Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 535: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation if he will report on the implementation of the report of the task force on innovation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32340/10]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 536: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation if he will outline the progress made to date regarding the implementation of the report of the task force on innovation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32321/10]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 535 and 536 together.

The Report of the Innovation Task Force (ITF) provides a road map for positioning Ireland as an international innovation development hub. The report contains many new ideas, as well as calling for a reinforcement and better alignment of existing efforts and programmes. In May the Taoiseach asked me to chair the High Level Implementation Committee, comprising distinguished private sector members along with Secretaries General of key Government Departments, to oversee implementation of the ITF Report.

I have chaired two meetings of the Implementation Committee to date. Our inaugural meeting on 1 June enabled the Committee to ascertain those issues where it could move immediately to implementation, where it needed, in the first instance, to constitute and deploy expert working groups as specified by the ITF and where close engagement with agencies and other Government Departments to progress implementation was necessary. An immediate development following from this meeting was my appointment of an Intellectual Property Implementation Group charged with developing and realising the intellectual property (IP) related recommendations of the ITF Report and a detailed IP review conducted by Forfás for my Department. The development of a clear IP Protocol will help Ireland maximise the return on public investment and support the commercialisation of Irish research and development.

At our second meeting on 20 July, I briefed Committee members on the significant progress that had been made in implementing key recommendations in the ITF report, namely:

· The €500 million Innovation Fund-Ireland, which had been announced by the Taoiseach on 12 July, will target the development of a vibrant venture capital community in Ireland through attracting top international venture capitalists.

· With the Taoiseach, I had launched Cycle 5 of PRTLI on 16 July, a €296m investment supporting third level research and leveraging €63m private investment.

· The very positive outcome of my discussions with the Minister for Finance with regard to identifying and securing provision for a number of ITF recommendations in the Capital Envelopes to 2016. These provisions, which were subsequently published, will enable my Department and its agencies to support innovative companies, grow high performance start up companies, provide more venture capital and develop a portfolio of sector specific Angel Funds and increase Enterprise Ireland supports for commercialisation. They will also enable the retention of a strategic mass of world class researchers who act as a pull factor for foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ireland.

Secretaries Generals of Government Departments and Chief Executives of agencies provided detailed updates on the implementation of recommendations for which their organisations has lead responsibility. In the light of these detailed reports, the Committee agreed nineteen priority recommendations for implementation.

The Committee will next meet on 21 October when its focus will be on reviewing progress on initiatives commenced and considering how to progress priority areas where significant action has yet to be set in train.