The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton TD, together with the Minister for Research and Innovation Sean Sherlock TD, today [Friday] announced new structures to make it easier to commercialise and ultimately create jobs from ideas developed through publicly-funded research, which currently receives total funding of over €800million per year.

Today’s announcement represents the delivery of a key commitment in the Programme for Government and the Action Plan for Jobs 2012.

The new structures, which aim to encourage more businesses to commercialise R&D by ensuring that they can access the results of State-funded R&D with greater ease and certainty, include:

·        A new Central Technology Transfer Office, to act as a one-stop shop for businesses seeking to use intellectual property deriving from publicly-funded research

·        Standardised intellectual property terms, which will facilitate easy-to-set-up agreements between businesses and researchers

·        Generous commercial terms to encourage businesses to engage with researchers, and to use the results of research to develop new products and services

·        Improved management of Intellectual Property

Over the past ten years, Ireland has built up a substantial infrastructure, expertise and international reputation for scientific research and innovation. In 2003 Ireland was ranked 36th in the world for quality of scientific research output; in 2010 we were 20th. In 2000 our total spend on publicly-funded R&D was €290million; in 2010 it was €872 million.

The new Government committed in the Programme for Government and the Action Plan for Jobs to improve commercial outcomes from this activity, and actions taken over the past year to deliver on this include:

·        the approval of legislation to extend the remit of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) to include applied research, and

·        the implementation of Research Prioritisation to ensure that publicly-funded research is aimed at areas with the greatest potential for commercialisation and job-creation.

Making the announcement today at NovaUCD, the UCD Innovation and Technology Transfer Office, Minister Bruton said: “A key part of the Government’s plan for jobs and growth is ensuring that we create more products, services and ultimately jobs from Ireland’s top quality scientific research system. The quality of our R&D is already a major part of the reason for the success of our multinational and indigenous companies – but we must do more.

“Today’s announcement marks a major evolution of the relationship between industry and publicly-funded research. It will create a world-class new system that will make it easier and faster for entrepreneurs and companies to negotiate a commercial arrangement with researchers. It will provide a significant improvement to Ireland’s international offering and encourage more companies to locate here.  It will encourage more multinationals and indigenous companies to use the IP generated by Irish R&D to create products and services and ultimately create more jobs.

“I would like to commend all involved, in particular Jim Mountjoy who chaired the IP Implementation Group, on all their work to date”.

Minister Sherlock said:  “Using the standardised terms in the new Protocol will support both industry parties and research performing organisations in making their commercial negotiations faster, more consistent and more transparent.  A Central Technology Transfer Office (cTTO) will be established to act as a ‘one stop shop’ for industry engagement with the research system to find all research opportunities and IP that has been generated across the entire publicly funded research system.

“The policies set out in the IP Protocol will also support the building of relationships with industry that will support a sustainable flow of commercialisation activities and build networks of long-term knowledge sharing”.

Today the Secretary General of the Department of Finance came before the PAC. To watch the proceedings click here, to watch my contribution scroll to 02.26.14.

We’re debating a Bill that gives legislative effect to two changes to the EU treaties. One relates in part to the referendum that was just held last week, and the other relates to the referendum held on the Lisbon Treaty 3 years ago.

I remember when Lisbon 2 was passed the conclusion was that there would be little new on the horizon by way of attempting to amend the functioning of the European Union. The internal naval gazing was done and the immediate future would be spent examining the EU’s role in external issues. The pundits were wrong.

It is a fact of our relationship with Europe now that we proceed by referendum. That on the main issues of the day we consult the people before we can continue.

We will be consulting them again in the near future for it is certain that there is more to come in our quest to save the Euro. But we don’t need to march blindly on, wondering what changes may come and then discussing them only at the last minute in the pressure of a referendum campaign, where other interests and other political motives come in to play.

A massive shift in the functioning of the EU is under way through these efforts to make the currency union a viable one. It’s time we started talking about the end game – what we believe it should be, and what we are willing to do to get there.

