Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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291. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which the knowledge development box continues to be an asset in securing investment in jobs here; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50853/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Both Enterprise 2025 - Ireland's National Enterprise Policy, and Innovation 2020 - Ireland's national strategy for research and development, science and technology emphasise that increasing our people's standard of living requires Ireland to have a strong, innovative and internationally competitive enterprise base which grows employment, sales and exports. A key factor in achieving this is to ensure we have a coherent innovation ecosystem which is responsive to emerging opportunities and leads to the creation and application of knowledge. An internationally competitive research system that acts as a magnet and catalyst for talent and industry will also help the development of a world renowned pool of talent in Ireland’s public research system and in industry. In the context of an intensely competitive international environment, this helps Ireland remain attractive to investment from both domestic and foreign owned growth businesses.

The Knowledge Development Box (KDB), introduced in Budget 2016 forms part of Ireland’s competitive offering to continue to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and to support Irish owned companies to innovate and to compete effectively on international markets. The relief was adapted by the introduction of a new certification scheme via the Knowledge Development Box (Certification of Inventions) Act 2017, which eases the qualification process for smaller companies.

The KDB provides an effective 6.25% rate of corporation tax on profits from certain qualifying assets that are earned by a company, chargeable to corporation tax in the State, to the extent that the assets relate to Research and Development (R&D) undertaken by that company. Ireland’s KDB effective rate is internationally competitive.

The KDB complements the existing suite of initiatives and supports available to companies that undertake R&D activities in Ireland across the lifecycle of research and development. These include R&D tax credits, RD&I grant supports, support for technology acquisition (S291A), significant state investments in National Research Centres / knowledge transfer infrastructures, and advisory supports for accessing Horizon 2020 funding. Taken together, these provide a competitive proposition for business investment.

As a key part of Ireland's competitive offering as a location of choice from which to do business, the KDB has helped secure investment since its introduction in 2016 and continues to stimulate further investment in R&D activities by both Irish and foreign owned enterprises resulting in a more resilient and sustainable economy.