Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As part of the Forfás annual employment survey, the overall cost per job sustained is calculated each year by reference to the cost of jobs created in companies supported by the enterprise development agencies during, and sustained to the end of, a seven year period. This is calculated by taking into account all direct agency expenditure on all agency client companies in a seven year period, and it is not possible to disaggregate the research and development element. The latest figures available show that the cost per job sustained by IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland was €13,475 and €12,597 respectively.

It is not possible to disaggregate the levels of research, development and innovation spend per county. For example, the Science Foundation Ireland large-scale research centres and the EI-IDA technology centres involve collaboration between several higher education institutions, linking scientists and engineers in partnership with academia and industry across county boundaries to address crucial research questions.

In comparing our research, development and innovation spend against that of our EU partners, the most useful measurement is the research intensity target which is calculated as our gross expenditure on research and development as a percentage of our gross national product and gross domestic product. This has been confirmed for 2012 at 2.13% of GNP or 1.72% of GDP. The EU average, according to the recently published innovation union competitiveness report, is 2.02% of GDP.

The annual European Commission’s innovation union scoreboard provides a comparative assessment of the research and innovation performance of the EU member states. It was most encouraging to see that the 2014 scoreboard, published in March, showed Ireland increasing its position from tenth to ninth in the overall ranking of 28 EU member states. It is particularly encouraging to see that Ireland is the overall leader in the indicator of the economic effects of innovation. This captures the economic success of innovation in employment in knowledge intensive activities and other areas. The evidence shows we are investing smartly in innovation and that our investment is delivering jobs.

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