We need our own vision for Europe and our place in it. And now is the time to begin that discussion. We have room now, with the Stability Treaty passed and access to funding guaranteed post 2013.

We have our fiscal stability plan. But currency unions require more than that. Eurobonds, direct ESM intervention in the banking system, require more than that. They require more than just coherence in planning. They require coherence in fiscal instruments at the very least (taxation), if not some form of central control of the fiscal levers of the State.

So it’s time to figure out where we stand on some of our key taxation issues, if we’re to understand and chart the right direction for the future of Europe.

Where do we stand on a Financial Transaction Tax? We say we will only move with the UK, but they are not inside the Euro. We say we will not budge on our corporation tax – but would we give control of this up, even if only in principle, if it meant a write-off of the legacy banking debt, some 68 billion? If not, that has implications for our future with the Euro.

These are key questions in so far as the current direction that Europe is taking led by Chancellor Merkel. Better to prepare for them now, to prepare for ours and Europe’s future. Because a bigger referendum is surely to come. We need the Euro to survive. It’s time to start asking ourselves some honest questions about what we are willing to do to make sure that it does, and us with it.

And it seems to me that the constitutional convention, that is soon to be established, might just be the best place to do this. It would make sense to put it on their agenda and it should be one of the very first questions they consider. We should also establish a committee in here to look at the same issues. If Europe is going in the wrong direction for us we need to see that now so that we can start changing it, quickly.

Click here to watch my statement

First phase of €0.5M marketing campaign will promote Ireland as a hassle-free holiday

Tourism Ireland will be targeting more than eight million Londoners this month to promote Ireland as a hassle-free holiday from the Olympic Games, Minister of State for Tourism & Sport Michael Ring has confirmed.

The ‘Escape The Madness’ ad campaign from Tourism Ireland will target Londoners by presenting the island of Ireland as the ideal ‘escape’ destination during this busy time. This represents the first phase of a €0.5M campaign to promote Irish tourism during the Olympics.

Minister Michael Ring explained: ‘While the Olympics will be a very exciting time in London, the event will inevitably draw huge crowds. Commuting and day-to-day life will become that bit more hectic for Londoners. Around 18 million extra journeys will be taken on the London underground between the opening ceremony on July 27th and the closing ceremony on September 9th. The Government, and Tourism Ireland, are using this opportunity to present the island of Ireland as the ideal escape destination during this busy time’.

Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said: ‘This summer’s Olympic Games present a unique opportunity to showcase the island of Ireland. With a global audience of about 4 billion, this is the largest sporting event in the world and Tourism Ireland intends to maximise the tourism potential for Ireland of the games. The proximity of the games in London provides Tourism Ireland with a wonderful opportunity to showcase Ireland as a top holiday and business destination’.

Over 8 million people living in London will see Tourism Ireland’s ‘escape the madness’ ad campaign this June. Ads will run on the London underground and over 200 large ads will appear at different tube stations across the city.  Ads will also appear in the Evening Standard, the popular free daily newspaper which is read by millions of commuters each day. Aer Lingus ads will run at the same time in the Evening Standard with attractive fares from London.

Tourism Ireland is also working with hostelbookers.com, promoting B&B and hostels stays in Ireland this summer. Social media will also help create awareness of all the great things to see and do in Ireland. A campaign on Facebook (Tourism Ireland has almost 120,000 fans across GB) and Twitter (over 2,300 followers) will see Tourism Ireland post status updates on the Olympic Torch Relay in Ireland and messages about Ireland will be posted regularly before and during the games. The hashtag #Escapethemadness will be used to create lively conversations about Ireland on the social networks in GB.

