Seated (l-r): James. J. Browne, President, NUI Galway; Ciarán Ó Catháin, President, Athlone IT; Denis Cummins, President, Dundalk IT; Paul Hannigan, President, Letterkenny IT; Standing (l-r): Terry Smith, Vice-President for Research, NUI Galway; Patrick Delassus, Head of Research, Galway/Mayo IT; Martin Hynes, Executive Director, Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET); PJ O’Reilly, Regional Manager for Research and Development and Technology Transfer, Enterprise Ireland 5; Pat Mulhern, Head of Research, Athlone IT; Adrian O’Donoghue, Policy and Research Officer, BMW Regional Assembly.

“Third-Level Institutional Research Agreement Major Boost to the BMW Region”

The Director of the BMW Regional Assembly, Mr. Gerry Finn welcomed the signing of a Collaborative Research and Innovation Strategy by the heads of the third-level institutions in the Border, Midland and Western (BMW) Region on June 17th. This agreement which was developed under the auspices of Líonra, the BMW Region’s higher-education network, combines the individual strengths of NUI Galway, the institutes of technology in Athlone, Dundalk, Galway-Mayo, Letterkenny and Sligo, and St. Angela’s College, Sligo. It identifies a number of research areas where collaboration will take place, including; biomedical science and engineering; environmental science, health services research, marine and energy; food and agriculture; socio-economic sciences and humanities; social entrepreneurship; and software development and applications.

Mr. Finn stated, “This agreement represents a significant positive milestone for the Region. It will boost the research resources of the regional economy while also placing the institutions in a stronger position to seek research and development funding. The development of the research and innovative capacity of the Region will facilitate the necessary shift towards a regional economic base which creates more sustainable and diversified sectors of employment, is more innovative, more knowledge-based and ultimately can compete on an internationally basis - a necessary transition for the future prosperity of the Region and vital especially in the current economic climate”.

The BMW Regional Assembly has promoted the development of the research and development capacity in the BMW Region and has highlighted the lack of public funding awarded to the institutes in the Region under Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI) and Science Foundation Ireland programmes. This issue has been raised by the Assembly at meetings with An Taoiseach, the Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation and the Chief Science Adviser. The Assembly has also supported the activities of Líonra and sits on the management and operational committee of the regional higher education network.

The Director added, “One of the priorities under the BMW Regional Operational Programme 2007-2013 is to enhance the research, innovation and ICT infrastructure and capacity of the BMW Region. This priority area was chosen for the programme following the outcome of the BMW Regional Assembly’s Audit of Innovation report conducted in 2004 which found that the Region had an innovation deficit and was less entrepreneurial than the Southern and Eastern Region. This joint BMW research initiative can support the actions under this priority which are co-funded from the European Union and also supports the vision for the Region as set out in the Assembly’s regional foresight exercise 2005-2025 which envisages an innovative, knowledge-based and competitive BMW Region”.

Mr. Finn concluded, “I would like to congratulate the institutions on reaching this agreement and we look forward to working with Líonra and our higher education institutions to facilitate the development of research and innovation in the Region”.

ENDS

22.06.09

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