Dublin officially started its tenure as European City of Science 2012 today. Ireland’s Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton TD today spoke at the launch about the Government’s mission to further commercialise scientific research and create jobs.
Speaking today to Siliconrepublic.com, following the official launch of Dublin as European City of Science 2012, Minister Bruton spoke about how the Government is planning to increase the engagement of science with industry.
The Minister spoke about the research prioritisation exercise that the Government has undertaken that will focus on the areas of research that are of “particular interest to enterprises that can thrive in Ireland”.
He touched on how Science Foundation Ireland, which has been allocated €156m by the Government as its capital budget in 2012, already has about 600 members of industry involved in its programmes.
Turning ideas into jobs
“We hope to build on and deepen that and make the research investment particularly relevant. Clearly the ambition we have is to turn good ideas into good jobs. That’s about commercialising ideas, getting industry to take them on. That will be a key part of our Jobs Action Plan,” said Minister Bruton.
As to the findings of the Research Prioritisation Group, chaired by Jim O’Hara, former head of Intel Ireland, the Minister said the Government hopes to publish its findings in the very near future.
He said the key issue would be implementation and how to turn those recommendations into practical changes. “That’s what Sean Sherlock [Minister of State for Research and Innovation] and myself will be working on, to actually make sure that we get the economic outcomes for this big investment we’ve made over many years. At the time of employment crisis we have to get the very best out of this investment,” he said.
Minister Bruton finished off by outlining how Ireland has to harness the power of science
See the interview in full here.