A specially-created web page on discoverireland.com is also promoting the torch relay in Ireland, as well as the key sporting events and festivals taking place across Ireland this summer. And a ‘next door neighbours’ initiative in conjunction with the Arts Council is highlighting seven festivals – including the Cork Midsummer Festival, the Clonmel Junction Festival, Eargail Arts Festival, Galway Arts Festival, Kilkenny Arts Festival, Absolut Fringe and the Dublin Theatre Festival. These festivals are highlighted on discoverireland.com/gb.

A busy PR and publicity programme is also under way. A series of itineraries for the thousands of accredited and non-accredited media visiting London from across the globe has been developed, encouraging them to come here either before, during or after the games – with options of 24- and 48-hour trips to Dublin and Belfast; 72-hour visits to the west of Ireland and Northern Ireland; ideas for golf in Ireland; as well as information on the various festivals happening right around the island of Ireland this summer.

Tourism Ireland is working closely with key tour operators in all our overseas markets. The visa waiver scheme, launched in 2011, is being highlighted in our emerging markets like China and India. A print piece, outlining all the reasons to travel to Ireland this summer, called ‘Take a Leap in to Ireland’ has been distributed to tour operators. Tourism Ireland is also working with the official Olympics tour operators in a number of markets, to assist them in offering package extensions to Ireland for their clients who are attending the games.

A message to supporters in Dublin South East:

The Minister for Research and Innovation, Mr. Sean Sherlock, TD, has  announced online consultations for the work of the Copyright Review Committee, and their wide-ranging Consultation Paper (see here) which examines the current Copyright legislative framework to identify any areas of the legislation that might be deemed to create barriers to innovation.

The Minister said:
“I welcome the Consultation Paper which I was delighted to launch on the 29th February last, and I encourage the widest possible participation in the consultation process. I am committed to reviewing and updating the Copyright legislation currently in place in order to strike the correct balance between encouraging innovation and protecting creativity, and the work of the Committee is very important in this regard.”

The Committee now has a dedicated website at http://www.djei.ie/science/ipr/crc.htm
and it will be directly linked from the Department’s homepage until the Review process is complete. The Committee’s site provides various ways to participate in the consultation process. As well as by post and email, the Committee has prepared an online questionnaire [https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CRC12] to reply to the questions they pose in the Consultation Paper. It is available from the Committee’s website.

“I hope that interested parties will find this innovative option to be helpful” the Minister added.

“I am also grateful to the Irish Internet Association for providing an online mechanism to collate its members’ views and to gather the views of others on the Paper. Moreover, I would also welcome any similar initiatives undertaken by other online representative groups. The wider the consultation on the Committee’s work is, the better the outcome will be.

The Committee hopes to provide draft heads of a Copyright and Related Rights (Innovation) (Amendment) Bill, 2012, to implement its recommendations, and one of the questions which they pose in the Paper is whether all of the amendments to the Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000 which are still in force should be consolidated into that proposed Bill. I welcome this suggestion, and its implementation would provide an opportunity in due course to update the provisions of the various Regulations in force (including the European Union (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2012 (S.I. No. 59 of 2012)) if and when they are being incorporated into that Bill.”

The Chairman of the Committee, Dr Eoin O’Dell, welcomed the Minister’s remarks, and said:
“I particularly welcome the Minister’s view that the various Regulations now in force might be updated at a later stage. In the meantime, I hope that discussions will engage with the issues in our Consultation Paper, and that those who are interested in doing so via the internet will participate in our online questionnaire.”

Submissions on the Consultation Paper can be made via the “online questionnaire” on the Committee’s website, or directly to the Department. In either case, submissions should be received by close of business on Friday 13 April 2012. There will also be a public meeting from 10:00am until 12:00 noon, on Saturday 24 March 2012, in the Robert Emmet Lecture Theatre, Room 2037 Arts Block, Trinity College Dublin. Attendance is free and open to anyone interested in the work of the Committee, but registration is necessary.

To make a written submission, or to register for the public meeting, please email the Review at copyrightreview@djei.ie or write to Copyright Review, Room 517, Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

Richard Bruton, today announced that Smartbox, one of Europe’s leading players in the production of gift vouchers and rewards, is to establish an International Strategy, B2B, Project Management, Digital, Supply Chain and IT Centre of Excellence and expand its Financial Shared Services Centre in Dublin.

