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Research Centres Programme

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 June 2012

Thursday, 7 June 2012

Ceisteanna (47)

Michael Colreavy

Ceist:

46 Deputy Michael Colreavy asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his assessment of the way recent changes by Science Foundation Ireland with regard to the pre-selection commercialisation test will impact on the quality and diversity of research. [27325/12]

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Freagraí scríofa

On March 1st 2012 the Government published the Report of the Research Prioritisation Steering Group, which is now Government policy and a key pillar of the Government's Action Plan for Jobs.

As a consequence of the prioritisation process the changes to Science Foundation Ireland's (SFI) pre-selection procedure have only been recently introduced and therefore we should be cautious in making conclusions at this early stage. The objective of the change is to further increase the quality and diversity as well as the impact of the research supported by SFI.

SFI has responded very quickly in using impact and the alignment of the Government's new research priority areas to help assess its major research funding decisions in the months ahead.

In February 2012 SFI issued a call for proposals under the new SFI Research Centres Programme. This centres based programme builds upon the success of the SFI Centres for Science Engineering and Technology (CSET) and Strategic Research Clusters (SRC) programmes, while taking on board all that SFI has learned in the past 12 years since establishment.

The new programme will address the needs of industry by ensuring that, up-front, the research programmes of each Research Centre will be aligned with one or more of the prioritisation areas identified by the Research Prioritisation Steering Group. In addition to the rigorous scientific evaluation for which SFI is already very well regarded, proposals received by SFI under the 2012 call will receive a thorough and rigorous evaluation of the potential impact that the Research Centre may deliver to the industry sector, as well as the Irish economy as a whole.

As part of the Research Centres Programme call process, SFI has used an impact panel of leading investors in science, leaders of industry and internationally competitive research centres to help it assess the strategic value of the research projects it is considering at the pre-proposal state. Overall, having some assessment based on impact and commercialisation criteria can provide a very useful mechanism, but only when made in the context of research excellence. This will ensure that the SFI Research Centres that are established have demonstrated their relevance and potential to contribute to the success of industry based in Ireland. In undertaking this strategic pre-proposal review SFI was mindful to ensure that research with less obvious or immediate impact is not ignored. These changes will build on SFI's established and well regarded independent international review process.

It is anticipated that the actual awards arising from the 2012 Research Centres Programme call process will be announced early in Quarter 1, 2013.

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