‘Every voice matters’, said Research Ireland’s Celine Fitzgerald, as attendees gathered at the Aviva Stadium to discuss the future of Ireland’s research sector.
Yesterday (5 June), Research Ireland held its inaugural forum to discuss areas of strategic importance for Ireland’s research sector.
More than 800 people from Government, universities and business gathered at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium for the hybrid event, which also acted as a consultation to identify key priorities for the direction of Research Ireland.
The day-long event featured a range of panels and keynote presentations involving a variety of figures from Government and the research sector. Topics discussed at these talks ranged from future strategies for Ireland’s research ecosystem to presentations on specific research endeavours, such as ecosystem restoration and sustainable materials.
“In today’s rapidly changing world, investment in research and innovation is essential to both strengthen Ireland’s resilience and global competitiveness, but also to drive economic growth and address the major global challenges we face,” said Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science James Lawless, TD at the forum.
“This includes advancing excellence across all areas of research, from the humanities and social sciences to science and technology.”
Lawless also spoke about the Irish Government’s forthcoming Global Talent Initiative, which aims to attract global research talent to Irish institutions.
“As countries around the world intensify their investment in research, technology and skills, Ireland is acting decisively to attract these internationally based researchers while also investing to nurture and retain our top talent at home.”
Despite its small scale and population, Ireland has honed its research landscape to a high degree over the past few decades. The land of saints and scholars is living up to its historic nickname, as according to last year’s European Innovation Scoreboard – an analysis of innovation performance in EU countries – Ireland was designated as a ‘Strong Innovator’ member state.
According to the analysis, Ireland’s performance in the scoreboard was 113.2pc of the EU average, with the country ranking seventh in terms of innovation. This placed Ireland ahead of larger countries such as Germany and France.
Speaking at yesterday’s forum, interim CEO of Research Ireland Celine Fitzgerald spoke about how each attendee’s insights, ideas and engagement “are vital in shaping the future of research and innovation in Ireland”.
“Every voice matters as we develop our long-term corporate strategy, which aims to deliver on the ambition set out by Government,” she added. “Together, we are building a stronger, more connected research and innovation system that can meet the challenges and opportunities ahead.”
Earlier this week, Research Ireland – in partnership with Gas Networks Ireland – announced a €2.7m research and innovation challenge to develop new technology in renewable gas, energy systems and AI. The challenge is open to researchers who are either at an established or a postdoctoral career stage and are based at an eligible research body in Ireland.
Last month, Research Ireland announced the appointment of Dr Diarmuid O’Brien as the organisation’s new CEO. O’Brien will begin the role in September.
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