Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 April 2012
324 Deputy Willie O’Dea asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if structures have been established through the Research Prioritisation Action Group on Science, Technology and Innovation to implement priority areas across all relevant programmes; if not, when it will be completed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20027/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra325 Deputy Willie O’Dea asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if a monitoring system to demonstrate alignment with priority areas for research has been completed; if not, when it will be completed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20028/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 324 and 325 together.
The Report of the Research Prioritisation Steering Group was approved by Government on the 21 of February this year to be implemented as a whole of Government Policy goal. The Government agreed to the publication of the report, the future alignment of public investment with the 14 areas of priority identified in the Report, and appropriate cross-Government coordinated oversight and independent review mechanisms to give effect to the recommendations and take stock of their implementation. Minister Bruton and I launched the report on the 1 of March.
Research prioritisation will be implemented under the authority of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Recovery and Jobs and a Prioritisation Action Group (PAG) has been established to drive implementation. In order to reinforce political and policy commitment to the research prioritisation agenda, I personally chair this Group and its membership comprehends those Departments that are members of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation and relevant research funding Agencies under the remit of those Departments.
The PAG had its first meeting on 28 March and the intention is that it will meet on a monthly basis initially at least. At the first meeting we agreed a modus operandi for implementation which includes a focus on the 14 priority areas as well as systemic changes recommended in the Report to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the STI system. In relation to the 14 priority areas the intention is to develop Action Plans for each of these areas and that process has begun. In relation to the systemic actions these will be tackled simultaneously yet systematically with varying approaches depending on the nature of the change which is required.
At its first meeting the PAG decided to prioritise implementation of a number of the system changes recommended and this included, in particular, those relevant to the establishment of a framework for monitoring implementation of prioritisation. Work is underway to agree macro level indicators to measure the impact of investment on the overall STI system in the first instance and the next phase of this work will be to establish micro level indicators to measure impact on the individual priority areas. It is expected that the first phase of this work will be complete by mid-year with the next stage due to be completed by the end of the year.
It is clear that individual research funders are already aligning their funding calls with the priority areas recommended. This is exemplified in the recent call for proposals issued by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) under their research centres programme. A central component of the new programme is that each new SFI research centre will be aligned with one or more of the prioritisation areas identified by the Report of the Steering Group on Research Prioritisation.
