Government sets new targets and measures for investment of core €500million Science and Technology budget
Richard Bruton T.D., Minister for Jobs Enterprise and Innovation and Seán Sherlock TD., Minister for Research and Innovation today (Tuesday) announced that the Government has approved new metrics and targets to monitor the impact of state investment in Science, Technology and Innovation, in line with the National Research Prioritisation Exercise. The Government also approved the publication of individual Action Plans on each of 14 Priority Areas of research which show the greatest opportunity in terms of supporting jobs.
Ambitious targets at national and agency level include:
· Increase the share of publicly performed R&D financed by enterprise to €180m over 2013 to 2017 – an average of €36m per annum, from a baseline of €31.2 m in 2010;
· Increase the number of spin-out companies greater than 3 years old from 44 to 69 by 2017;
· Increase the number of firms engaged in R&D projects of significant scale by 115 firms by 2017, from 1070 companies in 2011 to 1185 companies in 2017;
· Increase, by 10%, the turnover due to new-to-firm or new-to-market product innovations from 9.3% to 10.3% by 2017;
· A further 1,100 researchers will be employed in the enterprise sector in addition to the circa 10,600 currently employed.
Minister Bruton said:
“A central plank of the Action Plan for Jobs is better using our research and innovation budget to drive job creation. Turning good ideas into good jobs is the key outcome that we need to see in the short term from our investment of scarce public funds in scientific research. These metrics and targets will help us to track that investment and the impact that it is having. We must make difficult decisions in order to achieve the outcomes we need from the money we invest in research, and I am convinced that today’s announcement represents a major step in helping to deliver the jobs and growth we need”.
Minister for Research and Innovation Seán Sherlock TD added:
“These new measures and targets will be central to our strategy of ensuring that we are investing in areas of excellence and impact. Having just concluded lengthy negotiations with the European Parliament and the European Commission as Chairman of the EU Competitiveness Council, I am confident that Ireland will be in a position to target up to 1 billion euro in research and innovation funding under Horizon 2020 over the next seven years.
We need to set ambitious targets – nationally and at EU level - to ensure that we maximize the availability of productive, job creating funds. We know from our own enterprise sector that research and development drives exports and profitability and helps to secure and grow jobs”.
The Framework of Metrics and Targets for STI Investment has been developed based on work carried out by Forfás.
ENDS
Notes for Editors:
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 Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) over the coming 5 years. The report also recommended a number of measures which were required to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the STI system in order to support the implementation of prioritisation. In 2012, 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 Prioritisation Action Group (PAG), under the chairmanship and political leadership of the Minister for Research and Innovation Sean Sherlock TD, supported by the Department of Jobs Enterprise and Innovation and Forfás, drives implementation of research prioritisation.
Framework of Metrics and Targets for STI Investment
In response to a systemic recommendation in the report, a Framework of Metrics and Targets for STI Investment has been developed based on work carried out by Forfás. The Framework (available at www.djei.ie/science/technology/rpmaps.htm) will firstly monitor the impact of public STI investment in broad terms, and secondly, monitor the impact of the implementation of research prioritisation in the 14 Priority Areas. The purpose of setting these targets is twofold; to stretch the public enterprise support system in order to maximise the impact of public investment in R&D; and to assess the success over time of the implementation of research prioritisation. The Framework comprises three levels of targets – Overarching National Targets; Departmental/Agency-level Targets; and Priority Area Targets. The targets are underpinned by a wide range of 79 monitoring metrics covering the enterprise support environment, including inputs, outputs and outcomes. The metrics are to be monitored annually and the Prioritisation Action Group will oversee their monitoring.
14 Individual Action Plans
Action Plans have been developed for each of the 14 priority areas by working groups chaired by PAG members, supported by Forfás, and comprising members from all research funders supporting that particular Priority Area. The Action Plans (available at www.djei.ie/science/technology/rpmaps.htm) represent the detailed blueprint for actions to be taken by funding Departments and agencies to re-align the majority of competitive public research funding around the priority areas over the next five years. Each Action Plan includes a vision, key objectives and specific actions along with timelines and those responsible for leading and supporting delivery of the action. In addition, wider eco-system or framework conditions that need to be addressed are identified to allow investment in the priority area yield the optimum return. Action Plans will remain live and evolve over time to ensure that they can respond to real time market developments and opportunities. The Prioritisation Action Group will oversee monitoring of implementation of the Action Plans.
Horizon 2020
Previous press release by Minister Sherlock is available at http://www.djei.ie/press/2013/20130625a.htm.