Scientific research sector gets €245m boost

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and the discovery of untapped mineral and energy wealth are just a few of the projects to flow from a massive €245 million investment in research announced by the Government.

The mix of State and private funds will be used to create five world-class research centres to be based in Irish universities, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton said yesterday at a launch event in Dublin. The centres would become “game-changers” for Irish scientific research, he said.

Science Foundation Ireland will channel €155 million into the five centres, while private sector company partners would provide a combined €90 million in cash and in-kind contributions, said Prof Mark Ferguson, the director general of the foundation.

The investment would directly support 700 research positions in the five centres, with two for Trinity College Dublin and one each for NUI Galway, University College Dublin and the University of Limerick. Each of these centres will also include participation by other third-level institutions.

There are dozens of company partners ranging from the largest multinationals based here to Irish small to medium enterprises.

These firms will participate directly with the research centres and be able to enter into agreements with the academic researchers.

The connection between the scientists and companies was central to the approach taken by the foundation, said Mr Bruton. It would help research partnerships arising from the State investment to leverage additional funds from EU sources, including the Horizon 2020 science budget, he added.

The two Trinity centres are Adapt, specialising in commercially based communications, and Connect, looking at future networks. Cúram is the centre for research in medical devices and will be hosted by NUI Galway.

Software research

University College Dublin will be the lead third-level institution for iCrag, the centre for research in applied geosciences. And Lero at University of Limerick is an existing centre that specialises in software research.

These centres were selected from a wider group of proposals that underwent intensive peer review both for their scientific content but also their potential to deliver either societal or commercial impact, Prof Ferguson said.

The foundation had set tough targets for the five centres, for example drawing down €120 million in EU funding over the next six years, the creation of 38 spin-out companies, publication of 1,800 research papers in leading journals and the graduation of 350 PhD researchers, Prof Ferguson added.