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SCIENCE FOUNDATION IRELAND ANNUAL REPORT 2015
Economic Impact
Strong economic impact was delivered by Science Foundation Ireland and the community we support in 2015 . While we invested € 154 million in 2015 across our research programmes , the researchers we supported attracted a further € 130 million in international and industry funding to support their research . Science Foundation Ireland awards support 1,220 collaborations with industry , these involve 372 multinational companies and 437 SMEs . Positively , we estimate that this involvement and combined significant investment has an economic impact on the Irish economy by directly and indirectly supporting 28,000 jobs .
Our support of 38 conference and workshops in 2015 , which involved 4,784 international delegates also had a projected economic value for Ireland of € 4.8 million , all of it supporting the local economy .
Leveraging EU Funding
Winning competitive grants from the EU , e . g . Horizon 2020 , is another key indicator of the health of the Irish scientific system ; ERC and H2020 awards are highly competitive and require both innovative and collaborative skills . In 2015 , Science Foundation Ireland-funded researchers secured € 79 million in EU funding , triple the 2014 funding .
Science Foundation Ireland-supported investigators had a successful year with respect to ERC awards . The 2014-2015 calls saw three SFI-funded Starting Grant winners , four SFI-funded Consolidator Grant winners and four Proof of Concept grants , totalling € 13.1 million .
Ireland now hosts 58 ERC grantees ( 20 women and 38 men ) with total EU funding worth approximately € 97 million . The top three hosting institutions are Trinity College , University College Dublin and the National University of Ireland , Galway . Science Foundation Ireland catalyses and assists ERC applicants through its ERC Development and Support Grant programmes and will continue to place emphasis here .
In 2015 , Science Foundation Ireland increased its involvement in further ERA-Net calls as they are crucial to initiating and maintaining Irish engagement in the most successful cross-European partnerships .
Science Foundation Ireland is committed to supporting H2020 wins through a number of initiatives including supporting competitive bids for Irish researchers in industry and academia to coordinate large projects .
The SFI Investigators Programme in 2015 was aligned to areas of common interest with H2020 , in collaboration with a number of other Irish research funders , and these proposals are currently under review .
Science Foundation Ireland approved 62 H2020 Catalyst awards in 2015 which are intended to support activities that seek to build EU consortia and teams for future H2020 applications .
Partnership and Collaboration
12 SFI Research Centres of scale and excellence have been established with an investment of € 355 million from Science Foundation Ireland , and a further € 190 million from industry partners committed over the next six years . Many of these were officially launched in 2015 . The existing SFI Research Centres have been further supported via additional funding for nine major projects through the SFI Spokes Programme to a cumulative value of € 23 million .
A further SFI Research Centres Call is planned in 2016 , which should bring the number up to the planned 15-20 Centres , enabling us to fully support government priority areas .
In 2015 , our US Ireland R & D Partnership agreement with the National Science Foundation in the US , and authorities in Northern Ireland , was extended to facilitate collaborations between Research Centres in the three jurisdictions – namely the 12 SFI Research Centres , the NSF Engineering Research Centres and Research Centres in Northern Ireland .
Agreements with UK funding agencies , the Royal Society and the Wellcome Trust , have produced joint funding opportunities in 2015 and a new partnership established with the BBSRC will see the first call for proposals in January 2016 . A partnership with the EPSRC is under discussion . Science Foundation Ireland also signed agreements with funding agencies from Brazil to cement future collaborations between researchers in Brazil and Ireland . Similar partnerships in China and Japan are in discussion .
Science Awareness , Engagement and Outreach
To guide and inform our awareness , engagement and public outreach efforts around science , and ultimately to measure our progress , we commissioned and conducted a number of pieces of research .
The Science Foundation Ireland - Science in Ireland Barometer 2015 , showed that public attitudes towards STEM and investment in science and innovation were positive . It also identified a number of areas we need to address , including the geographical location of our activities , girl ’ s perceptions of science and more generally , ‘ the fitting in ’ factor on particular courses .