SCIENTISTS IN the Republic are winning research support worth about €1 million a week from the European Union’s research fund.
Irish applicants have so far received €152 million in funding over the past three years.
Details of the Republic’s performance in drawing funds from the EU’s current research budget, Framework Programme 7 (FP7), were announced yesterday by Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation Conor Lenihan.
The FP7 budget runs through 2013 and has €50 billion available to support research activity across the EU.
Interest in the fund from scientists based here has increased over the past year given reductions in the Government’s overall research budget.
Enterprise Ireland has also been trying to encourage more Irish applications for FP7 support. It does so via the FP7 National Support Office (www.fp7ireland.com), which has a national director and provides services to make it easier to apply for funding.
The framework programme got under way in 2007 and between then and October 2009 there were 2,322 Irish-based academic and private sector funding applications for the scheme. Of these, 546 were successful, acquiring a combined €152 million in support.
This success rate, at 23.5 per cent, was just ahead of the EU average of 21.7 per cent, Mr Lenihan pointed out.
He said he was “particularly pleased” with the the high level of interest shown by academic and industry researchers.
“The new ideas and innovations generated from these research collaborations will help create new high-quality jobs,” he said.
Enterprise Ireland has set a target of winning framework programme support worth €600 million before the scheme comes to an end in 2013. Of the total granted so far, the higher eduction sector received about 57 per cent or €88 million of the total won from FP7, according to figures provided by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
Industry, mostly small to medium enterprises, claimed another 25 per cent or €38.7 million. Public bodies with a research remit accounted for another 17 per cent of the total, about €25 million.