THE EU has opened its latest round of financial support for research and innovation, announcing a massive €6.4 billion to be spent over the next 14 months.
Irish scientists and companies here that do research are expected to tap into the fund which comes via the EU’s Framework Programme 7 (FP7).
This level of support represented the EU’s largest investment in research yet, research and innovation commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn said yesterday when announcing the new funding round.
It is the latest draw-down from FP7 which has a ring-fenced budget of €50.5 billion to invest in the period from 2007-2013.
Irish academic and in-company researchers have done particularly well gaining support from the fund, with €213 million won up to April 2010 in support of collaborative research conducted with public- and private-sector research partners in other EU countries.
Companies here account for about a quarter (or about €55 million) of the €213 million won so far, Minister of State for Science, Technology and Innovation Conor Lenihan said yesterday. Almost 70 per cent of this was claimed by small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs), he said.
Ms Geoghegan-Quinn described how the fund would create “smart growth and jobs”, using terminology similar to that of the Taoiseach and Minister for Enterprise Trade and Innovation Batt O’Keeffe last Friday when launching an Irish research fund worth €358 million.
The FP7 fund “is a huge and efficient economic stimulus and an investment in our future”, Ms Geoghegan-Quinn said.
It would involve the work of 16,000 researchers including those in about 3,000 SMEs. Overall the €6.4 billion was expected to create more than 165,000 jobs, she said.
There was also a particular emphasis on efforts to bring research discoveries more quickly into use, she said.
For example a third of the health allocation would be spent on clinical trials to get new drugs on the market quicker.
The focus in nanotechnology and its €270 million budget would be on research that could lead to patenting and commercialisation opportunities, she said.
The fund was an investment in a smarter, sustainable and more inclusive Europe. It was also a “key element” in the “Innovation Union Flagship” to be launched this autumn, she added.
It seeks to speed up the innovation process “from research to retail”, something that would help Europe compete more effectively against the US and others, Ms Geoghegan-Quinn said.
Mr Lenihan encouraged Irish researchers, particularly from companies, to bid for FP7 support. “Since the European Commission made it more attractive by giving 75 per cent funding for SMEs, I expect to see an increase in the level of applications to FP7 from small companies in Ireland,” he said.
“This represents a valuable opportunity for Irish companies that are serious about using research to improve their competitiveness and grow their business.”
Access to FP7 funding also takes pressure off the State’s funding system which has suffered cutbacks over the past two years.