This year, more than 60pc of the jointly funded awards from the Council are in partnership with SMEs
Irish businesses invested €2.5m in 300 individual researchers during 2014 under the Irish Research Council’s enterprise schemes, the Council said in its annual report.
Dr Eucharia Meehan, director of the Irish Research Council, said that 300 employers have now partnered and jointly funded emerging researchers.
The individuals are being supported in sectors ranging from construction to financial services and medical devices.
In 2014 alone 32pc (102 out of 320) of all new PhD and Masters scholarships awarded by the Council were jointly funded by business partners.
This is up from 16pc in 2013.
Investing in researchers is win-win for business and science
“This year, more than 60pc of the jointly-funded awards from the Council are in partnership with SMEs, who we particularly want to support in enhancing their research and innovation capacity,” the Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation Damien English TD said.
“As the economy grows, innovative companies will increasingly need highly-skilled individuals to help translate new ideas and technologies into market-ready products and services.
“The Council’s enterprise programmes contribute to the pipeline of ‘enterprise-ready’, cutting-edge talent to meet companies’ innovation needs. It’s a win-win for everyone involved, and of course for Ireland as a whole,” Minister English said.
Researcher image via Shutterstock
