James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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128. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if her Department has carried out an analysis of the impact of SME research supports developed in institutes of technology with aid from Enterprise Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39173/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Enterprise Ireland (EI) funds small industry facing “gateways” in Institutes of Technology (IOT), aimed at providing technology solutions for companies in a particular sector and, where possible, within a region. 

Up to €23 million will be invested in the Enterprise Ireland Technology Gateways Programme between 2013 – 2017 in order to leverage the capabilities of the Institutes of Technology on behalf of industry in Ireland. Currently there is a network of 15 Gateways based in 11 different IoTs providing open access to industry.

The Technology Gateways provide the Institutes of Technology with dedicated resources which work with industry to articulate their problems in a manner that can be addressed by the Institute’s research base. The individual Gateways target industry sectors relevant to the Institutes of Technology’s core research capability. The role of the Gateway staff is to manage the interaction between the companies and the Institute, help the companies source funding where necessary, and ensure projects are delivered successfully.

An independent evaluation was carried out in 2016 on the Technology Gateway Programme and it found that the programme has helped businesses to secure an extra €59m turnover, equivalent to €5.07 for each €1.00 of Enterprise Ireland investment. By 2018, the Programme will have helped businesses to secure an extra €279m of turnover, equivalent to €15.42 for each €1.00 of Enterprise Ireland investment.

The evaluation also found that the Programme has been very successful in engaging industry, with some Gateways reporting over 100 companies now working with them. From a company perspective levels of satisfaction were high overall, with the majority of interviewed companies (75%) describing their engagement as “very satisfied” and 20% as “satisfied”; and 95% of companies indicating they would recommend the Gateway to another company in Ireland.

In addition, a wide range of benefits were cited by companies.  These included:

- improved technological knowledge and an increase in the overall value of the company

- an improvement in businesses abilities with most companies developing a culture of innovation

- access to further capital to develop their business, cited by over one third (39%) of companies

- development of new products, cited by 63% of the companies

The evaluation found that almost 20% of companies reported that they could not have grown or would not have survived without the support of the Gateway.