Directory of entire R&D state supports ecosystem launched (video)

8 Dec 2015

Minister Damien English, via Luke Maxwell

A comprehensive directory of all innovation supports for research centres and technology centres has been launched by the Irish Government.

Revealing the directory, Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation, Damien English, TD, noted the inclusion of supports as a major step up on previous documentation.

Providing a roadmap of the entire R&D ecosystem in Ireland, the latest directory goes far further than previous services-only editions.

“Collaboration is the catalyst for successful innovation,” said English. “We want to connect business with publicly-funded researchers and the supports available to help entrepreneurs to grow their business and create jobs in Ireland.”

All encompassing

Including all key financial supports for innovation available to companies from the State – as well as information on the key national research centres of scale – the new publication “provides a practical guide that is easy to navigate”.

“We want those who are new to research collaboration to explore all the options available to them and we want those who have existing connections within the research system to engage further and take advantage of all the supports available,” added English.

You can view the document here.

Major support

The announcement was made at today’s (8 December) Innovation Showcase, where the Government laid out its ambitious Innovation 2020 science programme for the next number of years, which includes the plan to almost double R&D funding from €2.9bn to €5bn.

Innovation 2020 will be a five-year strategy that should greatly increase the amount of funding put towards research and development in science and technology.

This amount of €5bn, the Government says, will now equate to 2.5pc of the country’s GNP.

Gordon Hunt was a journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com