Since its establishment as a sub-board of Forfás in 2000, the SFI has shown itself to be an energetic organisation, filled with ambition and enthusiasm. It has introduced a range of policies and established five key programmes: SFI fellow awards, investigator programme grants, centres for science, engineering and technology grants, ETS Walton visitor awards and SFI workshop and conference grants. It has recruited and retained the expertise of approximately 80 research scientists and engineers and their teams for a total investment commitment of €152 million.