Ongoing State investment in scientific research is delivering results, Science Foundation Ireland said today.
The numbers of companies undertaking research is on the increase, and academic researchers are winning a reputation for abroad for the quality of their work, according to the foundation.
The foundation's confidence is based on detailed results found in its 2010 annual report released this morning. The results were considered and approved at a board meeting last Monday attended by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, and these were released today by Minister of State for Research Sean Sherlock.
Along with the annual report the foundation also released its Annual Census 2010. The latter scrutinises scientists who have received funding from the foundation and analyses their outputs.
The annual report and the census show Irish scientists are increasingly successful at forming international connections for research. They also show there has been a sharp rise in the numbers of small indigenous companies becoming involved in research activity, stated Dr Graham Love, director of policy and communications at the foundation.
The foundation viewed indigenous company involvement as particularly important, he said. The figures will show collaborative ventures involving Irish companies and third level research academics rose by 44 per cent with 380 collaborations in 2009 rising to 534 in 2010.
The internationalisation of Irish research is apparent in several ways, the report indicates, with a jump in the amount of research funding being sought and won by a academics from non-local sources.
The drawdown from the EU's Framework Programme 7 research budget rose by 63 per cent year on year, Dr Love said. There had also been an increase in "international co-authorships", international papers that have Irish and foreign authors, he added. More than one in three published research papers involving Irish-based scientists also had an international partner.
The number of Irish research papers reaching the journals rose to just under 5,000, a 22 per cent increase on 2009, Dr Love said. Overall Ireland ranks 20th in the world in the citations-based research listings published by Thomson Reuters.