I would offer a number of observations on Adrian’s post:

• I understand that it takes 18 months for a patent application to be published after it has been filed.  Hence, these figures probably refer to patents filed in 2005 and 2006.
• Ireland is relatively late to the game here.  Significant funding for research in Ireland, through SFI, has only been around since about 2002.  Given that it can take a number of years to invent the thing, whatever the thing is, we’re still pretty early on.
• While patent filings and awards are an important metric, we have to be careful that they do not become the be all and end all of the academic research process. Otherwise, we will end up incentivising people (through renewed research funding) to just file patents, without regard to whether those patents have any merit or commercial potential.

One final point worth bearing in mind, which these figures obscure, is that the patent filing culture is very different across different sectors and industries. In the pharma/drug discovery space, patent filings of new molecules is all important, and a real driver of activity. In my own area (software) this is much less the case.

All of this notwithstanding, SFI are tracking patent filings and awards, in particular in our larger CSET and SRC programmes, and will be monitoring this issue on an on-going basis.

As Fat Tony says, “it’s funny ‘cos it’s true“

This is reported in today’s Irish Times Motoring supplement. The ubiquitous Conor Faughnan is quoted as saying that

there was a danger of setting speed limits which were too low. He said in rush hour traffic the N11 limit was academic, but with an almost empty three lane carriageway at 2am and limiting people to only 60km/h undermined limits generally and was unlikely to be obeyed.

I sometimes have to wonder whether the people who make these by-laws ever actually use the roads (and indeed whether they obey their own rules).

Must read all the documents on the council site, and make my feelings known in due course to:

Senior Engineer, Transportation Traffic, County Hall, Marine Road, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. speedlimit@dlrcoco.ie.

From the SFI press release:

Monday 24th November 2008 Dublin has been chosen as the City of Science for 2012. Announcing the decision today Minister Jimmy Devins TD Minister FOR Science Technology and Innovation hailed the decision as recognition of the great strides that Ireland has made in the area of science technology and innovation.

Dublin will host Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) in 2012. Dublin will aim to attract 8,000 Irish and International delegates while engaging
50,000 citizens in a truly Olympic of European Research style event in July 2012. The third edition of this bi-annual festival was held this year in Barcelona. Dublin’s Bid Committee held a range of highly successful visibility raising activities.

Further reporting is available on RTE, SiliconRepublic an elsewhere.

The paper [The Irish Independent] also reports that Irish venture capital funds have raised EUR500 million in a recent round of fundraising for SMEs. A UCD study found that R&D expenditure in small and medium-size enterprises grew 25 percent in 2007, compared to an increase of 7 percent by other indigenous companies. “It is particularly noteworthy that funding by private investors grew from 4 percent of funds raised in 2007 to 22 percent in 2008,” said Tanaiste Mary Coughlan, at the launch of the study. “This means that the economy is now starting to benefit from ‘angel’ investors and successful entrepreneurs who can contribute experience as well as capital in helping to create Ireland’s next wave of successful high-tech firms.”

Via Brad Feld’s blog, here are a bunch of wonderful cartograms of the voting patterns of the US election.

I was first exposed to this interesting visualisation tool through Stewart Fotheringham’s group in the National Centre for Geocomputation (NCG), where they have used it extensively on Irish census results.

I’m a bit late on this one, but it’s well worth a post anyway. RTE is currently broadcasting its second series of “The Investigators“. SFI is one of the sponsors of the programme, and a number of our investigators (aka researchers) are featured on it.

The first show was broadcast last Thursday (Nov 6), and the next one is scheduled for this Thursday coming. Who knew that scientists could make science look cool. Or at least interesting…

To quote:

Ireland’s researchers are punching above their weight in the world and are quietly making a significant contribution to the improvement of all of our daily lives. Shot and directed by Ciaran O’Connor and voiced by Doireann ni Bhriain this is an entertaining and fascinating look into the work of some of the top minds in the country.  This series will look at some of the most interesting projects which are currently underway and assess what the impact may be on our lives in the future.

Well worth a look. Here’s the official SFI press release.

One of Ireland’s leading SME’s in the mobile space, changingworlds, was acquired by Amdocs last week.

changingworlds was founded a few years ago by Professor Barry Smyth of University College Dublin (and changingworlds Chief Scientist), and was based on mobile personalisation technology that Barry and his former PhD student Paul Cotter developed as part of a research project in UCD.

changingworlds is a great example of the possibilities of a spin out company developing from University-based research. It’s acquisition is a great result for all concerned. Let’s hope that there are plenty more examples like changingworlds in the months and years ahead.

Well done to Barry and all others concerned.

Niall has been short-listed for the next Y Combinator winter round. He’s flying to California this week to present, and if selected, will move there for three months in early 2009. Pretty cool!

Those of you who know anything about Y Combinator, their model, and some of their successes (including Irish startup auctomatic), will know that this is a big deal. It’s a great chance for somebody with the entrepreneurial and technical chops to get in on the ground floor.

To quote from Niall’s site, here’s what he’s looking for:

• Are you technically adept? Our technology stack includes Ruby and AWS, but your track record is much more important than an exact skills portfolio.
• Do you understand the importance of the User Experience? This is a niche product for discerning consumers, and UX is a critical success factor. You’re ready to play the game of inches.
• Have you an entrepreneurial streak? The right person will be enthusiastic, motivated, innovative and strategic, and comfortable with a degree of risk and uncertainty. Essential traits - along with a sense of adventure and fun.

If you’re interested, you can contact Niall directly at niall@cloudsync.fm. Tell him that Steve sent you.

I am also maintaining our very significant investment in promoting the knowledge economy and enterprise development with a total of almost €500 million in Exchequer capital expenditure in 2009.

Of this total, I have provided over €300 million for the continued implementation of the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation to drive world class research and in-company Research and Development with a view to commercialising new ideas and know-how for the longer term benefit of the economy. We have allocated €179 million to Science Foundation Ireland in 2009, up from €172 million this year, while Enterprise Science Technology Innovation will receive a 2.5% year on year increase, bringing it to €127 million in 2009.

Ireland must continue to compete aggressively for overseas investment while supporting the indigenous sector. Enterprise Ireland and the IDA will be well placed in the coming year to ensure that export-led growth continues to underpin economic renewal. The Government will continue to promote research and development, innovation and commercialisation by private enterprise.

On a related matter, I notice that the Government has published a list of the 41 merged and annexed state agencies and quangos mentioned in the budget. On first reading, it look to me like none of these changes will have any direct impact on SFI.  There is one, however, that might have a relatively minor impact on the HEA:

Amalgamation of the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland, the Higher Education and Training Awards Council and the Further Education and Training Awards Council. The new organisation will also take responsibility for the external quality assurance review of the universities, a function which is currently performed by the Irish Universities Quality Board and the Higher Education Authority. In seeking to ensure a coherent approach to qualifications and quality assurance, there will also be discussions with the National University of Ireland around the possibility of including some of the related functions of the NUI in the new organisation.