Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 April 2013
136. Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will advise on the amount of EU funding available to Ireland under the PCP and PPI in the ICT FP7 and CIP programmes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18593/13]
View answer317. Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if Ireland was represented at the EU High level PCP-PPI event in Berlin 21-22 March 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18820/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 136 and 317 together.
The total amount of funding available for Pre-Commercial Procurement topics that have featured in FP7 ICT between 2007, when FP7 commenced, and 2012 is €18 million. A further €32.5 million of available funding is projected for 2013. For the years 2007 to 2008 no budget was available, and during 2009-2010 €4 million became available. At present, all calls and evaluations have been completed for the first 3 Work Programmes (2007-2008, 2009-2010, 2011-2012). However, there has been no Irish involvement in any of the PCP related actions in these calls.
It is important to point out that FP7 funding is made available under a Call for Proposals, competitive procedure, amongst the 27 EU Member States and participating Associate Countries. It is also important to note that Pre-Commercial Procurement and Public Procurement of Innovative solutions are relatively new areas under FP7. In fact, under this year’s 2013 Call for this Work Programme, PPI instruments will feature for the first time, in anticipation of their wide-scale use in Horizon 2020 to fund innovation procurement. So, while in theory this funding is available to Ireland, in order to be in a position to avail of it, Irish research organisations must have the capability to compete in this particular area and must be successful in the Call for Proposals procedure.
In regard to PPI in the FP7 ICT and CIP Programmes, since this is the first year that PPI instruments will be implemented in CIP ICT PSP, the actual funding awarded to Ireland will not be known until July/August 2013, when this year’s calls will have been evaluated. The total EU funding available, for all Member States and Associated Countries in ICT PSP, for PPI Pilots and PPI related activities, for the 2013 Call is €12 million. This is comprised of €10 million for PPI Pilots, and €2 million for Thematic Networks to prepare for PPI pilots.
CIP ICT Policy Support Programme is only one of three "pillars" of the overall CIP. Throughout 2013 Enterprise Ireland will also be engaging with CIP funding through the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) which is the primary instrument for the CIP programme. As suitable calls arise, the EEN will be engaging with its client base. One very concrete benefit to Ireland and SMEs from this programme is its joint funding of the Enterprise Europe Network, which is in the region of €450,000 per year.
Ireland was not represented at the Pre-commercial Procurement (PCP) and Public Procurement of Innovative Solutions (PPI) Conference in Berlin, on 21 – 22 March, 2013 which was co-organised by the European Commission and the Federal Minister of Economics and Technology and regional Ministries of North Rhine-Westphalia.
