Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 December 2021
32. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the total number of experts used in each of the calls for the disruptive technologies innovation fund; the total number of experts the European Commission's database of experts; the total number of non-Irish or Irish resident experts from outside the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60716/21]
View answerThe Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF) was established in 2018 to encourage collaboration in the development and deployment of disruptive innovative technologies, on a commercial basis, targeted at tackling national and global challenges. It is managed by my Department with administrative support from Enterprise Ireland.
DTIF focuses on the ability of Irish enterprises to drive disruptive innovation through collaboration on industrial research with other enterprises and research institutions. The Fund is open to partnerships working on projects that have the potential to significantly alter markets or the way businesses operate. It encourages private co-investment by lowering the risk profile associated with investment in high-risk, high-reward innovations.
Enterprise Ireland administers the selection process with oversight by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. DTIF is a competitive offer and eligible applications are evaluated by independent international technical and commercialisation experts using call-specific selection criteria.
Enterprise Ireland maintains an Expert Database from which it selects appropriate evaluation experts to evaluate applications on the basis of the call-specific selection criteria, professional expertise and experience. As a public research funding body, the agency regularly sources new evaluation experts, including from the European Commission's database of experts, for its research programmes. Factors which are considered in the selection of evaluation experts include geographical and sector balance, gender balance, regular rotation, and conflict of interest. All evaluation experts used in DTIF calls to date are resident outside the state.
Each eligible DTIF application is assigned to an evaluation panel of three evaluators for remote evaluation. At interview stage, a senior official from Enterprise Ireland chairs the interview between the same evaluation panel and the project partners.
The total number of experts used in each of the calls for the Fund is set out in the table below:
|
Call |
No. of Evaluation Experts Used |
|
Call 1 |
20 |
|
Call 2 |
24 |
|
Call 3 |
45 |
The European Commission's database of experts is updated regularly and Information on the total number of experts on the database for each call is not available.
