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Minister for Research and Innovation, Seán Sherlock, TD, today (Friday) welcomed the publication of the First Progress Report on implementation of the National Research Prioritisation Exercise which is Ireland’s Research and Innovation Smart Specialisation Strategy. Publication of this Report coincides with Ireland engaging this week in the peer review process of our Research and Innovation Smart Specialisation Strategy through participation in a peer-review workshop being held in Farmleigh House in Dublin.

This first Progress Report reflects progress made in implementation of Action Plans for the 14 Priority Areas, updates on achievements of certain targets set by Government last year to measure the impact of science, technology and innovation investment and progress in implementation of the 13 Systemic Recommendations designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the science, technology and innovation system, in order to support the implementation of prioritisation.

Key highlights of implementation include:

· Seven large scale SFI Research Centres and 15 Enterprise Ireland / IDA Ireland Technology Centres aligned with the 14 Priority Areas;

· Establishment of the central Technology Transfer Office known as ‘Knowledge Transfer Ireland (KTI)’ to showcase the wealth of technology opportunities and academic talent that exists in Research Performing Organisations;

· Determining enterprise research needs across the 14 Priority Areas on the basis of input from all research funders in the system and through feedback from industry;

· Enhanced coordination and cooperation between State agencies and Government departments funding research shown by a range of inter-agency collaborative initiatives;

· 93% of Teagasc’s funded projects in 2013 are aligned to two of the Priority Areas, namely, Sustainable Food Production and Processing and Food for Health;

· A steady increase in the supply of mainstream science and technology graduates e.g. the higher education system is on course to achieve a doubling in the numbers of ICT level 8 graduates two years ahead of the schedule set out in the National ICT Action Plan.

Minister Sherlock said, “The key objective of Research Prioritisation is to turn good ideas into good jobs. This is achieved by maximising the impact of Government investment in the research and innovation landscape. Researchers are now collaborating more with SMEs, industry and start-ups in new areas of opportunity.

“This Report sets out the excellent progress which has been made to date, with a very strong completion rate of relevant actions, and I am confident that we can retain the impressive pace which has been in evidence in implementing Research Prioritisation. Over a horizon spanning to 2017, we will continue to drive this important agenda – keeping research centre- stage in our economic strategy and maximising opportunities for job creation.”

ENDS

Link to the report:

Notes for the Editors

First Progress Report on implementation of Research Prioritisation

This is the first Progress Report on the implementation of Research Prioritisation and it details progress made since the publication of the Report of the Research Prioritisation Steering Group in March 2012 and following the adoption by Government in July 2013 of the 14 Action Plans and the Framework of Metrics and Targets. It was assembled by Forfás and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, with contributions from Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine, Department of Environment, Community and Local Government, Department of Health, Enterprise Ireland, Environmental Protection Agency, Health Research Board, Higher Education Authority, IDA Ireland, Irish Research Council, Marine Institute, Science Foundation Ireland, Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and Teagasc.

The Report presents cumulative progress of the National Research Prioritisation Exercise (NRPE) from its inception up to the end of Quarter 1 2014. Section 1 provides an introduction to the Report, while Section 2 presents an overview of the Action Plans for each of the 14 Priority Areas in terms of the timeline and key actors responsible for implementation. Section 3 presents a high-level statistical overview of progress to the end of Quarter 1 2014, while Section 4 presents a more detailed breakdown of progress for each Priority Area. Section 5 summarises important contributions to ‘Research for Knowledge and Research for Policy’ over the period and Section 6 presents each of the thirteen Systemic Recommendations from the Report and outlines progress across the relevant State Agencies and Government Departments. Section 7 outlines developments in relation to Education and Skills while the Appendix presents updates on the Framework of Metrics and Targets for Monitoring Public Investment in STI (published in July 2013), where available.

There is a very strong rate of completion of relevant actions and of the 186 actions with key milestones up to the end of Q1 2014, 150 are completed or substantial progress has been recorded. In relation to updates on the Framework of Metrics and Targets for monitoring Public Investment in STI (in the Appendix), the metrics are derived from a number of surveys, some of which are repeated on a biennial, or less frequent, basis. One of the most important aspects of the NRPE, albeit one of the less tangible ones, has been the enhanced coordination and cooperation it has engendered between the State Agencies and Government Departments funding research.

The National Research Prioritisation Exercise

The report of the Research Prioritisation Steering Group recommended 14 areas of opportunity as well as underpinning technologies and infrastructure to support these priority areas which should receive the majority of competitive public investment in STI over the coming 5 years. The areas were identified on the basis of existing strengths of the public research system, existing strengths of the enterprise base, opportunities that exist in terms of the global marketplace and those which are most likely to deliver economic and societal impact, and of course jobs. The report also recommended a number of measures (13 Systemic Recommendations) which were required to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the STI system in order to support the implementation of prioritisation. The Government agreed to the adoption of the report’s recommendations as a whole of Government policy goal and the future alignment of the majority of public STI investment with these 14 areas of opportunity.

