Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I agree with the Deputy that more patents need to be generated. The Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, and I have gone through the research prioritisation exercise and tomorrow he will launch the IP protocol to make it easier for small companies to access higher education research in order that it can be rolled out into commercial products. Enterprise Ireland backs technology clusters that bring together small indigenous companies as well as foreign companies to identify the opportunities for innovation. There is a great deal happening in the innovation space and, like the Deputy suggested, we want to sweat it to get more patents and commercial ideas out of the investment we make.

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