An Overview of the Irish Private Sector Research
Irish private sector marine related research mirrors research in other Irish industrial sectors:
- Being essentially applied in nature
- Generally very close to the market
- Concentrated in few firms
Considerable scope exists to expand the research potential and capability of the marine industry.
Industry Involvement in Sea Change
Sea Change aims is to transform the marine sector into vibrant knowledge driven sector that is able to harness and sustainably exploit Ireland’s extensive marine resource. Shifting the sector from commodity output to high-value added product development means support for research capacity building initiatives. Only by enabling research excellence to flourish, and matching outputs to industry needs, will the much sought radical innovations contribute to the sector’s competitiveness.
Understanding and listening to the needs of industry is vital if Sea Change is to contribute to the growth of the Irish maritime economy. Since the development of Sea Change every effort has been made to capture and retain a focus on the research needs of industry as they evolve. In preparing Sea Change, the Marine Institute was cognisant of the need for close industry involvement in the foresight exercise and that industry was represented on the various foresight panels to identify and prioritised industry research needs and influence the overall objectives of the Sea Change Strategy.
Moving on from and building upon the links already established with industry during the preparation of Sea Change, the Marine Institute has continued on this path of engagement by ensuring that a number of avenues exist to capture the (research) needs of industry. One forum to achieve this is through the established implementation framework for Sea Change i.e. High-Level Steering Group and External Advisory Groups which have been established to guide and advise the Marine Institute on the implementation of the Strategy over its lifetime.
As the needs of industry evolve over the lifetime of Sea Change, it will be imperative that these changing research needs are addressed to ensure not only the survival of Irish marine businesses but the development and growth of companies in both the traditional and emerging marine sectors.
Supports Provided to Industry 2007 / 2008
Over the period 2007 / 2008 24 marine R&D projects, with 22 industry performers/partners, have been supported by a number of funding sources (both national and international). These projects span across eight industry sub-sectors. This includes a number of first time R&D performers who, in 2007 and 2008, received support via the Marine Institute’s NDP Marine Sub-Programme. Participants in the projects include in-company experts and institutional based researchers. These NDP funds support a mix of short and medium term industry research needs. As well as those firms that benefit from funds, other firms participate in an array of projects by making their facilities available, through membership of steering groups, undertaking trials and even providing samples. Industry participation in marine research is well established; much of it enabled by earlier national development plan funds prior to the launch of Sea change. There is a solid foundation of industry participation but the challenge of increasing numbers of marine related firms and encouraging greater involvement in research projects remains.
The following map provides details on Industry performers/partners involved in R&D projects funded via NDP Marine Research Sub-Programme and EU FP7 Programmes. By selecting tick boxes icons will be displayed on the map. By placing the pointer over an icon information will be displayed in relation to the icon. The navigational keys can be used to zoom in/out as required.