Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach for the opportunity to speak on this important programme for Ireland. Horizon 2020 is a very important issue and I am glad we have a chance to discuss it here in the Seanad. I have no doubt that over the couple of years of this programme we will have a chance to have further debates.

We are involved in Ireland's strategy for participation in the biggest ever European research and innovation programme, Horizon 2020. With €80 billion of funding available over seven years, Horizon 2020 is the main EU funding programme for research and development for the period 2014 to 2020. Horizon 2020's objectives are to enable a world-class research system for Europe, support European leadership in industrial development and address grand challenges facing society.

The structure and objectives of Horizon 2020 are very much in line with our national objectives, which are raising the level of excellence in our science base, making Ireland a more attractive location to invest in research and innovation, and addressing major societal challenges by bringing together resources and knowledge across different fields, technologies and disciplines, including the social sciences and the humanities.

Research and innovation are widely recognised as the engines which will ultimately drive European economic recovery. In Ireland's case it is having a big impact on our recovery over the past couple of years. Investment in research and innovation is now increasingly advocated by European policy makers, and Governments are being urged to increase investment at national level.

As Europe exits the crisis, it is increasingly clear that supporting growth enhancing policies such as investment in research and innovation has paid off. The evidence shows that much of the recent productivity gains come from innovation and that, on average, countries that invested more in research and innovation, before and during the crisis, have been the most resilient during the economic downturn.

The Government fully supports this approach. Investment in research and innovation in Ireland will ultimately lead to increased economic activity and the creation of sustainable jobs for the future. That is why this Government has maintained strong State investment in research and innovation over the three-year period since taking office in 2011. We are committed to continuing the process of economic reform and recovery, achieving sustainable growth, strong public finances and enduring job creation.

It is fair to say that when it comes to the science agenda and the science spend, we are building on the previous seven or eight years also. We have tried to keep that going in the past three years because the correct decisions were made in this area to concentrate money on research and innovation.

As a means to drive economic growth and create jobs, Horizon 2020 has the political backing of Europe's leaders and the Members of the European Parliament. They agreed that research is an investment in our future and so put it at the heart of the European Union's blueprint for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and jobs.

By coupling research and innovation, Horizon 2020 is helping to achieve this with its emphasis on excellent science, industrial leadership and tackling societal challenges. The goal is to ensure Europe produces world-class science, removes barriers to innovation and makes it easier for the public and private sectors to work together in delivering innovation.

Horizon 2020 is open to everyone, with a simple structure that reduces red tape and time, so that participants can focus on what is really important. This approach makes sure that new projects get off the ground quickly and achieve results faster. That is very important if we are to get the multinational sector involved in this area because the timescale for them and the red tape can be off-putting. Under Horizon 2020 we have tried to ensure, from an Irish point of view, that it is more streamlined and that decisions are made in a more speedy manner.

I am proud to say that Ireland played a very significant role by securing political agreement on Horizon 2020 during its Presidency of the Council of the European Union last year.

I am accompanied here today by two key departmental officials, Mr. Aidan Hodson, and Mr. Pat Kelly, who both had an important role in trying to get that across the line and I thank them for their work in this regard.

It is generally accepted that international collaboration on research brings together resources and pooling of knowledge and enhances scientific excellence, thus achieving greater success in addressing research problems, as well as greater efficiencies. Participating in international research programmes facilitates inward and outward mobility of researchers, access to transnational collaborative networks, access to research facilities not available in Ireland and commercialisation of ideas and know-how. In recent days, I spent some time in India on an education mission but during that time, I stressed the societal benefits that can be achieved if we bring together our national researchers and our top brains in this area. Horizon 2020 allows for this and I refer to the agenda through which Science Foundation Ireland is trying to focus and bring together talents to make joint applications. This is the best way in which to maximise the return from taxpayers' money in this regard. The European research framework programmes have always been an important element in providing international linkages and enhancing the excellence of the Irish research and development system. They have enabled academic and industry research groups to work with peers across Europe and beyond and to derive the benefits associated with collaborative research, such as access to knowledge networks, sharing of costs and risks and, in particular for industry, the possibility of opening up commercial opportunities.

Ireland's participation in the seventh framework programme, known as FP7 and which ended last year, was highly successful with more than €620 million secured by Irish researchers. That was above the target set of €600 million and was a great achievement. However, success brings greater targets and raises the bar again and, consequently, a high bar has been set for what the Government seeks to achieve under Horizon 2020. While Ireland has a solid track record on which to build further success, it cannot afford to be complacent. Horizon 2020 is a new departure. It is not business as usual and the Government must adapt its approach to it. The competition from across the EU and beyond is intense. The global economic situation has resulted in reduced national funding resources and, increasingly, researchers are looking to Europe to fill that funding gap. However, Ireland is participating in the current framework programme from a far stronger position than ever before. A critical mass of research activity has developed in both the public and private sectors and Ireland is well positioned to perform strongly under Horizon 2020. The Government perceives Horizon 2020 as an opportunity to further deepen Ireland's engagement in collaborative European and international research. This is of key importance and already, in the first year, there have been successes in this area.

