Professor Willie Donnelly:

THEA, welcomes this opportunity to discuss the proposed Research and Innovation Bill 2023. THEA represents the common interests of Atlantic Technological University, ATU, South East Technological University, SETU, Technological University of the Shannon, TUS, Dundalk Institute of Technology, DIT, and Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, IADT. .

The creation of a new research agency focused on research and Innovation aligns with the needs of our institutions and the relevant stipulation within legislation and Government policy. The new agency must take these three core Government policies as its reference points.

The first is Government strategic priorities of climate action, housing, enterprise development, and the shared island initiative. Second, the national development plan, NDP, with its strong emphasis on regional development and sustainable and balanced growth across the island. The third is Impact 2030, Ireland’s research, and innovation strategy, which places innovation at the centre of Ireland’s economic and social development for the foreseeable future.

The committee will be aware of the strong emphasis in Ireland’s research and innovation plan, Impact 2030, on elevating Ireland’s research performance. Especially important is the ambition to raise Ireland’s international profile from one of a strong innovator to innovation leader in Europe by 2030. This requires considerable enhancement of our research and innovation effort and infrastructure.

The creation of the technological universities, TU, is seen as critical in Impact 2030, especially in improving regional innovation capacity and capability. As indicated in the Technological Universities Act 2018, the evolution from institute of technology, IOT, to TU requires a step change in research and innovation of the TUs compared to their legacy institutions. Research and innovation are clearly identified as core activities of the new TUs with specifically defined metrics to be achieved in the first ten years in respect of staff, qualifications to PhD and postgraduate students. We note not only that investment in the TU innovation capacity is needed to achieve the nationally agreed Impact 2030 targets, but also to realise the ambitions regarding regional development.

The NDP highlights Ireland’s commitment to balanced regional economic development that requires sustainable, high-performing regional economies. THEA members, and in particular the TUs, are catalysts for economic and social development delivered through their stakeholder partnerships in research, innovation and talent development. The sector has an unrivalled track record of partnership with its stakeholders for the delivery of regional economic and social advancement but needs to do more in the context of rapid technological changes, increased mobility of talent, upskilling and reskilling the workforce, changing business paradigms and processes, and, most important, the just transition mechanism that will see radical transformation across many sectors in the years ahead. This has been supported by the investment in knowledge transfer infrastructures such as the technology gateways and innovation centres and the regional skills forums. However, this investment needs to be complemented with equal investment in the upstream activities of knowledge production and talent development through leading edge research innovation, and PhD research in line with the TU legislation. The focus on strategic investment in the full research, innovation lifecycle provides protection to stakeholders and regional economies against future economic disruption by providing the knowledge and expertise to evolve as the markets evolve.

In summary, we welcome that the proposed legislation commits to promoting and supporting the contribution of such research and innovation to Ireland’s economic, social, cultural and environmental development and sustainability. However, while we recognise the need for a competitive funding process, there needs to be cognition of the identification of appropriate evaluation criteria which recognise wider and more inclusive evaluation metrics, which identify impact in achieving national goals that go beyond the narrow academic publication metrics to include measures of social, economic and cultural impact on communities and regions and capacity building.

The commitment of the Bill should be extended to a commitment to investment in research and innovation which enables balanced regional economic development. The legislation should explicitly recognise the role of the new funding organisation in supporting the legislative requirement of the Technological Universities Act 2018 in relation to research and innovation through investment in capacity building in the new technological universities to realise the delivery of balanced economic development. This will enable the new agency to target competitive funding schemes towards regional economic development, similar to schemes that have been developed in other countries such as Norway, France and Australia.