What's Happening
PRESS RELEASE
16th October 2009
€7M US-IRELAND R&D PARTNERSHIPS ANNOUNCED
Four tri-partite US-Ireland R&D partnerships valued at €7m have been announced at a recent event hosted by the US Ambassador to Ireland in Dublin.
The event saw Minister for Labour Affairs Dara Calleary gather with Northern Ireland Minister for Employment and Learning Sir Reg Empey and Ambassador Dan Rooney to announce the partnerships on behalf of the US-Ireland R&D Partnership.
Mr Calleary welcomed the announcement, saying: “Building a smart, innovative economy is about the development and application of human capital – the knowledge, skills and creativity of people- and our ability and effectiveness in translating ideas into valuable processes, products and services.
“We see the US-Ireland R&D Partnership as an important mechanism for achieving high growth and helping bring about the economic regeneration of the island.”
The Partnership was established to develop innovations leading to economic development and improvements in health promotion and disease prevention by bringing together expertise from academic institutes in the US, Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is led by a steering group of senior representatives from each jurisdiction, with InterTradeIreland providing the secretariat for the group on the island of Ireland.
While one of the tri-partite partnerships aims to help key policymakers predict the impacts of future climate change, another will concentrate on protecting public health by aiding authorities to provide early warning of contamination and enable preventative measures to be implemented.
A third partnership focuses on economic development opportunities for telecommunications, medical, security and automotive sectors by investigating the development of energy efficient transistor devices.
The fourth partnership is engaged in extensive genetic research on the complications associated with diabetes and has the potential to provide targets for the development of novel treatments .
US Ambassador Dan Rooney welcomed the partnerships, saying: “These successful projects have come through a US review process that is the international gold standard for research excellence.
“This clearly demonstrates the high quality of advanced research across the island of Ireland and adds greatly to its reputation as a centre of innovation that can compete on an international stage.”
NI Minister Sir Reg Empey said: “By collaborating, we are pooling our respective research expertise and leveraging additional investment to support projects that will benefit each of our jurisdictions and make a significant contribution to the wellbeing of all our people.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
- The US-Ireland R&D Partnership was established to increase the level of collaborative R&D among researchers across Ireland, Northern Ireland and the US in the areas of nanotechnology, sensor technology, diabetes and cystic fibrosis.
- The US-Ireland R&D Partnership is guided by a steering group comprised of senior representatives from each jurisdiction. InterTradeIreland provides the secretariat on the island of Ireland for the Steering Group and coordinates on strategic issues with the US secretariat which is currently in the office of the Deputy Secretary for Health and Human Services
Costs for successful projects are provided as follows:
- In Ireland, costs are covered by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)
- In Northern Ireland, funding for nanotechnology and sensors projects is provided by the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL), with Invest NI offering travel grants for pre-proposal consortium building. The remaining health-related priority areas (cystic fibrosis and diabetes) are covered by Health and Social Care R&D, Public Health Agency in partnership with the UK Medical Research Council.
Further information on successful projects
Project 1: (Greenhouse gas measurement) Development of a Greenhouse Gas Ocean–Atmosphere Flux Sensor with MEMS–based Photoacoustic Technology
Partners: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Queen's University Belfast, National University of Ireland, Galway
NSF contribution - $612,269
DEL contribution - £350,570
SFI contribution - €463,058
Project 2: (Drinking water and seafood toxin sensors) Biosafety for Environmental Contaminants using Novel Sensors
Partners: University of Maine, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, Queen’s University Belfast, Dublin City University
NSF contribution - $370,490
DEL contribution - £215,687
SFI contribution – €257,442
Project 3: (Low-power devices) Future Oxides and Channel Materials for Ultimate Scaling of Transistors in Integrated Circuits
Partners: University of Texas at Dallas, Queen's University Belfast, Tyndall National Institute, Dublin City University
NSF contribution - $329,999
DEL contribution - £297,534
SFI contribution – €354,064
Project 4: (Diabetes & renal disease genetics) Genome-wide association studies of diabetic nephropathy
Partners: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Belfast Health & Social Care Trust / Queen's University Belfast, University College Dublin
NIH contribution - $3,100,000
HSC R&D contribution - £985,000 in partnership with the UK Medical Research Council
SFI contribution – €823,000
CONTACT INFORMATION
- For media enquiries contact : Jonny Ireland, DCP PR, 02890 402296
- For enquiries about the US-Ireland R&D Partnership please contact: Rachael Downing, InterTradeIreland, Rachael.downing@intertradeireland.com 028 30834161 (048 if calling from Ireland)
- For media enquiries about successful projects please contact:
Ireland: Alva O’Cleirigh, SFI, alva.ocleirigh@sfi.ie Tel: 01 607 3249
Northern Ireland: Lisa McElroy, QUB, lisa.mcelroy@qub.ac.uk Tel: 028 9097 5384