The objective of the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation 2006-13, SSTI, and the National Development Plan 2007-13 is to make a transition to a knowledge economy to enable Ireland to compete in a highly competitive global market. In December 2008, the Government reinforced the importance of this investment in a document, entitled Building Ireland's Smart Economy — A Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal, which prioritised continued investment in science and engineering infrastructure and research.
The infrastructure investment underpinning the SSTI is central to economic recovery. The commercialisation of our research investment and the creation of a successful track record in the area of higher education research, as well as output of quality graduates at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, will be an important aspect of building a sustainable enterprise base underpinned by productive innovation activity across the economy.
I am confident that there have already been achievements arising from the strategy. The recently published report, Science, Technology and Innovation — Delivering the Smart Economy, confirms that, overall, substantial progress has been made in the achievement of SSTI objectives. We are building strong linkages to ensure diffusion and commercialisation of an increased flow of new ideas and knowledge to produce innovative products and services that will win export markets and create much needed sustainable employment.
Innovation, through better products, processes and business models, supported by near-to-market research and collaboration with knowledge providers, is the primary way for Ireland to gain a competitive advantage and secure export growth. With regard to the commercialisation of research, Enterprise Ireland, EI, offers a suite of supports to academics and institutions to commercialise their research and build the commercialisation system. These include funding provided through the €25 million commercialisation fund as well as funding and support for effective technology transfer offices in university campuses, commercially relevant research centres in institutes of technology and campus incubation facilities to support new technology companies in their formative years. This programme to realise the commercial potential of Ireland’s research community is supported in 2009 by a projected level of investment of €36 million. As at November 2009, the EI-supported technology transfer offices facilitated the creation of 20 start-up companies, 339 invention disclosures, 97 priority patents filed and 47 technology licence transfers between companies.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House.
Enterprise Ireland, EI, is focused on promoting and facilitating the effective transfer and commercialisation of research, which is critical to ensuring Ireland benefits from the State's investment in research. All EI supports are oriented towards securing commercially viable products processes and services for sale on international markets. EI has put in place a stringent due diligence process, including commercial and economic assessment, along with a comprehensive metric system, to monitor progress against these objectives. I will ensure that EI will maintain and intensify this focus.
Complementary to the supports provided by EI, Science Foundation Ireland, SFI, is supporting 29 world class research centres across the Irish universities and institutes of technology. The 29 centres comprise ten centres for science, engineering and technology and 19 strategic research clusters. These centres are a major magnet of attraction that significantly enhance IDA Ireland's capacity to win research-intensive investments. Through these centres and individual competitive grants, SFI-funded researchers are collaborating and interacting with in excess of 300 leading multinationals and indigenous firms. It is through this close industry engagement that SFI is supporting companies that employ more than 56,000 people in Ireland.
Notwithstanding the significant progress that has been made in recent years with regard to the commercialisation of research and development investment, I have received requests from enterprise representatives to consider, against the background of the current economic downturn, aligning SFI's activities more closely with the needs of enterprise. My Department is currently examining extending SFI's remit to enable it to fund its researchers to pursue applied research opportunities arising from their own oriented basic research and to bring concepts and ideas arising from their research to the stage where EI programmes, and indeed private industry, can take them further, resulting in new products, processes and companies and the economic benefits associated with this. This would also bring a renewed focus on applied research.