Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 668: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the status of his Department's consideration of the applications for the national institute for bioprocessing research and training; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24271/05]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

On 23 July 2004, IDA Ireland, through a series of newspaper advertisements, invited proposals from collaborative groups of academic institutions to undertake the establishment of the national institute for bioprocessing research and training in Ireland. Proposals were received from three consortia and a panel of international experts reviewed the quality, value and impact of the proposed activity on 15 November 2004. The winning proposal, which was submitted by a consortium of three leading Irish colleges, UCD, TCD and Sligo IT, later augmented by the addition of DCU, was eventually approved by the board of IDA Ireland. It was then submitted to Government where it was formally approved on 31 August 2005.

NIBRT will be based at the UCD Industry Park in Dublin and will have three primary functions: training and education in bioprocessing; research in bioprocessing technologies; and scale up capability to service the research, training, education and services needs of its stakeholders. It will be an independent national institute owned by the collaborating colleges and run by an independent board. It will receive more than €72 million in funding from the IDA over the next seven years.

The industrially focused institute, which will be only one of a small number of its kind in the world, will be a centre of excellence in bioprocessing and biomanufacturing technology training and research to support the rapidly growing biopharmaceutical industry in Ireland. A key element will be the substantial investment in a scale-up capability within which the training and research can take place. This relatively unique capability will make the training and research carried out at the institute highly relevant to the needs of the biopharmaceutical industry in Ireland and throughout the world.

It will build in Ireland a world class research platform in bioprocessing technologies and state of the art training for the growing industry, which is constrained globally by skills shortages and technology challenges. This will lead to a substantial rise in the output of people from across the spectrum of bioprocessing skills, from technicians to PhDs, all qualified in industry best practices. Significant collaborative research between academia and industry will also address the major technology issues of the bioprocessing industry.

The institute has the full backing of industry in Ireland and raises the bar for collaboration projects between industry and academia in Ireland. Coupled with the already strong base of biopharmaceutical companies in Ireland it will give us a further competitive edge in attracting more investment to Ireland from major multinational companies.