Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 February 2013
149. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if his Department officials have any role, along with the sponsoring Department, in developing research, development and innovation policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6828/13]
View answerThe Government’s core aim in investing in science, technology and innovation (STI) is to protect and create employment in Ireland and to increase national competitiveness through an integrated approach to research and innovation. Our overarching strategy is to accelerate the economic and societal returns from our investment in research and innovation and we are putting in place a range of initiatives to deliver on this strategy.
A key cross-Government initiative is implementation of the recommendations in the report of the Research Prioritisation Steering Group which seeks to maximise the impact of our spend by focussing the majority of public competitive research funding on 14 priority areas. The priority areas were identified on the basis of existing strengths of the public research base and the enterprise base, opportunities that exist in terms of the global marketplace and those which are most likely to deliver economic and societal impact. In February 2012 the Government agreed to implement the recommendations of this report as a whole of Government policy goal and the Prioritisation Action Group (PAG) was established, under the chairmanship and political leadership of the Minister for Research and Innovation, tasked with driving implementation. The PAG comprises representatives of all relevant Government Departments and State Agencies funding research.
Key to delivering on implementation is collaboration across the funding Agencies and Departments, and the PAG, which has held 8 plenary meetings since its inception, is the opportune forum for dialogue which can facilitate this collaboration. Action plans for each of the priority areas are being developed, and represent the detailed blueprint for actions to be taken by funding Departments and Agencies in order to re-align the majority of competitive public research funding around the priority areas. This new approach is driving new behaviours resulting in a more holistic approach to funding research across relevant Departments and funding Agencies.
