Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 May 2012
301 Deputy Shane Ross asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the original budget for the Patents Office Ptolemy computer system upon its purchase; the amount it has cost to date, including and excluding new feature requests; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21453/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraPtolemy is the bespoke administration system of the Irish Patents Office, which facilitates the administration and maintenance of all Patent, Trademark and Industrial Design applications applied for in, or designating Ireland. This encompasses both Irish (national) applications and those filed in the European Patents Office (EPO), OHIM (Community Trademarks) and WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation — International Trademarks and Patent Cooperation Treaty patent applications). It supports all aspects of the creation and maintenance of the electronic registers for Patents, Trademarks and Designs including payments and renewals, maintaining customer details, assignments, etc.
There are currently (as at 31 December 2011) 88,044 Patents, 89,624 Trademarks and 1,652 Designs registered and in force in the State, all of which are managed and maintained by the Ptolemy system. The Ptolemy system also manages the receipt and processing an average of 65,000 individual fee payments per annum. The Ptolemy system supports various on-line services which are of considerable benefit to its customers via the Patents Office website. These include the facility to pay certain fees on-line, to view and search the Patents, Trademarks and Designs registers and database, view and search Patent specifications and to view and search the fortnightly produced Patents Office Journal. Delivery of these services is in line with best international practice. Versions of the Ptolemy system are installed in a number of Patent and Trademark administrations worldwide, including Norway, Sweden, Cyprus, South Africa and New Zealand.
The Patents Office Ptolemy computer system was originally developed in stages over the period 1998 to 2002. The total cost of this initial development was €1.914 million. Since 2002 the system has continued to be developed and maintained to meet changes, including changes in legislation, the adoption of new international agreements in intellectual property protection, and changes in the supported software platforms on which Ptolemy runs. The system has also been upgraded by the inclusion of new functionality to increase the efficiency of the Patents Office and to deliver improved customer service. The cost of on-going support and development in the ten years since the system was fully commissioned in 2002 averages €456,600 per annum, which is broken down between new functionality development at €147,200 per annum and on-going support and maintenance at €309,400 per annum.
The use of information and communications technology has delivered considerable efficiencies for the Patents Office. The 2010 Annual Report of the Controller of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks notes a staff complement in the Office of 46 full time equivalents, which is less than half the staff complement ten years previously. This staff reduction represents a very significant and on-going reduction in the cost of service delivery, while the quality of service has been greatly enhanced through the application of new technology e.g. online payments, free access to registers and database searching, and electronic publication of the Patents Office Journal.
While these systems continue to deliver considerable value through enhanced processing efficiencies and improved customer service, in order to assure my Department that the on-going support and development of the Patents Office systems are delivered in the most effective manner, an external independent review of this support was commissioned in late 2011. The result of this review is expected very shortly, and will provide guidance on the further enhancement and development of the system.
302 Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the amount of money the State is spending on job creation programmes per year; the number of jobs that have been created; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21482/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe role of Government is to not to create jobs, but to provide the environment where successful businesses can become established, grow and generate jobs. In addition to taking the policy decisions to underpin a competitive environment for business, the Government provides a range of supports to enterprise across a number of Departments and agencies. Funding for these supports is allocated in the annual Estimates of the relevant Departments.
From my own Department's perspective, enterprise supports are provided by Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, the County and City Enterprise Boards (CEBs), Shannon Development, and InterTradeIreland. The total allocation to these agencies in 2012 is €460.39 million. In 2011, there were over 300,000 people employed in companies supported by these enterprise development agencies. More than 28,000 of these jobs were created in 2011.
The Action Plan for Jobs contains 270 measures for delivery across all Government Departments and 36 agencies which will support job creation this year. So far this year, the creation of almost 3,400 jobs has been announced in respect of companies wishing to invest, or expand an existing operation, in Ireland. In addition, my Department secured an increase in its capital budget for 2012 despite severe budgetary constraints. Between 2012 and 2013 almost €1 billion has been committed for capital supports for enterprise.
