The project falls under the US-Ireland R&D Partnership, a tri-jurisdictional initiative established in 2006 with the aim of supporting collaborative research projects involving partners in Ireland, Northern Ireland and the US.
A new all-island research program will support Irish-US collaboration between researchers, innovators and industry partners through a $20m investment.
The ‘research translation and commercialization programme’ is a dual project funded by Research Ireland, the Northern Ireland Department of the Economy and the US National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Director of Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP).
This project falls under the US-Ireland R&D Partnership, a tri-jurisdictional initiative established in 2006 with the aim of supporting collaborative research projects involving partners in Ireland, Northern Ireland and the US by bringing together government departments, funding agencies, academic institutions and industry to address shared scientific, economic and social challenges.
The programme, which will be open to current and previous tripartite partnership awardees who have received US support from NSF, is also funded in part by the Irish Government’s Shared Island Fund and is supported by InterTradeIreland, the cross-border trade and business development arm of the island’s economic co-operation.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin, TD said: “The US-Ireland R&D partnership is a powerful example of how sustainable international collaboration delivers real benefits for our people, our economy and our research community.
“This new investment builds on 20 years of success and will help ensure that the cutting-edge research being done across the island of Ireland and the United States can be translated into real-world solutions and high-value jobs.”
The new program plans to identify research under the themes of cybersecurity, energy and sustainability, communications, sensors and sensor networks, and nanoscale science and engineering, and was established as an extension project to support the translation of research results from the US-Ireland R&D Partnership into market-ready products, services and solutions.
Northern Ireland’s first minister Michelle O’Neill said: “This new transatlantic project represents an important opportunity to turn excellent research into real benefits for our economy and our communities, while strengthening the strong relationships we have built with our US partners and across the island.”
The collaboration also leads to the development of targeted training programs for collaborating researchers to help them improve their work in translation and commercialization, as well as funding opportunities available to selected participating groups to launch research-related startups.
“For nearly 20 years, the US-Ireland R&D Partnership has not only jointly funded many science and engineering research projects, it has also served as an example of how to successfully manage cross-border research and development,” said Brian Stone, NSF chief of staff.
“Today’s announcement from NSF TIP, the Government of Ireland and the Department of the Economy marks a natural next step in our transatlantic relationship, expanding our collaboration to accelerate the translation of projects into businesses and solutions, which deliver significant scientific, economic and real-world benefits.
The US-Ireland R&D partnership has supported 107 collaborative research projects to date using $196m in joint government funding for research projects across a range of sectors. Examples include: research into next-generation communications and 6G networks by University College Dublin, Queen’s University Belfast and Purdue University; work on sustainable animal health solutions by the University of Tennessee, University College Cork and Queen’s University; and colorectal cancer research by GE Global Research, Queen’s University and the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland.
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