Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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608. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when the new Innovate for Ireland scheme will be open for applicants; if he will clarify the criteria potential applicants will need to meet in order to be eligible for the scheme. [51833/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Taoiseach and I recently launched Innovate for Ireland, which is a new partnership between industry and the Government to recruit and retain research talent to Ireland.

Innovate for Ireland should commence in 2023 and the initial phase will seek to attract up to 400 high calibre PhD students to undertake research in Ireland that tackles national and global grand challenges such as climate change and climate adaptation; global health and pandemics; water poverty; digital society; and cyber-security.

The programme will embrace all relevant disciplines from Science, Technology and Engineering to Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. It will also support excellent curiosity-driven research. This programme aligns with my Department's Strategy Statement 2021-2023 and also the strategic goals of the Government’s R&I Strategy, Impact 2030.

The programme will include dimensions of training in innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership. Relationships will also be formed between the students and the company sponsors.

The initiative will be open to Irish and international students.

The next step in implementing this proposal will be the development of a robust governance and financial management framework, following which a competitive funding call should be initiated.

Work has been undertaken by my Department, the Higher Education Authority, Irish Research Council, Science Foundation Ireland, Health Research Board and private sponsors on devising a possible call framework.

Officials from my Department will also be working with relevant Departments across Government on the implementation of the programme.