THE GOVERNMENT will allocate €773 million in support of scientific research over the next two years.
Announcing the move yesterday, Minister of State for Science, Technology and Innovation Conor Lenihan said the sum would be delivered during 2011-12, with the money channelled through the main funding bodies.
These include Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI), Enterprise Ireland’s science and technology programmes and the money available in support of co-operative research undertaken by IDA Ireland’s client companies.
The spend is expected to help boost Ireland’s research investment as a proportion of GDP to 1.9-2 per cent, Mr Lenihan said. This would push it above the EU 27 average of about 1.85 per cent. The current figure for Ireland is about 1.6 per cent, but the overall goal of the Government and EU is to achieve a 3 per cent level by 2020.
“Support for science, technology and innovation activities is central to enterprise policy and by extension efforts to secure a return to economic growth,” Mr Lenihan said, speaking from Athens where he was meeting with the Greek education and science minister Anna Diamantopoulou.
An additional €30 million in funding has been approved to offset some of the cuts in the science budget in the past two years, Mr Lenihan added.
The spending details for the €2.4 billion available for science over the seven years to 2016 announced under the Government’s capital investment programme have also emerged.
Of the €2.4 billion, SFI will handle €1.162 billion. It is also being given a top-up payment in 2011 that will partially offset cuts applied to the 2010 budget.
These cutbacks have made it almost impossible for SFI to support new research projects.
Enterprise Ireland will handle €996 million for its efforts to boost research activity in indigenous small to medium enterprises. It too will receive a top-up to offset cuts seen in its 2010 budget.
The PRTLI Cycle 5, which recently announced funding worth €358 million over the coming years, will spend €216 million of this up to 2016. The cycle funding is a 14 per cent advance on the allocation for PRTLI Cycle 4, Mr Lenihan said.
The Tyndall National Institute would receive €21 million in the years to 2016 and a separate €6 million will be provided for the development of a new international energy research centre, he said.
This funding would support jobs and wealth creation, Mr Lenihan continued. Nine new industry-led “competency centres” would be created during the period to 2016 and there would be a 30 per cent increase in the number of firms undertaking research and development activities worth over €2 million.
It was also expected that up to 75 new high-potential start-up companies would be identified this year, rising to 100 companies by 2016.