Isreal, sweden and the USA spend ~4% of GDP.
      http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/GB.XPD.RSDV.GD.ZS
      Also, education standards in our Universities are very good compared to International standards. Trinity and UCD perform well in research compared to other universities worldwide. The ITs on the other hand…

      Reply
  • M J W 25/01/13 #

    Can i summit a Project on researching why the alcoholic who died,lost his spirit?

    Reply
  • I’m uncomfortable with the fact that the government seem to throw funding at science and technology at the expense of other disciplines, e.g. the Arts and Humanities or more importantly, literacy programmes. We’ll be a nation of scientists and mathematicians who can’t string a sentence together.

    Reply
  • Fools 25/01/13 #

    As always I like to see a return and some benefits realizations. Will this happen NO. So as long as this isnt done we might as welk throw money into the air.

    Reply
    • Interesting musing of a fool written in a modernist style ignoring relevant punctuation. It is good that we have some people who are willing to try new and innovative ideas. We have enough fools on the hill who spend their days sitting on their rear ends criticising and laughing at those who are willing to make an effort to improve our situation.

      Reply
    • Fools 25/01/13 #

      @Patrick if I want a lecture on puncation it wont be from you clown boy.

      Reply
  • When i was a kid My dad called him Richard Brutal now i know why .

    Reply

Add New Comment