Ireland secures €127m in funding

A minister in the Irish Government has congratulated the country’s researchers and firms over their success in Horizon 2020.

Damien English, Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation, made the comments as it was revealed that researchers and companies had secured €127m of funding in the first year of Horizon 2020.

The achievement exceeds the 2014 target set out in the Action Plan for Jobs, published last year. Furthermore, Ireland’s companies have achieved over €35m of the total won in 2014, of which almost 75% went to SMEs.

Speaking at a Horizon 2020 Industry Leadership Day at University College Cork, English commented: “In the particularly competitive environment for EU research and innovation funding, surpassing our national target by 27% and achieving €127m is a great achievement.

“85% of funding won in 2014 came from ICT, research grants from the European Research Council and training grants for researchers (‘Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions’), advanced materials, advanced manufacturing and processing, biotechnology and agrifood.

“I welcome this financial success, but I am also equally conscious of the importance of Irish researchers and companies participating in the Horizon 2020 programme so that they get to collaborate and innovate with the best and brightest that Europe has to offer, therefore resulting in further excellence in our national system.”

The Industry Leadership Day is an event that supports Irish endeavours in Horizon 2020 and aims to increase the awareness of industry related opportunities in the EU R&I framework programme.