The 14 Priority Areas are as follows: Recommended Priority Areas of Focus

A Future Networks & Communications H Food for Health

B Data Analytics Management, Security & Privacy I Sustainable Food Production and Processing

C Digital Platforms, Content & Applications J Marine Renewable Energy

D Connected Health & Independent Living K Smart Grids & Smart Cities

E Medical Devices L Manufacturing Competitiveness

F Diagnostics M Processing Technologies + Novel Materials

G Therapeutics - synthesis formulation, processing and drug delivery N Innovation in Services and Business Processes

Following publication of the report on 1st March 2012, the Research Prioritisation Action Group (RPAG) was established, under the chairmanship and political leadership of the Minister of State for Research and Innovation Sean Sherlock TD, to drive implementation of Research Prioritisation under the broader authority of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Recovery and Jobs. The Group, which is an all-of-Government forum bringing together senior officials from ten State Agencies and six Government Departments with responsibility for funding research and innovation, meets in plenary and has set an ambitious pace for implementation. It is supported by a range of working groups which have been established to progress implementation between plenary sessions.

Action Plans, which are designed to identify the actions that are required across research funding organisations to re-align the majority of competitive public research funding around the priority areas, have been developed for each priority area. Engagement with relevant stakeholders on the draft Action Plans took place at the end of 2012 and the Action Plans were approved by Government in June 2013 and published in July 2013. To oversee their implementation in a holistic manner, each Action Plan has been assigned a Champion who, in almost all cases, chaired the relevant working group which developed the Action Plan. Action Plans will remain live and evolve over time to ensure that they can respond to real time market developments and opportunities. The RPAG will oversee implementation of the Action Plans.

A detailed Framework of Metrics and Targets has been drawn up as part of Research Prioritisation to measure the outputs and impact of funding provided, which will comprehend all of the 14 Action Plans for the respective Priority Areas, and this too was approved by Government in June 2013. The Framework comprises 3 levels of targets – Overarching National Targets; Departmental/ Agency Targets; and Priority Area Targets. There will also be on-going monitoring and reporting of developments in relation to the systemic recommendations contained in the Report of the Research Prioritisation Steering Group. The framework was agreed by Government in June 2013 and published in July 2013.

In relation to the second pillar – 13 systemic changes necessary to support prioritisation by improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the STI system – the RPAG is also making significant progress, as outlined below:

- In June 2012, an IP Protocol was published outlining new structures to encourage more business to commercialise R&D by ensuring that they can access the results of state-funded R&D with greater clarity and certainty. The central Technology Transfer Office known as ‘Knowledge Transfer Ireland (KTI)’, has since been established and the new Director, Dr Alison Campbell, is in place along with support staff within Enterprise Ireland.

- KTI’s primary role is to be the identifiable access route to the wealth of technology opportunities and academic talent that exists in Research Performing Organisations and it will provide an invaluable service for entrepreneurs and industry, signposting them towards the relevant sources of knowledge and capability within Ireland’s Research Performing Organisations. The aim of KTI is very much to encourage the commercialisation of IP arising from State funded research, with a view to achieving more job creation from our investment in this area.

- The RPAG is also considering how application procedures for research funding can be adjusted to assess relevance to, and impact on, priority areas as well as assessing excellence, with Science Foundation Ireland already leading the way in this regard.

- In response to recommendations to align supply and demand of trained researchers, the Irish Research Council has rolled out an employment based PhD and Masters programme where awardees will be employees with the majority of time spent in-company.

- In response to the recommendation that research centres should be more industry focussed, on February 25th 2013, the largest ever state/ industry co-funded research investment (€300 million in total: €200 million of exchequer funding and €100 million co-investment by over 150 industry partners) was announced. 7 world class SFI research centres will be funded over 6 years supporting key growth areas and research will be undertaken into major societal challenges, including health, communications and energy.

- A series of six workshops was held in October and November last year to facilitate the sharing of intelligence between the agencies and the capturing of enterprise research needs across the 14 priority areas, with the aim of synthesizing the knowledge into an objective and comprehensive understanding of the key research topics that should be supported in the public research system, in order to maximise the impact on enterprise development.

- The Higher Education Authority has undertaken a national inventory of all significant publicly funded infrastructure and equipment and an online portal is being developed, to this end. In parallel with compiling this national inventory of all Large Items of Research Equipment of Large Infrastructure (LIRE), the HEA has developed guidelines for the HEIs on providing access to users from the institutions and enterprise. The key principle embodied in the guidelines is that by default, all public funded equipment should be available to users from other HEIs and from enterprise.

- The Higher Education Authority (HEA), in cooperation with QQI (Quality and Qualifications Ireland, an agency of the Department of Education and Skills established in November 2012) is currently developing a consistent quality framework for postgraduate education and training, incorporating the structured PhD model.