On Monday, 25th June, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, wrote in the Irish Times. A summary of the key points she made are as follows:
- EU does not have enough entrepreneurs turning scientific breakthroughs into new products and services – we have an innovation gap and we must close it
- The FP7 is the largest publicly funded research programme in the world
- The last FP7 call for proposals worth €8 billion takes place in July
- Irish participants have drawn down €384 million under FP7 to date
- Third-level colleges are the largest beneficiaries of this EU research funding
- Private sector companies in Ireland have secured €96 million
- The criteria for drawing down funding under FP7 is excellence in research
- Supporting research activity is only one side of the coin – putting in the necessary regulatory and legal environment in Europe to enable innovative goods and services to be developed is the other side of this coin
- Europe has great scientists, and 31 per cent of all patents in the world comes from the EU, but what we do not have is follow-through
- Jobs are being created elsewhere on the back of EU knowledge e.g. Skype & MP3 music format
- The European Commission will be launching a pilot project in support of SBIR type programmes as part of July’s FP7 call for proposals
- We need the best researchers and scientists to work in Ireland and in Europe so that we can develop the innovative products and services of the future
- €80 billion to be spent on the research, innovation and science sectors between 2014-2020 – central component of Europe 2020 programme
