Science Foundation Ireland's capital grant budget for 2012 is €156m. The SFI awards, which are awarded on a competitive basis, are made directly to research performing institutions in the state and are typically multi-annual in nature spanning a three to five year term. Such awards are subject to regular rigorous scientific and strategic review by SFI.
The Foundation's pay budget for 2012 is €4.433m in respect of 52.5 staffing positions. The administrative programme costs associated with running its various programmes amounts to €4.236m. These amounts include provision in respect of the Discover Science and Engineering programme, for which responsibility has recently been transferred from Forfás to SFI. In addition a further €5m of current expenditure is provided through SFI to allow the Irish research community access to key international scientific journals and databases which are an important element underpinning the national research effort. SFI is specifically mandated to focus excellence in research investments through the higher educational sector in the areas of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), Biotechnology and Sustainable Energy and Energy Efficient Technologies .
The 2012 funding provision to SFI will allow it to maintain its support to 28 top-class research centres and approximately 3,000 researcher positions across Ireland's third level sector. SFI researchers are collaborating with over 530 distinct companies which employ in excess of 82,000 people in Ireland. The numerous examples of the businesses connected to SFI researchers/teams and how SFI funded research is delivering for Irish enterprise are highlighted on www.sfi.ie. From a global perspective, and in a relatively short timeframe, the Foundation has been exceptionally successful in fulfilling its remit by building Ireland’s human capital in areas of research linked to the future development and competitiveness of industry and enterprise in the State. From a low ranking in the mid-1980s, to a ranking of 36th in 2003, Ireland’s global ranking for scientific quality then broke into the global Top 20 in 2009. That ranking has since been maintained. In a number of specific areas, largely underpinned by SFI investments, Ireland has also achieved even higher rankings such as:
3rd in the world for the quality of its research in Immunology (an area which is of major importance to Life Sciences companies),
8th in the world for the quality of its research in Materials Science (an area of major importance to Semiconductor companies).
A major impact attributable to SFI has been, and continues to be, its underpinning role for the enterprise and job creation activities of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland. SFI's activities are helping to create magnets of attraction for foreign direct investment in Ireland.
For example, in 2004 10% of the foreign direct investment approvals achieved by IDA Ireland that were research, development and innovation (RD&I) based, were valued at €120m. In 2009 and 2010 the new client R&DI based approvals achieved by the IDA for both years were valued at €500m. In 2011 the value of new RD&I based approvals grew further to approximately €700m. Therefore there has been an almost sixfold gain on the 2004 capacity in little over 7 years. SFI has been an important contributory factor in this achievement as Ireland is now recognised internationally as a global research player in a number of scientific disciplines.
In addition Forfás data has shown that, over the last decade, exports, employment and value-added in R&D-performing firms in Ireland has far outstripped firms that do not performR&D. As regards all-Island activities, SFI administers the Charles Parsons Energy Research awards which were established in late 2006. Seven research groups/centres are funded through these awards, including the Electrical Power and Energy Systems Research Cluster at Queens University Belfast, and the Centre for Sustainable Technologies (CST) at the University of Ulster.
Also in the context of North-South science, technology and innovation initiatives, SFI encourages research collaboration and offers supplementary awards to its funded community to assist collaboration efforts with researchers based in higher education institutions in Northern Ireland.
In addition SFI funded researchers are also directly involved with researchers from Northern Ireland as part of the US-Ireland R&D programme, a tripartite international agreement covering a number of common research themes, primarily in the Life Sciences.
In relation to the future development of SFI, legislative amendments are in preparation to allow the extension of SFI's remit into the area of applied research in order to support the development of research findings into commercial opportunities. This is in line with the provisions in the Programme for Government regarding accelerating the exploitation of research and turning inventions into products.
The proposed Bill will also ensure that the strategic focus of SFI is aligned with areas that have the greatest potential to deliver sustainable economic return through enterprise development, employment creation and quality of life, in accordance with the findings of the recently-published National Research Prioritisation Exercise.
The Bill will also provide Science Foundation Ireland with the legal power to fund research projects related to its strategic areas of focus in Northern Ireland and, subject to the consent of the Minister, participate in collaborative funding schemes, related to its strategic areas of focus, with countries of the European Economic Area or other countries.
