According to the news report a special Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) Directory “Irish participation in EU FP7 funded competitive marine research projects during the period 2007-2008” prepared by the Marine Institute has been launched. The directory describing 22 collaborative marine research projects with Irish participation, was launched at the recent FP7 Ireland Conference on the 30th June.
During the opening ceremony of the FP7 Ireland Conference, Minister Conor Lenihan, T.D. noted that in the first two years of the €50 billion FP7 Programme (2007-2013), researchers from Irish companies and higher education institutions won funding totaling €107million for collaborative research projects in areas like ICT, health, nano-technology and energy research.
Geoffrey O’Sullivan, the Marine Institute’s International Co-Operation Manager, informed that this achievement of a drawdown of €8.8 million to Irish researchers over the two-year period from 2007 to 2008 – over double the yearly drawdown of €10.6 million over the five-year period of the Sixth Framework programme from 2002 to 2006. He told this demonstrates that the Irish marine research community is of international standard and capable of competing with the best in Europe.
These projects help in the implementation of research priorities identified in the national Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation (SSTI: 2006- 2013) and its marine component, the Sea Change Strategy (2007-2013). It is told that the Irish researchers are involved in 22 collaborative marine research projects worth over €163 million in project costs and are in direct receipt of €8.8 million of grant-aid.
