Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

All of our agencies have policies in place to encourage greater levels of research and innovation and to build the innovation capacity of our enterprises. Enterprise Ireland directly supports companies which engage in innovation, with instruments designed to support companies at different levels of engagement in innovation. IDA Ireland also has a suite of supports for client companies which invest in research and has been successful in attracting new research and development activities to Ireland.

Both IDA Ireland and EI collaborate in the establishment of clusters of companies to engage in innovation through technology centres. Nine new technology centres have been established under this Government, the most recent of which was launched last week in dairy processing where huge opportunities exist for Ireland.

Science Foundation Ireland is a major funder of enterprise-focused research. Through research prioritisation it has ensured that investment is made where Ireland has the capacity build competitive advantage. Its flagship investment in 12 world-class research centres has made industry partnership a prerequisite for success.

A major focus of all the efforts of State agencies has been to increase the impact of investment in research on job creation. To this end, Knowledge Transfer Ireland was established in 2013. It has built upon the new IP protocol by taking initiatives to increase the uptake in terms of licences and spin-outs. The opportunity for successful commercialisation is supported by EI programmes for high potential start-ups and by the commercialisation fund.

These policies are having an impact. The levels of business expenditure on research and development has increased from €1.86 billion in 2011 to an estimated €2.09 billion in 2013, and approximately 300 companies have committed €200 million towards SFI's 12 research centres. Collaborations between industry and researchers continue to grow and now involve more than 2,200 enterprises. Overall the number of research active enterprises is steadily growing.

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