“Science forms and informs our path to economic recovery” – Ireland’s EU Commissioner
EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Ms Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, has today (February 9th 2012) highlighted the role of science and scientific research in Ireland’s economic recovery. Commissioner Quinn was speaking in Dublin where she was attending a Science Foundation Ireland Board meeting.
(Left to right) Director General of SFI, Prof. Mark Ferguson, EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Ms Maire Geoghegan-Quinn and Chairman of SFI, Prof. Pat Fottrell
Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn said “In seeking to identify how best to bring about greater competitive advantage and a rise in employment, exports and growth, science has increasingly become a focal point. In my role within the EU Commission, I can see the compelling impact that research and its commercialisation can have and is having beyond the parameters of science. Science, therefore, forms and informs our path to economic recovery.”
Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn said that the next few years represented a particularly important period for Ireland and Europe in a scientific context: “Of most significance is Horizon 2020, the European Commission's proposal for an €80billion EU funding programme to secure Europe’s competitiveness through research and innovation for the period 2014 to 2020. With Ireland remaining on course to reach its target of over €600million funding from the existing EU 7th Framework Programme, the scientific community here must ensure that it adapts and responds to the evolving research agenda as set out in Horizon 2020. Furthermore, January of next year will see Ireland taking over the Presidency of the European Council, while Dublin will host Europe’s most prestigious science event, the Euro Science Open Forum, ESOF2012, this July. Science has perhaps never been so prominently placed in this country, and this could not come at a better time, when research and innovation are among the building blocks for economic recovery and growth.”
Director General of SFI, Prof. Mark Ferguson and EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Ms Maire Geoghegan-Quinn
Welcoming Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn, Chairperson of SFI, Professor Pat Fottrell commented that “over a decade ago, while many spoke in aspirational terms of Ireland’s potential for innovation, good intentions and ambition were not matched by a strategic and structured framework incorporating the necessary funding mechanisms. The establishment of Science Foundation Ireland and other initiatives has, over the intervening period, helped to formalise and realise this potential. Sustained investment and commitment by Government, academia and industry have subsequently combined to position Ireland as an international influencer in the scientific research arena.”
He added, “SFI welcomes the opportunities provided by Horizon 2020 and will be working with Ireland’s research community to identify the opportunities to ensure that the available funding will allow for continued research, innovation and economic benefit. SFI-supported researchers have been successful in leveraging further support and investment from Europe.”
