£500m for science research

The Tanaiste has launched an ambitious spending programme designed to make Ireland an international leader in scientific research. With more than £500m (€634 million) to spend, it hopes to attract international scientists who will build a world class research base here, creating jobs and wealth in knowledge based industries.

Spending for the next six years will be overseen by the Science Foundation Ireland, launched yesterday in Dublin by Ms Harney and the Minister of State for Science, Technology and Commerce, Mr Noel Treacy. The occasion was used to open an initial international call for research proposals, with individual researchers, companies and institutes able to bid for funding.

While the call is open to all comers, the research work must be carried out in Ireland either North or South, Ms Harney stated.

Each accepted project will be given an annual budget of up to £1m for a maximum of five years with the aim she said to move Ireland into the forefront of research in two areas, biotechnology and information and communications technology (ICT).

"It is about the future reputation of Ireland," Ms Harney said yesterday. "We want Ireland to gain an international reputation in these areas." The Government, she said, had taken a long term view on this process which was "going to take time and commitment". The benefits to Ireland would come however, "five, 10 or 15 years down the road", she said. "It is an enormously important start."

The event was described as a "special occasion for Ireland" by Mr Treacy who has been central to the development of the new foundation and the funding it will have via the National Development Plan.

It will manage, allocate and disburse about £510m over the next five-and-a-half years, he said adding that the investment "will deliver the type of economic growth which will underpin our future competitiveness, thus making huge contributions to economic sustainability and expansion all over Ireland".

Applicants under the programme would be internationally recognised high calibre researchers who had already made important contributions to basic research, he said.

Each group leader or SFI principal investigator would create a research team of between three and 12 people and will carry out their work in existing facilities here within universities, institutes of technology, research centres or companies.

It is expected that at least 10 research teams will be in place and working within 12 months.

This call requires researchers to submit proposals to the foundation before September 26th and successful proposals will be announced before the end of the year, according to Mr John Travers, chief executive of Forfas, which will be administering the programme until appointments are made to the foundation's board and a CEO is selected. The selection process for a CEO was already under way, he added.

The foundation arises from a Government decision made last March and this in turn was guided by recommendations made following a technology foresight exercise conducted under the auspices of the Irish Council for Science, Technology and Innovation and completed last year.

The exercise, headed by Mr Brian Sweeney, recommended that the State provide significant funding for two developing areas, biotechnology and ITC. Mr Sweeney, and Dr Ed Walsh, chair of ICSTI, made a presentation directly to Cabinet, which Ms Harney said yesterday was central to the Government's agreement to fund the foundation.

The foundation has a new website where further information about its investment programme and submission of proposals is available. The address is: http://www.sfi.ie and emails can be sent to info@sfi.ie