The company is already transferring its data centre to Ireland and has started recruiting for 50 new jobs with the potential to create a further 20 new jobs over the next 18 months. The investment is encouraged by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland.

Smartbox currently employs close to 1000 people worldwide and offers high quality gift boxes containing a directory of amenities and a voucher enabling the customer to choose between hundreds of selected experiences. Each gift box typically offers between forty and two thousand options depending on activity choice or theme e.g. 100 hotels in a region, 1000 spa retreats, 50 golf weekends, 200 culinary delights etc. The jobs to be created are in the areas of IT infrastructure, software development, supply chain management, digital, B2B, project management and financial management operations.

The establishment of this international centre will result in particular in the Irish operation taking full responsibility for the development of new Smartbox technology platforms to be used for global expansion. This expansion is part of the company’s global strategy to target international markets, to grow online and complements their existing European focus and operations.

Making the announcement, Minister Bruton said:
“A central part of the Government’s plan for jobs and growth is developing and deepening the impact of multinational companies here, and targeting high-growth sectors and companies which have the potential to create large numbers of jobs. Smartbox is one such company operating in one such sector, and today’s announcement that this young company is expanding its operations here and substantially increasing its employment is great news and further evidence of what is possible in a stable Irish economy. By implementing the Government’s plan for jobs and growth, I am convinced that we will see a continued flow of investment and jobs from multinational companies in the coming months”.

Commenting on the announcement Erwan Corre, COO of Smartbox said, ‘Smartbox first opened an Irish operation when it established its European Shared Services Centre in Swords, Co. Dublin in 2009. This operation has been highly successful and as a result of this, Ireland will now play a major role in our plans to maintain industry leadership and expand geographically to build a dominant global presence. I would like to thank the Irish Government and IDA Ireland for their continued support and look forward to further building on the success of Smartbox operations in Ireland.’

Welcoming the announcement, Barry O’Leary, CEO of IDA Ireland said, ‘The decision by Smartbox to expand its Irish operations to become the hub for international operations is very welcome news. The company is the global leader and the inventor of the experience gift box concept. The expansion of the Smartbox mandate in Ireland positions the Irish operation as a strategic partner with the parent company, enabling it to grow and expand the business to new markets and customers around the world’.

‘The increase in the Smartbox mandate here displays the company’s confidence in Ireland as a location for its international operations. Ireland provides Smartbox, and companies of its calibre, with a highly-skilled English language and multi-lingual workforce, operational flexibility, a stable business environment and among all a strong IT infrastructure. I look forward to witnessing the continued growth of Smartbox in Ireland and offer the ongoing support of IDA Ireland,’ Mr. O’Leary concluded.

Richard Bruton TD, has launched new Government-backed standards to help provide guidance to businesses small and large on moving to cloud computing.

The announcement marks the delivery of a Q2 measure under Action Plan for Jobs 2012. The National Standards Authority of Ireland in partnership with the Irish Internet Association (IIA), yesterday launched the new standards, entitled, ‘SWiFT 10: Adopting the Cloud – decision support for Cloud computing’. The standard is designed to provide guidance to organisations both large and small on the various issues that need to be considered when moving to the cloud.

Launching the new standards, Minister Bruton said: ‘The launch of new Government-backed standards to help guide businesses of all sizes that are looking to move to the Cloud is an important move by Government to help increase the numbers of Irish businesses, small and large, who successfully adopt the Cloud.

This roadmap is intended for use as a means of assessing Cloud adoption prioritisation and suitability.  The IIA Cloud Computing Working Group is a collaboration of expert practitioners and business leaders (Chief Information Officers, Chief Technical Officers, Heads of IT, Legal, and Consultancy) from a variety of business sectors and organisation sizes in Ireland.