Eire’s research and development spending to double by 2020
15 Jan 2016 by Evoluted New Media
A five year service strategy has been launched to address an imbalance in funding and jobs raised by the research community.
A five year service strategy has been launched to address an imbalance in funding and jobs raised by the research community.
Innovation 2020 will see negotiations with CERN and the European Southern Observatory continued with plans for Ireland to apply for full membership of ELIXIR, the European research body. This allows biological labs across Europe to share and store data as part of a large network.
Launched last month by Damien English, Minister for Research, Innovation and Skills, the scheme will see R&D spending increase from €2.9 billion to €5 billion. This strategy is a follow up to the Strategy Science Technology and Innovation, which was from 2006 to 2013.
English said: “Developing the talent of our population is an underlying aim of Innovation 2020 and will be critical to the successful realisation of our national vision of Ireland as an innovation leader.
We will support talent development from primary level through to post-doctoral research and from frontier research across all disciplines to practical application.”
The document sets out a 30% increase in the number of new enrolments in research based MScs and PhDs each year from under 1,800 to more than 2,200. There will also be a 30% increase in funded post-doc places.
There is also challenge based funding which means scientific or technological problems specified by the government, industry and academia – which will then have funding targeted at them.
A 10% rise to 35% of PhD researchers in Science Foundation Ireland-funded research teams moving into industry is another target mentioned in ~Innovation 2020.4
It is claimed in 2013, less than 2% of Ireland’s Gross National Product was spent by Ireland, in Israel this amount was more than doubled.