As each country participating in Horizon 2020 will be targeting increased participation, only projects of excellent quality will win funding. This requires that Ireland's national research and innovation system performs at the highest competitive level. Ongoing national funding of research and innovation will be required. As Horizon 2020 is a competitive funding process, it will not be possible to use Horizon 2020 funding as an opportunity to reduce national funding. It is of key importance to maintain national funding levels, which will help to make better applications, which in turn should be more successful. All available opportunities will be used to leverage national investment to maximise funding from Horizon 2020. National funders are putting significant focus on funding nationally in areas likely to win further funding from Horizon 2020 and other sources. It is about targeting resources and making sure that all Ireland's universities, colleges and research centres are not competing for the same part of the budget. Instead, there must be a proper plan in place that attempts to target certain areas in which Ireland has a track record of being successful, where there can be major wins and where good results can be achieved. A national strategy for Horizon 2020 is in place to direct engagement in Horizon 2020. A Horizon 2020 high-level group, chaired by my Department and comprising those Departments and Government agencies whose remit includes research and innovation, is tasked with overseeing the implementation of the strategy and securing the maximum benefits for Ireland. I recently met the aforementioned strategy group a few weeks ago and a very worthwhile round-table discussion was held to update the plans. That group, under the aegis of my Department, meets every five or six weeks to make sure that the plan is in place and this is checked on an ongoing basis.

The Government has set an ambitious target for Irish researchers to win funding of €1.25 billion over the lifetime of Horizon 2020. It has put in place a national support network, co-ordinated by a national director, Dr. Imelda Lambkin, based in Enterprise Ireland. In fairness to Dr. Lambkin, she was highly successful with FP7 and her track record speaks for itself. However, she is aware of the challenges in this regard and that this must be co-ordinated as well as possible to achieve these high results. A target of €1.25 billion constitutes more than a doubling of what Ireland achieved previously. It is quite a large target and, as I noted earlier, other parts of Europe and other countries also have realised that they must double their aims and consequently, the pressure is on. However, I believe the structures are in place to achieve this goal on which we must build.

The national support network, comprising national contact points who are experts in the various research domains of Horizon 2020, provides advice and assistance to researchers seeking to participate in the programme.

The network also includes a team of national delegates for Horizon 2020 who represent Ireland's interests in Europe on the various programme committees that design the work programmes and priorities. This national support network works in tandem with the high level group in co-ordinating the national effort to maximise our participation. We set this ambitious target to go beyond what we have been doing over the past seven-year programme. To get there will require special efforts designed to identify and create additional value over and above the strong results we traditionally achieve. A more strategic approach is required aimed at participation in larger scale projects, as well as playing a larger role in projects generally.

Essentially, the objective is to get some big wins to boost our success rate. Accordingly, I recently introduced an initiative to establish a strategic research proposal group to focus exclusively on large-scale strategic projects. The purpose of this special advisory group will be to catalyse, develop and advise on the successful submission of Horizon 2020 proposals of a major scale, ones beyond the norm. This will include proposals where Ireland can take a leading or major role, taking into account timing, likelihood of success and extent of the fit with national priority areas and strengths. The group will recommend and prioritise any additional commitments, including funding from the State, that might be required to achieve success. By harnessing the expertise across all relevant Departments and agencies we hope to identify and catalyse such winning bids. This new group will be chaired by Professor Mark Ferguson, director general, Science Foundation Ireland, and chief scientific adviser to the Government. The strategic group will be able to feed back into the various levels of the Department as to what resources or personnel are needed. It is all about putting the teams together that can win big for this country in Horizon 2020.

While it is still early days with the results from the first calls under Horizon 2020, there are some encouraging signs that Ireland will continue to be successful in those areas where we have traditionally performed well in previous research framework programmes, such as health, information and communications technology, researcher career development and support for SMEs. For example, research collaborations between Irish SMEs and higher education institutions have secured over €9 million in the first outcomes in the researcher career development area of Horizon 2020 known as the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions, MSCA. Irish research performers have achieved success rates above the EU average, outperforming organisations from France, Italy, Spain and the UK. In one programme, 57% of Irish participants were selected for funding, with one project ranked top in all of Europe. The funding will support research and innovation projects at 18 Irish research performers including nine SMEs, many of which are spin-outs from higher education institutes. It is important to recognise the success and greater involvement of SMEs this time around.

Ireland had the highest success rate in Europe in the first results under the SME instrument with 20% of SMEs who applied being successful. The ten successful SMEs will receive €50,000 each to finance feasibility studies for their projects and may be considered for further financial support from the European Commission worth up to €2.5 million per project. This success is down to greater industry involvement at all levels. We need to get this message out there. Any Members talking to businesses should encourage them to tap into this source of funding.

