David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and his officials. It is good to see there is a healthy gender balance in his Department. I thank the Minister of State for coming back to the committee. He made a very interesting presentation the last time he appeared before it and he gave a commitment to come back to discuss the broad issue of research and development.

We all recognise the importance of research and development to economic development in the future and currently. That is taken as a given. I have a number of questions about different areas. The Minister of State mentioned the reforms in the higher education sector and made the interesting point that funding of the higher education sector should be closely related to the delivery of performance, which I accept. Obviously, we have to fund excellence whether it is in third or fourth level institutions or in research and development.

Part of the higher education reforms is the formation of a number of technological universities. In the south east, there is the potential to a merger between Carlow IT and Waterford IT. I hope that will create new opportunities for research and development but how significant will that be for those institutes because even though they punch above their weight in terms of the ArcLabs and the TSSG in Waterford, which we have discussed previously, there is no baseline funding for research and development for ITs while there is for universities? There was a perception that a region which did not have a university was operating with one hand tied behind its back and that there was not a level playing field. If Waterford and Carlow ITs are successful, will they be on the same playing field as other universities in terms of getting baseline funding for research and development? How will these technological universities sit in the Department's overall plans for research and development?

In regard to regional supports, obviously I support the need to fund excellence. I think the Minister of State made the point that any research and development entity of any third or fourth level institution can put forward an application for funding based on whatever the project is and that the Department has to fund what it sees as excellence and the best applications which come before it. However, there is a need to ensure, as best we can, that we have balanced regional spend. What targets, if any, are set by the Department in regard to reaching regional targets and ensuring there is a regional spread and to maximise that?

A previous speaker touched on trying to measure the success of research and development generally. It can be difficult to get to grips with that in terms of what we spend and the return to the State. The Horizon 2020 target was 3% of GDP but my understanding is that we will reach 2%. This State measures a percentage of GNP whereas Europe said it should be GDP but even leaving that aside, we are still behind the target. I presume those targets are based on outcomes. How do we measure the funding which goes into research and development? The Minister of State touched on it in terms of job creation and growth, which are obviously part of it. Do equity shares come into it? If there is State-sponsored research, is it shared publicly and measured in terms of a benefit to the State generally? It is important for us to get a flavour of how the Department measures the benefit to the taxpayer because a significant amount of taxpayers' money is going into research and development. While it obviously supports the development of companies and enterprise, which we support, there must be a return to the State. We need to be able to quantify it. However, for us to understand and measure that, we need to understand how the Department arrives at it.

We discussed the Unified Patent Court in the past. Currently, there are approximately 138,000 people working in knowledge-intensive industries, whether in high-end technology or in the pharmaceutical sector. Last year this State signed the EU agreement in respect of the Unified Patent Court. That will be a good thing because it will mean there will be a single patent for companies across Europe rather than having to apply to each member state. In the coming weeks, the Department must decide whether it will host a local division of the UPC or whether it will cede to a regional division of the court, which would probably be based in London. What are the Minister of State's and his Department's thoughts on that because we have been lobbied on it by a number of organisations, or least my office has been? I am trying to find out what the Minister of State believes would be best? Would having a local division of the court sitting in Dublin cost less for us? Would it be more accessible for SMEs, in particular? At what factors is the Department looking? What criteria will the Department use in terms of making that decision? Will it consult and take on board the views of the SME sector and the technology sector generally? Before it makes that decision, would the Minister of State be in a position to come to this committee with his recommendations on what he believes would be best in this area because it is an important decision? It is important that this committee has an opportunity to discuss it. What is the timescale for that decision?