Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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3315. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of companies, and from what sector, collaborating with Research Ireland's activities or other State supported research initiatives in 2024; if the proportion of SMEs can be identified; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40765/25]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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207 multinational corporations and 190 small and medium enterprises (SME) collaborated contractually with Taighde Éireann - Research Ireland and its funded researchers in 2024. SMEs accounting for almost 48% of the total.

Funded researchers also collaborated with 87 non-profit organisations on a contractual basis, and more broadly, collaboration on a non-contractual basis with more than 600 MNCs and 600 SMEs.

Taighde Éireann - Research Ireland was established in August 2024, bringing together the former Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and Irish Research Council (IRC). The field of research related to companies collaborating with SFI in the first half of 2024 is detailed in the table below. However, the reporting mechanism does not provide the option to break down these figures by economic sector. The IRC reported €47.7m of investment in the same period to November 2024, when the IRC was dissolved). No breakdown of economic sector is available.

In terms of supports for enterprise and SMEs in particular, a wide range of the activities and resources of my department are devoted to ensuring that we have the skills we need to develop upon our international standing as a competitive knowledge economy, with a focus on facilitating all of our talented young people to achieve their full potential, and harnessing research and innovation to drive sustainable economic development and to address major national issues like competitiveness, climate action and the digital transformation.

My Department works with colleagues across government on actions which support enterprise as part of Ireland’s Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3), Digital for Good: Ireland’s Digital Inclusion Roadmap; Here for Good - Ireland’s Refreshed AI Strategy, and Regional Enterprise Planning, particularly around future skills needs and regional development.

The Impact 2030 Strategy outlines a vision of Ireland where enterprise, particularly SMEs, can start, succeed and transform through innovation, knowledge exchange, research commercialisation and access to highly skilled people. This is made possible by our agile and robust research and innovation ecosystem, where research and innovation makes a real and positive impact across society, our economy, and the environment, both nationally and internationally. Our research talent pipeline is crucial to this endeavour.

The Research Ireland ARC Hubs programmes drive regional development by accelerating novel, cutting-edge research towards commercial impact readiness, in areas aligned with Ireland’s Smart Specialisation Strategy for Innovation 2022-2027 (S3) and respective regional strategic priorities.

Through significant government investment (€700M) and collaboration with the public research system, Taighde Éireann - Research Ireland has developed a world-class network of 15 Research Ireland Centres. signing over 1,700 Industry collaborative research agreements across 880 companies.

Firms collaborating with Research Ireland Centres have experienced a significant increase in overall in-house R&D intensity. Firms in high-tech manufacturing and knowledge-intensive services sectors have seen the most significant benefits.

The Research Ireland Centres for Research Training Programmes (CRTs) are cohort-based PhD programmes that nurture and develop highest-level skills and promote excellence in research and education, adhering to best practice guidelines in doctoral education. The CRT programme was launched in 2019 with an investment of €100 million, under the theme of Data and ICT skills for the future. Research Ireland currently funds six CRTs across the country in the areas of AI, data science, genomics, machine learning, digitally enhanced reality and advanced networks for sustainable societies.

Research Ireland’s Strategic Partnership Programme is a flexible mechanism for academic researchers to build strategic collaborations with key co-funding stakeholders such as industry, other funding agencies and charities. The co-funding partner(s) must commit to providing a minimum of 50% of the project costs. An objective is to transfer technology, through licences, to SMEs. The programme allows SME companies to co-fund research projects of relevance to their business.

The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment through their aegis bodies fund research talent development programmes specifically designed to complement the work of my Department, Taighde Eireann - Research Ireland and the HEA, in building a strong, diverse pipeline of talented researchers equipped to tackle our national and global challenges. Enterprise Ireland programmes such as its Work Ready Graduate Training Programme, Sustain-FIT which is co-funded by Enterprise Ireland and the European Union (under Horizon) and Enterprise Ireland PhD Start. My Department does not hold numbers on these programmes.