Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Chairman on her new role. As the change happened very fast, I thank my colleagues for the work done by this committee over the past couple of years. I thank the clerk and the committee team for the excellent service.

We had a very businesslike committee which worked very well. I think the Chairman will find that as well. There is plenty of ground to cover. I do not doubt that the Chairman will make her own mark. I thank her and wish her the best of luck. When the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, held the portfolio I have now assumed, he spoke to the joint committee about trying to develop the new research and innovation role. Perhaps we will have a chance to work on that over the next 18 months. It is now clear to me that it is quite a wide-ranging role. Maybe the committee can have a greater level of involvement as we make progress with it. We can work on it together.

The increase in expenditure in science, technology and innovation over the past 15 years has resulted in the development of a strong science base, which is yielding results with economic and societal impacts. EU and international evidence shows that the Government's strategy of accelerating the economic and societal return from investment in science, technology and innovation is paying off. Ireland is ranked first for the availability of skilled labour. According to the 2013 global innovation index, Ireland is ranked tenth of 142 countries. It is ranked 13th in the world for university-industry collaboration on research and development; first for certain scientific disciplines, such as immunology and animal and dairy science; third for nanotechnology; and fourth for computer science. Ireland is ranked third in the EU under the new indicator of innovation output, which measures the extent to which ideas from innovative sectors are able to reach the market, thereby providing better jobs and making Europe more competitive. This proves we are investing smartly in this area and our investment is delivering jobs.

Enterprise Ireland has set itself a target of supporting 95 high-potential start-up businesses in 2014. These businesses will play a crucial role in job creation in the coming years. Since 2000, Enterprise Ireland has supported 1,028 high-potential start-up businesses, which are responsible for employing more than 20,000 people directly and indirectly in the wider economy and have combined exports of over €1 billion. The seven new Science Foundation Ireland research centres that were established in 2013 directly support over 800 jobs, while acting as a key attractor for foreign direct investment. In 2013, Science Foundation Ireland had links to more than 2,000 of the 3,085 jobs - approximately 65% of the total - announced by IDA Ireland in fields covered by the foundation's legal remit. The major role played by the foundation in winning and delivering those jobs often goes unnoticed.

Ireland has built up a substantial infrastructure, expertise and international reputation for scientific research and innovation over recent decades. The Government is driving a number of initiatives to translate this research investment into viable business ideas and, ultimately, into jobs. The continued implementation of research prioritisation, as well as a range of other initiatives to deliver on our strategy, has led to more targeted investment in science, technology and innovation. This will further enhance the effectiveness and impact of our research investment in terms of delivering high-quality sustainable employment.

In 2014, Enterprise Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland will continue to drive commercialisation from State-funded research. This will facilitate the emergence of new products and services that underpin export growth and employment. New initiatives, such as the Knowledge Transfer Ireland office, which was launched in May of this year, will make it easier for companies to access the wealth of technology skills and know-how that is available in Ireland's higher education system. This new office, which is the first of its kind in Europe, will greatly increase the flow of innovative knowledge and technology into companies in Ireland, with the aim of increasing their turnover and employment.

Enterprise Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland will continue to promote and drive effective collaboration between industry and academia. This is essential if the best laboratory ideas are to be successfully translated into innovative new products and services. The ultimate goal in this respect is the delivery of good-quality sustainable jobs for our people. The expansion of Science Foundation Ireland's new remit under the Industrial Development (Science Foundation Ireland) (Amendment) Act 2013 has allowed the foundation to fund activities in the applied research arena, while continuing to provide key supports for oriented basic research. This represents an important step in the development of the relationship between industry and academia in Ireland.

I would like to speak about some of our plans for the future. We have clear evidence that our research investment is delivering a real impact, but we must not become complacent. Since this Government came into office, it has taken some measures to improve the coherence of the landscape of research centres. Science Foundation Ireland is working to consolidate the number of research centres it is funding. This will involve a smaller number of centres of larger scale being supported by the foundation over time. Critical mass will be built across the institutions in areas of economic and social importance.

We are ensuring through the prioritisation action group that a coherent and comprehensive approach to the provision of publicly funded research, in support of 14 priority areas, is being taken across research funders. There has been extensive mapping of centres. Funding has been allocated across the priority areas. Intelligence across research funders regarding industry needs across the priority areas has been collated and validated with input from industry. This provides a solid evidence base upon which research funders can identify existing and future gaps in publicly funded research. This, in turn, can inform the design of open calls in these areas. We have guided a pilot project in the area of therapeutics. All of the research centres supported by agencies under the remit of my Department have been working together on a joint branding and marketing initiative.

This has resulted in three centres joining forces to present their offering in a coherent way, making it easier to find out about and access the key areas of research expertise that the centres can offer. The centres plan further initiatives to deepen this collaboration.

Our aim is to emulate this approach across research centres and other priority areas. To support its roll-out to other areas we are planning a national innovation showcase in December of this year, which will include representatives from all national research centres of scale involved in research across the 14 priority areas. Enterprise Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland are playing a central role in this event in association with my Department, research centres and other funders of research throughout the system.

We will also publish a national directory of research centres, providing details of all centres of scale and their key areas of research. This directory will complement the work of Knowledge Transfer Ireland in helping companies to navigate our sophisticated research system more easily.

The Government remains committed to the vision of using research and innovation to generate jobs and economic growth. Evidence shows that we are investing smartly in this area and our investment is delivering jobs. We will continue to invest in research and innovation programmes to achieve a return to economic growth through growing innovation, promoting the export potential of enterprise and creating sustainable jobs.