Horizon 2020 is very different to what has gone before and our level of ambition is far greater. Given the scale of Horizon 2020, the fact that our national research priorities are aligned so closely to it, as well as the calibre of our national research system, I believe we can meet our ambitious target under the programme. The Government is determined to make this happen. The recently announced €245 million investment by the Department in five new, large-scale, world-class research centres is aimed at achieving a step-change in the reputation and performance of Ireland's research system. This builds on the announcement of seven similar centres last year. This involves industry matching €90 million of taxpayers’ money. We are constantly trying to get real bang for our buck. If we are investing taxpayers’ moneys into research centres of excellence, it is key we get industry involvement and matching funding. As we do not have an endless budget, we must target our funding at areas where we have been successful before and in which we have expertise. Building centres of excellence which are internationally recognised as the best will prove successful in winning future funding from Horizon 2020, as well as other programmes.

With these centres, together with the Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland technology centres, Ireland is now well placed to take the lead in developing cutting-edge research and new technologies. These centres will also strongly position Irish-based scientists to win funding from Horizon 2020 and other projects.
Horizon 2020 also represents a significant opportunity for North-South co-operation. Increasing the value of successful applications and funding awards from Horizon 2020 is an important objective not just of the Irish Government but also of the Northern Ireland Executive. Members of the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation were in Stormont recently to discuss this - Senators Mullins and Quinn might have been there. It also followed on from a discussion we had last year when we were there. Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly are really keen to learn from how well we have done with FP7 and to work with us so that they can gain. The whole island can gain when we work together on some initiatives and target certain areas. Enterprise Ireland also wants this to happen. It is key that we build on this and make it a North-South opportunity wherever we can.
The international collaborative nature of Horizon 2020 makes it ideally suited for Ireland and Northern Ireland to work together to mutual benefit. The importance of North-South collaboration is recognised by both Administrations and the alignment of our Horizon 2020 support structures, North and South, means there is now a strong basis on which to improve co-operation. At our recent North-South Ministerial Council meeting, InterTradelreland informed the council that it had produced a strategy document to be signed shortly outlining how we can target coming together and working together on a North-South basis for Horizon 2020.
Ireland's national support network for Horizon 2020 operates on an all-Island basis. The work of InterTradelreland, the North-South trade and business development body, has stimulated a move away from ad hocNorth-South collaboration to a more focused, coherent approach to co-operation that will be mutually beneficial. This work is paying dividends. The number of North-South collaborations has been rising steadily. These collaborations are generating economic value. A total of 89 successful North-South projects mobilised funding valued at over €80 million from the previous EU research programme, FP7. InterTradelreland will build on this success to further increase the level of co-operation for the Horizon 2020 programme. Mr. Patsy McGlone, MLA, and his team on the committee are very eager to make this happen. I urge everybody involved in the various committees to keep that relationship going and work together. As a Minister of State, I am certainly happy to facilitate any meetings when they are down here to keep the agenda going.
InterTradelreland has also developed a suite of supports dedicated to facilitating and supporting North-South co-operation and will continue its integration role with the national support network in Ireland and the newly-established Northern Ireland support structure. In addition, Science Foundation Ireland will work in partnership with agencies in Northern Ireland to promote all-island collaboration with a view to strengthening future Horizon 2020 initiatives.
I assure the Seanad that the Government is very conscious of the significant opportunities under Horizon 2020 and of the challenges ahead to maximize our participation in the programme. We have put in place a national strategy supported by a whole-of-Government approach and it is my priority to ensure that we deliver results. In recent weeks I have had meetings involving all the universities to discuss their plans for Horizon 2020 and to ensure that everyone buys into the targets. That is how important it is. Hopefully in the coming months I will get to visit all the other institutes of education and research centres involved. Our method is to encourage industry at all levels to get involved.
Excellence is rightly the standard by which applications for EU funding are judged. We have shown we can meet this standard of excellence through winning awards of over €620 million under the previous EU research programme. As I have said we have had encouraging results already in 2014 under Horizon 2020, but a sustained effort will be required over the lifetime of the programme. It lasts until 2020 and we have to aim high to win high. We have the track record that demonstrates our ability to compete successfully and I am confident that we will continue our success under Horizon 2020.
This will have a very significant impact on increasing jobs and sustaining our economy for many years as well as finding solutions to problems in processes in health, climate change, energy and other areas affecting people here in Ireland as well as across the globe.
For us, Horizon 2020 is about being able to increase the number of researchers we have, build employment and equip our companies to compete in the future. However, it is also to bring about solutions to societal problems across the board and certainly at a European level. Ireland has a major role to play. It will benefit us all in many ways.
I thank the Senators for facilitating this debate today. I look forward to hearing their comments and responding to them afterwards.