Professor Philip Nolan:

I thank the committee for the invitation to attend today. I am very pleased to have the opportunity to support the committee in its pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme. I have been director general of Science Foundation Ireland for just 15 months, and I am very proud to represent it as a high-performing State agency with an outstanding staff looking to the future to make an ongoing contribution to the development of our research system. Over its 20 year history, in collaboration with the higher education system, enterprise, the Irish Research Council, IRC, the HEA and other State agencies and Departments, SFI has helped transform our national system of research and innovation, so that as a country we are have an excellent research base on which we can now build.

SFI, like the IRC, welcomes the Government decision to create a new research and innovation funding agency through the amalgamation of SFI and the IRC. The decision was taken in the context of the new national strategy for research and innovation, Impact 2030, which sets out an appropriately ambitious plan for the next ten years of research in Ireland and emphasises the broad environmental, societal and economic impacts and benefits of research and innovation.

Impact 2030 recognises the importance of investing in talent and fundamental research across all discipline areas as the basis on which applied research, innovation and responses to societal challenges such as Professor Carey mentioned can flourish to create a thriving ecosystem.

Let me be clear at the outset that we at SFI share the vision of the IRC that the new funding agency must support fundamental research in all discipline areas and support research talent appropriately through all stages of an academic career. The necessity and value of that have been very eloquently outlined by Professor Carey and we share that vision. We also believe it is essential to build on this base through greater interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work. Given the track record and success of SFI to date, a fundamental concern in the establishment of the new agency is to ensure we continue to invest in fundamental research and talented individuals across the full range of disciplines and that we promote interdisciplinary research. I again agree with Professor Carey. We must not isolate any one discipline from another. The whole purpose of this amalgamation is bring all disciplines together for our greater societal benefit. At the same time, we have to build on the success of the past 20 years and invest at scale in partnership with enterprise, the public service and civil society if we are to translate all of that research into tangible economic, social and environmental benefits. Those outcomes are society-wide deliverables and we need to work together.

In looking at the general scheme of the Bill, if the ambitious objectives of the Government as outlined in Impact 2030 are to be met, we highlight the following issues. The establishment of the new agency must be accompanied by the required step change in investment in research and innovation towards the strategic target of 2.5% of the domestic economy as outlined in Impact 2030. If we do not do that, we will leave ourselves fundamentally unprepared for the digital and green transitions we must deal with in the next two decades. Second, there have been comments on the composition of the board. The board must be independent. It must have the diversity of perspectives and skills to provide for good governance, it must understand how the research and innovation system works, which means there must be active researchers on the board, and it must be able to set a strategy for the agency in support of Government policy and to hold the executive accountable. At the same time it must maintain critical distance. It must be able to hold the agency to account on behalf of the Government. It must be free of real or perceived conflicts of interest, be able to reflect and consider the broad interests of all stakeholders and society, not just the academic system or the enterprise system, and it must bring a strong international perspective. Researchers on the board must have international expertise.

The legislation should set out the appropriate powers for the Minister in regard to strategy and policy but must ensure individual funding decisions and the making and management of awards and grants remain matters for the agency and the board. The legislation should make it clear that the development and competitiveness of enterprise and employment in the State remain core functions of the new agency. SFI has a strong partnership with the National Science Foundation in the US. That international brand of SFI sits alongside that of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland in attracting inward investment and must be preserved in some way through the transition.

This is a very significant opportunity and we look forward to working with the committee and the Oireachtas to see it happen.