Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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444. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will provide details of the funding provided by his Department and associated agencies for scientific research; the amount of such funding allocated to educational institutions in Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34210/13]

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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The use of scientific research has a crucial role to play in supporting economic recovery and in driving sustainable employment in the current environment. A wide range of programmes are being delivered by the Enterprise Agencies - IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland, to promote research and innovation and give Irish enterprise a competitive edge in the global market place.

For the current year, 2013, the Exchequer allocations from my Department to the agencies under its remit involved in funding research are as follows –

Enterprise Ireland – Subhead B4 – Research and Development is in receipt of €131.7m from my Department, (of which €127m is capital and €4.7m current funding).

Science Foundation Ireland has a budget in 2013 of €162.35m, (of which €152.3m is capital and €10.05m current).

The Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions, aimed at delivering world class research infrastructure, has been allocated €44.34m, (of which €16.7m is capital and €27.6m current funds).

IDA has been allocated €124.32m, (of which €86m is capital and €38.32m current funds).

In addition, my Department provided an allocation of €2.9m capital funding in 2013 to the Tyndall National Institute, based in Cork. This core grant is an essential component in the continued successful operation of the complex research support infrastructure within Tyndall.

It will be my aim to enable the research funding agencies under the remit of my Department to continue to support scientific research and thereby help enterprise to be sustainable and to grow and provide jobs in this country for Ireland’s workforce.

Science Foundation Ireland Funding Allocated to Educational Institutes in Cork

With regard to the amount of funding allocated to educational institutions in Cork, currently there are 118 live SFI supported grants being led by Cork based institutions spanning University College Cork, the Tyndall National Institute, Cork IT and Teagasc, Moorepark, Co Cork. The total awards value of these awards is €172 million of which existing commitments amounting to €92 million remains over the period to 2019. It is also important to note that the Cork based institutions are partners in numerous other live SFI research awards which are being led by institutions elsewhere in the country.

Discover Science & Engineering Funding

In March 2012, responsibility for the Discover Science and Engineering Programme (DSE) transferred from Forfas to SFI. The DSE programme seeks to promote the awareness and engagement of the Irish public with science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) among students, teachers and members of the public. Funding for the DSE programme through SFI in 2013 amounts to approximately €1.6 million. This supports hundreds of events and exhibitions held nationally involving many thousands of schools, institutions, teachers and students. It is not possible to provide a breakdown of funding on a county basis given the nature of the DSE programme supports which also includes contributions from various partners. However, examples of some of the DSE activity of direct relevance to Cork this year are as follows:

- Cork Electronics Industry Association (CEIA) was selected to manage and run an Irish national CanSat competition in 2013. Coláiste an Phiarsaigh, Glanmire Co Cork was the winning school.

- Cork IT hosted one of the ‘SciFest’ science fairs in 2013. Scifest is a series of one-day science fairs hosted nationwide by the Institutes of Technology.

- “Engineering your Future”, a week-long, hands-on programme for Transition Year students, which is designed to introduce them to the exciting and diverse world of engineering, included a session in Cork IT, attended by 40 students.

- 78 schools in Cork achieved an Award of Science and Maths Excellence in 2012/2013 school year.

- Further details regarding the annual expenditure per programme and per institution can be found on SFIs website at www.sfi.ie.

The Programme for Research in Third-level Institutions

The Programme for Research in Third-level Institutions (PRTLI) funding operates in various cycles, with Cycle 1 commencing in 1998 and the latest, Cycle 5 awards, being announced in July 2010. PRTLI funding is a mixture of exchequer and private funding. A list of the Cycles 4 and 5 PRTLI project awards which are led by Cork based institutions is outlined in the tables below. It is important to note that the Cork institutions would also be partners to many other PRTLI projects which are being led by other institutions nationally. Further details can be found at www.hea.ie.

Table 1: List of PRTLI Cycle 4 Projects and Programmes which are led by higher education institutions in Co. Cork

Table 2: List of PRTLI Cycle 5 Projects and Programmes which are led by higher education institutions in Co. Cork

Enterprise Ireland

A list of payments by Enterprise Ireland to Cork based educational institutions in 2011 and 2012 (latest full year data available) is outlined in the table below. These payments relate to programmes and activities such as Innovation Vouchers, Commercialisation Fund, Innovation Partnerships, New Frontiers Programme, International Collaboration and Technology Centres.

Table 3: List of EI Payments to Cork based educational institutions

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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445. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the measures being taken to align funding for scientific research with industry and enterprise needs, job opportunities and societal goals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34211/13]

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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In February 2012, the Government agreed to the implementation of the recommendations in the Report of the Research Prioritisation Steering Group as a whole of Government policy goal. The report recommended the alignment of the majority share of competitive State funding in research and innovation for the next five years with the 14 areas of opportunity identified by the Steering Group. The areas, which include sectors such as food, health, ICT, manufacturing, energy, and innovation in services and business processes, were identified on the basis of existing strengths of the enterprise base, opportunities that exist in terms of the global marketplace and those which are most likely to deliver economic and societal impact, and jobs.

Following publication of the report in March 2012, the Prioritisation Action Group (PAG) was established, under my chairmanship, to drive implementation of research prioritisation, and it includes representatives of all research funders and relevant Government Departments. A number of working groups were then established by the PAG and charged with developing Action Plans for each of the Priority Areas. Each Action Plan was validated through a process of external stakeholder engagement which involved researchers and industry in the relevant areas and publication of the Action Plans was recently approved by Government. The Action Plans represent the detailed blueprint for actions to be taken by funding Departments and funding agencies to re-align the majority of competitive public research funding around the priority areas over the next five years.

A Framework of Metrics and Targets for Monitoring the Impact of Science Technology and Innovation (STI) Investment has also been approved for publication. The Framework of metrics and targets will firstly monitor the impact of public STI investment, and, secondly, monitor the impact of the implementation of Research Prioritisation on the 14 Priority Areas. The purpose of setting these targets is twofold; to stretch the public enterprise support system in order to maximise the impact of public investment in R&D; and to assess the success over time of the implementation of Research Prioritisation.

Implementation of Research Prioritisation is very much the Government’s priority STI goal and a key pillar of the Action Plan for Jobs 2013 is ‘Using Research and Innovation to Drive Job Creation’. Building on success to date, I am looking forward to continued implementation of the Research Prioritisation exercise, as we seek to enhance the effect and impact of our research investment in order to deliver high quality, sustainable jobs.