The Irish government is to allocate €773 million in support of scientific research over the next two years, according to Minister of State for Science, Technology and Innovation Conor Lenihan. The monies, which will be delivered during 2011-12, will be channelled through the main funding bodies, including Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI), Enterprise Ireland and the IDA.
The spend is expected to boost Ireland’s research investment as a proportion of GDP to 1.92 per cent, pushing it above the EU average of 1.85 per cent. The current figure for Ireland is about 1.6 per cent, but the aim of the Government and the EU is to achieve a 3 per cent level by 2020.
An additional €30 million in funding has been approved to offset some of the cuts in the science budget over the past two years, and the spending details for the €2.4 billion announced under the Government’s capital investment programme were also unveiled.
SFI will handle €1.162 billion which includes a top-up payment in 2011 to offset cuts applied to their 2010 budget, which resulted in no new research programmes being funded. PRTLI Cycle 5, which recently announced funding worth €358 million over the coming years, will spend €216 million of this up to 2016.
Nine new industry-led “competency centres” will also be created during the period to 2016, and a 30 per cent increase in the number of firms undertaking research and development activities worth over €2 million, is also expected.
