Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department is acutely aware of the importance of innovation in the performance of Irish based firms and their capacity for growth, exports and job creation as reflected in the Enterprise Policy White Paper. Companies which invest in RD&I often achieve greater levels of growth, drive societal benefits, and produce solutions to global challenges such as climate change, sustainability, and digital transformation.

Over 25 years, Ireland has gone from a base of 800 RD&I active firms with a research spend of €300 million to almost 1,800 RD&I active enterprises spending of €3.88 billion in 2021. Enterprises in Ireland reported a 19% increase in research and development (R&D) expenditure to €3.88 billion in 2021, compared to €3.26 billion in 2019. Labour costs accounted for the largest proportion of R&D expenditure, rising to €2.05 billion in 2021 from €1.7 billion in 2019. This reflected a growth in employment of R&D staff to 32,961 in 2021 from 27,755 in 2019.

Irish-owned enterprises reported a 22% increase in R&D spend between 2019 and 2021, up from €963 million to €1.18 billion. In 2021, there were 32,961 persons engaged in R&D in Ireland. Of this total, 50.8%, or 16,739 persons, were employed as researchers, of which 2,491 were PhD qualified researchers. In addition, there were 8,690 (26.4%) technicians and 7,532 (22.9%) support staff.

The number of R&D personnel engaged in small enterprises in 2021 was 9,338, accounting for 28.3% of all R&D personnel. Medium enterprises had 8,659 (26.3%) persons engaged, compared with 14,964 persons or 45.4% of R&D personnel engaged in large enterprises.

Enterprise Ireland (EI) plays a particularly important role in supporting indigenous job creation in Ireland. In 2022, EI created 19,660 new jobs, growing net employment by 5%. Support for innovation and technology through investment in RD&I played a crucial role in delivering this result. To this end, EI’s RD&I programme budget of over €136 million for 2023 is being utilised to fund the full suite of RDI activities which includes: the direct R&D Grants and Equity; and collaborative measures such as Innovation Vouchers, Innovation Partnerships and commercialisation of research.

This year, my Department supported the establishment of four new European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) with an allocation of €27 million until 2026. The hubs have been designated by the European Commission as part of a European wide network to act as one-stop-shops for SMEs to strengthen their digital capabilities. All four hubs are now operational and are an important initiative in the Government’s objective to drive digitalisation within Irish SMEs and also broader society.

To support my Department’s Smart Specialisation Strategy for Innovation 2022-2027, additional funding of €117m over the period to 2027 has been secured by my Department from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for the delivery of three innovation programmes through Enterprise Ireland:

1 Knowledge Transfer Boost programme – which aims to bridge the knowledge transfer gap between industry and academia by funding Tech Transfer specialists in the university system across Ireland.

2 Technology Gateways programme – which launched earlier this year has funded 17 Tech Gateways in each Technological University (TU)

3 Innovators’ Initiative programme – which aims to build on existing international and national best practice in immersive-based, needs-led innovation training programmes connecting with industry sector clusters in a particular region.

My announcement this month of the 48 successful projects awarded funding of €16.5 million under the EI Capital Equipment Call to our Technology Centres and Technology Gateways also demonstrates this Government’s ongoing commitment to providing the infrastructure needed to drive innovation and collaboration between industry and academia. This new state-of the-art equipment across the network will help companies become more competitive and resilient and will address important needs within all sectors which should have a positive impact on job retention and creation.

Other supports available through my Department and Enterprise Ireland, include the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF), which is a €500 million challenge-based fund established under Project Ireland 2040 and set up under the National Development Plan (NDP) 2018-2027 for investment in the development and deployment of disruptive technologies and applications on a commercial basis. To date, €306 million has been approved for 91 collaborative projects under the first five Calls of the Fund, and I expect to be able to announce the results of DTIF Call 6 shortly. The projects emerging from Government investment through this Fund align with our Enterprise White Paper objective to step up enterprise innovation and will help to provide valuable high-quality employment opportunities for graduates emerging from our higher education institutions.