John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As Minister of State with responsibility for innovation, research and development I want to concentrate on one element of Part 3, which will also be addressed by my colleague, the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Humphreys. I refer in this regard to the delivery of a key objective of the Government by means of Enterprise Ireland supporting increased levels of research, development and innovation for Irish-based companies. It is a known fact that companies which invest in innovation are higher performers in terms of employment and export sales and are more resilient through recessionary and other economic shocks, such as Brexit, than those that do not. By enhancing their research, development and innovation capabilities and activity, Irish firms will have a greater competitive advantage and will be able to maintain that by developing cutting edge products and services that are better performing, more efficiently delivered and more effective for their customers. Through the proposed legislative amendments to section 29 of the Industrial Development Act of 1986, we are enabling Enterprise Ireland to help position Irish businesses to be more agile and to be able to respond to global challenges, including Brexit.

Innovation, whether it is the generation and introduction of a new idea, the invention of a new technology or the development of new or better products, processes and services, is about the constant drive for improvement. It is about finding solutions that are original, more effective and, most importantly, deliver positive change. Given my role as Minister of State with responsibility for training, skills, innovation, research and development, I have a particular interest in driving innovation, not only for my Department but in delivering the Government’s objective to create the favourable conditions in which innovation can flourish and in which quality employment opportunities can be grown and maintained.

My Department leads on the cross-Government research, development, science and technology that is the Innovation 2020 strategy. The latter sets out a roadmap to deliver on our vision to be a global innovation leader, focusing on the excellence of our research, the development of our talent and the impact of our investment. Ireland has a great reputation for excellence in science. That is evidenced by our ascent in the global ranking in recent years. In 2018, the European innovation scoreboard placed Ireland ninth in the EU. We are now first in innovation in terms of SMEs, first in employment impacts of innovation and first in sales impacts of innovation.

In both Innovation 2020 and Enterprise 2025 Renewed, we place an emphasis on investing in innovation, developing talent, and starting and growing innovative Irish enterprises to ensure that we build resilience in our economy and realise the full potential of our people and our regions. The pace of technological change is relentless and ensuring we have the right supports for business and for the development of Ireland’s talent base now and in the future involves a constant process of analysing, surveying and consulting. The Department’s job is to support the future being imagined by our researchers and innovators and to deliver the targeted funding and supports to keep us at the vanguard of innovation and technological development. An exceptional level of collaboration between industry, academia, State agencies and the regulatory authorities drives Ireland’s dynamic research and development sector. Innovation 2020 sets out the vision for Ireland to become a global innovation leader, which we are becoming. We are currently a strong innovator and, as already stated, are placed ninth on the European innovation scoreboard.

Ireland’s continued economic growth and prosperity depends on maintaining and indeed increasing investment across the broad science, technology and innovation spectrum and creating the right conditions to help business. To that end, the Government is providing additional investment of over €40 million this year for research and innovation related activities through the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation. This brings the Department’s allocation in research and innovation activities to €370 million for 2019. Science Foundation Ireland, SFI, and Enterprise Ireland account for the largest share of the Department’s innovation budget. Together, they account for 80% of that budget. As always, Science Foundation Ireland and Enterprise Ireland continue to leverage EU and private sector funding for research programmes, building on successes to date.

Through budget 2019, we were able to give good effect to the Government’s new disruptive technologies innovation fund, DTIF. This €500 million fund was announced as part of Project Ireland 2040 and it provides a very welcome injection of new funding into our research and innovation system. Some €20 million has been allocated to the DTIF to allow the first projects to commence in 2019 as part of a €180 million allocation out to 2022.

In addition to the legislative amendments to enhance Enterprise Ireland research and the development supports to business, we are taking action on various fronts to ensure that in any Brexit scenario we will continue to pursue our strong, equally valued relationship with the UK across the research, development and innovation agendas. Enterprise Ireland has been working closely with Innovate UK to explore opportunities, now and in the future, for UK and Irish companies to work together.

We have a strong history of research and innovation collaboration, both bilateral collaborations and collaborations under the EU framework programmes, that have been extremely fruitful over the years. For example, SFI’s research community reported approximately 450 collaborations with academic researchers in the UK last year. We also have excellent examples of successfully funding partnerships including the Royal Society, Wellcome Trust and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, BBSRC, which I have met on a number of occasions. They are all involved in collaborative programmes with SFI, the Health Research Board and others.

The unfolding Brexit situation carries risks for Ireland’s research and innovation interests. However, there are also opportunities to build stronger relationships that are mutually beneficial for both countries.

I know our research and innovation agencies have ambitious plans to deepen alliances with UK institutions and agencies. As the House may be aware, the first UK-Ireland research funders’ forum was held in Dublin last November. The event provided an opportunity for UK and Irish research funders to engage on research and innovation strategies and to discuss ways to strengthen our collaborative arrangements. A further meeting and forum will take place in Great Britain over the next couple of months. We will also need to pay significant attention to the North-South collaborations and build on existing collaboration between our agencies, including the US-Ireland research and development partnership, a unique initiative involving agencies across the three jurisdictions, namely the US, Ireland and Northern Ireland. I look forward to strengthening that collaboration to ensure we protect what has been built and identify new areas of opportunity for Irish and UK researchers and innovators. SFI has focused on a number of strategic actions and areas resulting from the proposed withdrawal of the UK from the European Union. In the event that the UK continues to be a member of the EU research and innovation programmes, our bilateral ties will enable research teams in Ireland and the UK to compete more strongly. In the event that the UK is excluded from some of these programmes, then these bilateral ties will become vitally important.

Science Foundation Ireland already has joint funding collaborations with a number of UK research funders, including United Kingdom Research and Innovation. These are particularly the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, EPSRC, and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, BBSRC, the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society that I mentioned earlier. These collaborative joint funding programmes have been strengthened and broadened. Science Foundation Ireland partnered with the EPSRC in its recent call for centres in doctoral training. Science Foundation Ireland will invest €38.6 million to fund approximately 150 PhD students in Ireland to be trained in seven new joint centres of doctoral training, linking universities in the UK with seven Science Foundation Ireland research centres.

On a number of occasions I have been to a number of universities in England and I have met many of their researchers and scientists. From speaking to the innovative drivers on innovation in England, they see it as crucial and urgent that Ireland continues its innovation ties and its research and development ties with the UK and also ideally with Horizon 2020 and the National Competitiveness Council funding. From meeting some of the UK representatives there, I feel they are distressed that they may not be able to play the part in the competitive Horizon 2020 funding that they would like to play. I had a conference call with their new Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, Chris Skidmore MP, and I hosted him at a breakfast for Ministers in the Irish embassy in London last week. Along with all of them, he is anxious that the collaboration that we have between Ireland and the UK continues. They believe it is essential for collaboration between our institutes of technology, our universities and EI which drive innovation in Ireland. It is important that we continue to collaborate with the UK, irrespective of what happens.

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