Sustainability of Research Centres - Advisory Science Council

Chapter 6: Summary of Vision for Future Research Centre
Landscape
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 when they are desired and needed in the landscape they 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. Any difficulties in operationalising
these recommendations should be overcome through effective coordination of the government
department and agencies responsible for implementation in partnership with the national research
performers.
The vision for the future State-supported research centre landscape that has been developed in this study
is for a system of State-supported research centres to operate in a dynamic manner with strategic entry
and exit of research centres. Exit and entry of centres should be influenced by the individual and
collective RDI performance of the research centres, the alignment with the priorities areas identified in
the NRPE (and any subsequent future revisions of the priority areas), evolution of the missions of HEIs, the
need to support evolution of the industrial base, and fiscal constraints. We should expect to see an
evolution in which there will be the creation of new centres, the growth of existing centres where they
enhance delivery on their current mandate, the broadening of the mandate of some centres to incorporate
near to market activity, the evolution of some centres away from their current mandate, and the wind-up
of some centres.
The evolution of the State-supported portfolio of research centres will be assisted and guided by a system
level view and functioning oversight mechanism thus improving the optimisation of return on investments.
All stakeholders (public sector, academic and industry) will be able to engage in discussions on the
landscape at a high level assisted by the use of a simple taxonomy of research centres that reflects the
full spectrum of research centres, and, which are clearly associated with a rationale for public support
and an associated balance of emphasis on academic and commercial outputs.
Based on the assumption of a leaner budget in the upcoming years, there will be a smaller number of
individual centres in the future landscape than currently exists. Exchequer funding will be refocused as
required in order to ensure that centres that remain in the landscape are being funded in a manner that
allows them to deliver on their expected outputs in a sustainable manner. These centres in turn will
appropriately leverage State investment from non-exchequer sources. The centres will have the required
staffing, stability, and equipment and facilities needed to deliver on their objectives and only centres that
perform positively against evaluation will remain in the landscape.
Sustainability of Research Centres 50 June 2012