Irish minister welcomes H2020 success
The Irish minister of state for training, skills and innovation, John Halligan, has welcomed the latest results on his country’s success in securing funding under the Horizon 2020 programme.
Researchers and companies in Ireland have won a total of €386m in EU funding from the Horizon 2020 programme from 2014 to February 2017. Higher Education Institutions (HEI) accounted for €221m, or 57% of the total and companies won €126m, or 33%.
SMEs also received €78m of the funding.
This performance means that Ireland is on track to achieve its national target of securing €1.25bn in EU funding over the course of Horizon 2020.
Halligan said: “I am delighted to see the continued success of companies and HEIs in Ireland in winning EU funding in open competitions with their peers across the EU. This clearly demonstrates the excellence of the research being undertaken in Ireland.
“Research and innovation are at the core of the government’s enterprise strategy for creating new, sustainable jobs. Innovation is vital if companies are to succeed in international markets. The government allocated €761m for research and innovation in 2016 and I am very pleased to see that this national investment is being leveraged to access EU funding.”
Professor Mark Ferguson, director general of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), added: “I congratulate all the successful winners of EU Horizon 2020 funding and strongly encourage others to try again, or apply for the first time, to these important, competitive, research funding programmes from the European Commission.
“I am particularly pleased to see Irish researchers in industry and academia lead and win major projects; SFI research centres collaborate to secure major funding under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA); and the substantial improvement in Ireland’s success at the European Research Council (ERC). This competitively won European funding compliments and leverages the investments made nationally.”
