Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) has launched their annual report 2011 which shows a number of positive outcomes including a 19 percent increase in the number of linkages with companies with 583 companies partaking in 939 linkages with SFI funded researchers. This marks an increase of 158 percent in the last four years.
In 2011, SFI researchers, as highlighted in the report, engaged in approximately 1,900 collaborations in 68 countries. These researchers reported a total of 5,740 scientific publications in that year, marking an increase of 15 percent. The report also shows that SFI researchers successfully secured €156m from external sources in 2011.
Minister of State with Responsibility for Research and Innovation, Sean Sherlock TD said the increase in industry-academic linkages over the last four years “is certainly a significant achievement and testament to the focus of the organisation and the dedicated and innovative minds of its researchers.”
He added: “As SFI enters its second decade of existence, SFI funded researchers have developed important technologies such as a microchip sensor that allows for constant monitoring of babies in cots, hospital patients and others at risk of fatalities such as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)”. Additionally he added: “There is a need to accelerate the delivery of economic and societal benefits from Government investment in research by prioritising resources in areas of opportunity, building closer collaboration between the research base and enterprise and making it easier to commercialise and use new knowledge. We need to do this while maintaining the world class research base that has been built by SFI over the past decade.”