Sustainability of Research Centres - Advisory Science Council

Chairman’s Statement
I am very pleased to present the Advisory Council for Science Technology and Innovation’s report on
Sustainability of Research Centres, which was developed based on evidence collected from national and
international sources, deliberations of a task force, inputs from stakeholders and final deliberations of the
Council.
Following over a decade of significant national investment in research, development and innovation, a
diverse collection of research centres has been established and these now constitute a substantial part of
the publicly funded research base. It is now timely to review how best to support research centres in the
future – in particular those that receive/have received a specific funding stream from a Government
department or agency - with a view to further evolving and strengthening the research centre landscape.
This report finds that that there is a broad range of issues in relation to sustainability of these research
centres. These issues are linked to the mix and profile of research centres in the landscape, the need for
funding models that support individual centres to achieve sustainability and the need for oversight of the
landscape to meet research, development and innovation requirements. The study has also found that a
gap exists in the current research centre landscape that needs to be addressed in order to support the full
spectrum of commercial opportunities emanating from research.
The recommendations set out in this report are aimed at optimising the future return on State investment
in research centres. They are based on a premise that not all centres can or should survive indefinitely,
but should be funded in a manner that enables them to evolve and deliver on their expected outputs in a
sustainable manner. The recommendations add together to provide a vision for the future research centre
landscape and a framework for achieving this through oversight of the landscape and a set of funding
model guides.
I would like to thank John McGowan, who chaired the task force on this topic, for his generously given
time to this work and to the Council. I would also like to thank his fellow task force members for their
oversight of the detailed studies that provide the basis for the Council’s recommendations. The report has
benefited from the many stakeholders who provided input and made themselves available for
consultation. Finally, I would like to acknowledge Forfás for the research, analysis and secretariat support
provided during the course of this study.
Tom McCarthy, Chairman of The Advisory Council for Science, Technology and Innovation
Sustainability of Research Centres iii June 2012