Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Question 19: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the overseer in place to monitor the success of the commercialisation fund; the return to the State on that investment; the number of projects funded under the commercialisation fund and its forerunner to date; the number of said projects which have been converted to start-ups; the number of licences which have been agreed; and the evidence which exists of the commercial benefit of the fund. [31654/06]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Commercialisation Fund, established in 2003, is operated by Enterprise Ireland. In the first instance, the Board of the agency is responsible for decisions on grants awarded and for monitoring the success of the Fund.

The number of project approvals under the Fund were 73 in 2003, 92 in 2004 and 141 in 2005. The corresponding funding approved was €14.6m, €14.8m and €22.5m, respectively, for each of the three years.

The Commercialisation Fund is based on a competitive call for proposals and supports research projects which are intended to develop products with commercial value to a point where they can be taken up by companies. Since 2003, participation of research groups in the programme has expanded consistently, from five Universities in 2003 to sixteen institutions in 2005, including many Institutes of Technology and some hospital-based researchers. Each project supports 3-5 research associates who are trained in relevant techniques and many of whom subsequently move into industry.

Each project supported by the Fund takes between 2 and 3 years to complete, and it is therefore difficult at this stage to draw definitive conclusions as regards impacts. The outcomes of the fund will be monitored by the new Technology Ireland structure which my Department is putting in place to implement the enterprise-related aspects of the Government's new Strategy on Science Technology and Innovation.

Prior to the establishment of the Commercialisation Fund, Enterprise Ireland supported 3rd level based research which, while not directly comparable and less clearly focussed on commercialisation, had the potential to lead to similar impacts. The impact of these earlier research projects in the period since 2003 amounts to approximately 60 licences and 22 spin off companies.