Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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34. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which he expects Irish industry to continue to remain competitive on European and world markets, with particular reference to the use of innovation and technology as a means of maximising opportunities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37938/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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A key objective of the Action Plan for Jobs process, which this Government commenced in 2012, was to rebuild our economy based on enterprise and entrepreneurship, talent, innovation and exports and provide a solid foundation for future growth. Irish industry has to been to the forefront of the economic recovery, with our enterprises and entrepreneurs innovating, developing and improving their products and services to meet the needs of customers in markets across the globe. I have witnessed this hard work and success first-hand, having led 29 overseas trade and investment missions since my appointment as Minister of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. Enterprise Ireland client exports reached a new record in 2014 of €18.6 billion, an increase of 22% over the last three years, with an additional 16,420 directly employed in EI firms over the period. I am confident that we have the potential to sustain this rate of progress over the coming years.The recovery in jobs and exports to date is in large part due to the considerable improvements in the business environment for enterprise, and in particular in the reforms we have undertaken in how we provide support to Irish enterprise and how we embed a culture of innovation and technological leadership in our enterprise base.

My Department will support over 60,000 gross new jobs next year. Enterprise Ireland will continue to target significant results in 2016, building on the impressive job creation and export achievement of its clients in 2015, by aiming to support over 13,000 new jobs and increase client exports to some €22bn in line with the Enterprise Ireland Strategy 2014-2016. The target for the LEOs is to support the creation of over 4,000 additional jobs in 2016.

Enterprise Ireland’s capital allocation will enable it to continue to support the development of the innovation and technological capacity of Irish industry. EI will provide management development programmes targeting the participation of over 1,000 individuals. EI will also support 100 Innovative High Potential start Up Companies in 2016 across a range of sectors including life sciences, ICT and food and continue the development the technology transfer in Ireland with a view to creation of around 30 new spinout companies and delivering over 120 new pieces of commercially relevant technology for industry. EI will also issue six Competitive Start Fund calls with a target of financially supporting 85 innovative entrepreneurs across a number of sectors and will fund over 100 in-company R&D projects for client companies that are valued in excess €100,000. EI will work to support companies and academics to win over €150 million in research funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme. More generally, EI will support almost 500 Innovation Vouchers enabling small businesses purchase innovation expertise from a third level institute and will further support the 13 existing Technology Centres, which are research centres of scale that deliver research solutions for sectors of companies.

Similarly, SFI will continue to fund the 12 SFI Research Centres, which represent an investment of €355m from the government and €190m from 200+ industry partners, both MNCs and SMEs. In 2016, SFI will support up to 10 new Spokes awards, 8 new Strategic partnerships and 50 Industry Fellowships. These programmes engage industry in collaborative research projects and leverage industry funding, both cash and in-kind.

While progress has been made, this Government is not complacent about the challenge of building the innovation performance of Irish industry base. As part of the 2015 Action Plan for Jobs we commenced the process of developing a new Strategy for Science Technology and Innovation which I will be bringing to Government over the coming weeks with stretch targets for the next five years.