According to the NDP document, public funding of Research and Development (R&D) has risen rapidly in recent years, more than doubling between 2000 and 2005.
However, it is still perceived that Ireland’s performance in R&D is still behind that of the leading countries and so through the NDP there is increased investment in R&D. Great.
Looking at the Science Technology and Innovation (STI) Programme there are a number of sub-programmes:
`# World Class Research STI Sub-Programme;
`# Enterprise STI Sub-Programme;
`# Agri-Food Research Sub-Programme;
`# Energy Research Sub-Programme;
`# Marine Research Sub-Programme;
`# Geoscience Sub-Programme;
`# Health Research Sub-Programme; and
`# Environment Research Sub-Programme.
All described in NDP Chapter 8: Enterprise, Science and Innovation Priority (application/pdf)
At least at the moment, the ones of most interest to me are the World Class Research STI Sub-Programme and Enterprise STI Sub-Programme.