The EU Horizon 2020 programme has a €80 billion budget over seven years to support excellent science, research and innovation in both industry and academia. "It's really important that Irish researchers participate, and are winning funding under this programme," says Science Foundation Ireland director general Prof Mark Ferguson.
“We want to see academic as well as industry researchers submit bids for funding,” he adds. “People think Horizon 2020 is primarily for academia but there is actually more funding in it for industry. Ireland contributes to the overall budget for the programme and we have set a target of getting back more than we put in. The calculation for contributions is quite complex but overall we put in about €900 million and we are hoping to win funding of €1.25 billion over the seven years of the programme.”
He points out that this would represent a record for Ireland. “If you look at the predecessor programme – the seventh framework programme – Ireland won €600 million under it. We are looking to double that performance in what is a very competitive space. Every other country wants to get more back than they put in so we are facing very intense competition.”
According to Ferguson the programme is organised across three pillars – excellent science focused on academic research; industrial research; and societal challenges.
The academic strand is operated through the European Research Council (ERC) and is aimed at bottom-up basic research. "Ireland has traditionally not done very well in this area but, in the past year, we have upped our performance and have moved from near the bottom of the league to above the average in Europe. "
SFI supports research applications in this area in a number of ways, one of which is highly innovative. “Because there is a finite amount of funding available and competition for it is so intense, not all fundable propositions actually get funded,” he explains. “Science Foundation Ireland will fund those projects which don’t get funding for a year or two until they apply again to Horizon 2020. This both encourages people to apply for funding in the first place and makes sure that fundable projects are supported. Also, your chances of getting funding on a second application are eight times higher than the first time.”
The past year was an exceptionally successful one for SFI-supported investigators in terms of ERC awards. The 2014-2015 calls saw three SFI-funded Starting Grant winners, four SFI-funded Consolidator Grant winners and four Proof of Concept grants, totalling €13.1 million. "Ireland now hosts 58 ERC grantees – 20 women and 38 men – with total EU funding worth approximately €97 million."
The second pillar supports industry research in areas of economic impact such as ICT, transport and climate change. "In general, consortia which include academic collaborators but are led by industry apply for funding under this pillar. We have seen some big wins over the past year, including an energy-management project led by Glen Dimplex. "
Renewable energy
The €12 million in funding received by this project is the single largest award to date for a renewable energy project under the programme. The 12-member consortium, RealValue, including several big European energy companies, received the funding to pilot Glen Dimplex's new Quantum energy storage system, a game-changer. Quantum uses storage heaters in people's homes to act effectively as a distributed "battery" for the storage of intermittent renewable energy.
“This illustrates the value of the EU to Ireland,” says Ferguson. “As a small country, we don’t have all the expertise here but programmes such as Horizon 2020 can allow companies like Glen Dimplex to leverage the expertise of collaborators across European as well as give them access to the energy supply companies and regulators in other markets.
"The clear message is that there are great opportunities for companies of all sizes in the programme," he adds. "They can get funding into their firms for research they want to do. Our sister agency, Enterprise Ireland, co-ordinates activity in this area in Ireland and support is available for companies in terms of identifying potential projects as well as in writing the applications. As well as that, the 12 SFI research centres all have EU project managers to support the development of proposals."
The third pillar addresses societal challenges such as aging populations, obesity and climate: “This is where science, industry, the arts, humanities and the social sciences intersect and collaborate to solve major problems facing humanity.” In this area, the SFI-funded Insight Research Centre for Data Analytics is now a key player in the new EU policy discussions for data privacy, the so-called Magna Carta for Data. Likewise, MaREI (Marine Renewable Energy Ireland) Research Centre has been listed in the prestigious European strategy forum for research infrastructures (ESFRI) roadmap as an emerging project. The ESFRI roadmap contains 25 of the major R&D facilities throughout Europe, and Ireland, and MaREI is the only renewable energy project in the roadmap. “As a result, these two Science Foundation Ireland-funded research centres are positioned at the forefront of European scientific research and development.”
Progress towards the ambitious €1.25 billion target has been good so far with recent reports indicating that research and innovation projects with Irish participation had won €251 million in competitive funding from the Horizon 2020 programme. “This is an exceptional achievement and shows how Ireland is performing outstandingly compared to our European neighbours and is well on its way to exceeding the ambitious target . . .
“In my view, there has never been a better time for industry and academic researchers in Ireland to collaborate with EU partners to compete for European R&D funding,” he continues. “But there are a few things we need to do to get even better. We need to do more business as usual, of course, but we also need some things we have never done before. Ireland has never won a €100 million project and that needs to change. It is possible to do this and I am chair of an interdepartmental and interagency group which is supporting industry in identifying projects of this scale. There is a bid in preparation for a €100 million project led from Ireland and we are very hopeful that this will be successful.”
Relevant research
And there are good grounds for hope in this regard. “The other piece of good news for Ireland is the latest EU league table of the most successful organisations in terms of winning EU research funding. Out of 7,000 organisations, Ireland now has four in the top 50 – NUIG, TCD, UCC, and UCD. This is the first time we have ever had an organisation that high and we have four institutions there. That’s just fabulous for Ireland and is a sign of the quality and relevance of the research being carried out in this country. This augurs very well for the country in terms of all three pillars of the Horizon 2020 programme.”
