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

This is a challenge that bedevils virtually every country in trying to measure the impact of research and development. I can give the Deputy a few measures, although I will not give them all together. We compare countries that do research and development with those that do not. Those that do research and development fare much better on exports and employment growth. Where SFI invests in research and development, we measure, as an indication of its relevance, the extent to which it can attract private funding to match research and development investment.

We also look at the participation of SMEs in technology centres and the number of IDA projects connected to our research and development spend. Approximately 50% of IDA projects in recent years have been won on foot of the research and development cluster or base which we have created. It is not a simple matter of running a slide rule and saying every €1 invested creates a specific number of jobs. We must consider a range of measures across, for example, licences, patents and spin-outs. There is a suite of measures and we can provide the Deputy with details of them. It is not a simple matter of a single number measure. We would all like that but it eludes every country.

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