Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 December 2018
71. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the degree to which innovation remains central to her plans to expand the manufacturing and the services sectors to the highest extent possible, mindful of the competition and with the objective of increasing opportunities for Irish interests on EU and world markets; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50524/18]
View answerInnovation is a cornerstone of Ireland’s overall economic development policy. It is key to maintaining competitiveness for Ireland in global markets, and for providing jobs and sustaining growth across the whole of the economy, including in the manufacturing and services sectors.
In 2018, Ireland rose to 9th place in the European Innovation Scorecard. We also retained our position in the Global Innovation Index, ranking 10th out of 126 countries.
Innovation 2020, Ireland’s strategy for research and development, science and technology articulates Ireland’s ambition to become a Global Innovation Leader, identifying several priority areas including ‘Advanced and Smart Manufacturing’, ‘Manufacturing and Novel Materials’ and ‘Innovation in Services and Business Processes’ as being particularly important for the Irish economy. The priority areas and themes were updated to reflect the impact of technological change and digitisation of the manufacturing and services sectors.
Recognising Ireland’s continued economic growth and prosperity depends on maintaining and indeed increasing investment across the broad science, technology and innovation spectrum.
My Department’s 2019 innovation budget has been increased to €368.95m – an increase of €40.25m over 2018 to be spent over a range of initiatives and programmes that advance innovation and facilitate opportunities for Irish interests on EU and world markets. Of particular relevance is the allocation of €20m for Phase I of the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund, which has a total fund of €500m as set out in Project Ireland 2040. Included also is an additional €10m in 2019 as part of a €100m dedicated PhD/Masters training programme through Science Foundation Ireland in areas aligned to enterprise needs.
Significant investments are also being made to develop the national ecosystem of research and technology centres in priority areas including that of manufacturing through Science Foundation Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland. Two SFI Research Centres have a manufacturing focus, with “CONFIRM” focusing on smart manufacturing involving convergence of IT and industrial automation systems and “I-FORM” focusing on additive manufacturing. The focus of Enterprise Ireland’s Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR) Centre is Advanced Manufacturing. IMR is a one stop shop where manufacturing companies both multinational and indigenous, can collaborate to solve big manufacturing challenges in partnership with Irish and EU researchers.
My Department, along with the Department of the Taoiseach, is currently developing the Future Jobs Initiative, a new cross-Government strategy to guide the next phase of Ireland’s economic development. The focus is on quality jobs, improving productivity and building a resilient and innovative economy. Innovation and technological change is one of the five key pillars and this focus will have a positive impact on the development of both the manufacturing and services sectors.
