Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 April 2014
261. Deputy Andrew Doyle asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his approach towards achieving our Horizon 2020 targets of €1.2 billion; the projected breakdown for microenterprise and small and medium enterprises; the strategy to streamline the process to achieve these targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18990/14]
View answerWith a budget of just under €80 billion and covering the period 2014 to 2020, Horizon 2020 is the European Union’s largest ever research and innovation programme and the largest worldwide. Horizon 2020 is a core part of Europe 2020, the Innovation Union and the European Research Area and is responding to the economic crisis in Europe by investing in future jobs and growth. Ireland performed to a very high standard in the preceding programme - the Seventh Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Innovation (FP7), with almost €600 million in funding awarded to participants in Ireland from call results to date, thereby achieving our national target for participation in that programme. In terms of funding obtained as a percentage of the available budget, Research for the Benefit of SMEs was the second highest performing area for Ireland in FP7. SMEs accounted for 78.2% of funding to private industry in Ireland under FP7.
In December 2013, the Government approved a national strategy for participation in Horizon 2020, together with an ambitious target of €1.25 billion in funding to Ireland over the lifetime of Horizon 2020. This strategy sets out a comprehensive range of actions designed to maximise Ireland’s participation in the programme and achieve the target, involving all of the key Departments, agencies and research performers. A Horizon 2020 High Level Group, under the chairmanship of my Department, has been established to oversee the implementation of the national strategy.
A National Support Network of National Contact Points coordinated by Enterprise Ireland has been established, comprising knowledgeable and experienced practitioners from relevant Departments and agencies, charged with helping companies and academics access the funding opportunities presented by Horizon 2020. Individual targets for microenterprises, SMEs and large companies have not been projected. The National Support Network will include a Research and Innovation in Industry team which will substantially increase the resources allocated to company participation to maintain and grow this activity significantly. The Research and Innovation in Industry team will aim to make SME participation, in particular, business friendly across all parts of the Horizon 2020 programme. The team will work with Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland Development Advisors and other relevant agencies and Government Departments to develop a database of innovative companies and target appropriate opportunities. The team will also work with the Institutes of Technology which have a proven model of engaging SMEs in innovation for the first time through small, focused solution-based projects and building these relationships into longer-term research collaborations.
During the negotiations on Horizon 2020, which took place during Ireland’s Presidency of the European Union, Ireland was pro-active in getting the agreement of the Council, Commission and the Parliament to an increased target participation rate, from 15% to 20%, for SMEs under Horizon 2020. Ireland recognised that SMEs have proven themselves to be engines of economic growth and the principal sources of new employment. SMEs are central, therefore, to the recovery of our own economy and the European economy in general. I am confident that, building on our successful performance in FP7 and supported by our national strategy and a strong national support network, Irish researchers, research organisations and companies are well placed to compete at the highest level for Horizon 2020 funding.
