Press statement from the Technological Higher Education Association (THEA) following publication of Impact 2030: Ireland’s New Research and Innovation Strategy by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science today, Wednesday18 May 2022
THEA strongly welcomes the new strategy with its focus on supporting a broad base of research and innovation for the benefit of society, economy and the environment. On behalf of our members, we were pleased to support our colleagues in the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in formulating this new strategy and look forward to continuing to work with them on delivery as part of the new Research and Innovation Policy Advisory Forum. Bringing higher education institutions into the new structures which support the national strategy is something that we have called for in our submission to the strategy consultation process and we are very happy to see this Forum established.
As part of our budget submission in 2020 and 2021, THEA called on government to strengthen the research and innovation offices in the new and emerging Technological Universities (TUs) through increased investment, supporting them to increase the regional impact of national investment in research and innovation. We have happy to see particular steps taken in this iteration of the national strategy in order to achieve this.
We are very supportive of the new research and innovation funding agency. Bringing all research disciplines together under one agency will allow Government to comprehensively support all research areas and – importantly – to fund a greater number of initiatives that bring together human, cultural and scientific perspectives to find solutions to real-world problems.
Commenting on the launch, Dr Jennifer Brennan, Director of Research, Development, and Engagement with THEA said: “We see real opportunities for our Technological Universities and Institutes of Technology members within this new strategy. We expect that a more equitable balance of funding between the technological universities and the research-intensive traditional universities will be achievable through the new funding agency. Our members have a long history of working in partnership with others, particularly enterprise, to deliver innovation and impact. This new strategy, and the investment within it for TUs, will provide the opportunity for them to scale up their research and innovation activity, building new partnerships nationally and globally, to become much bigger players in the national system. The commitment in the strategy to supporting research talent is particularly important for institutions that are embarking on that journey of scaling-up their research activity. We look forward to the investment needed to deliver on the ambitions within the strategy being made available, starting with the next Budget”.
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For further information please contact:
Dr Jennifer Brennan, Director of Research, Development, and Engagement, THEA: (086) 0769730; Jennifer.brennan@thea.ie
Róisín O’Connell, Head of Communications, THEA: (087) 9193333; roisin.oconnell@thea.ie
Notes to editors
The Technological Higher Education Association (THEA) is the representative advocacy body for ATU, SETU, TUS, DkIT and IADT.
Link to Budget Submission 2022
Link to Budget Submission 2021
