Irish Regions Office Website

June 26, 2009

Third-Level Institutional Research Agreement in BMW Region

The development of research and innovation across the Border, Midland and Western (BMW) Region has received a timely boost with the 17 June signing of a Collaborative Research and Innovation Strategy by the heads of all third-level institutions across the region. The joint initiative combines the individual strengths of NUI Galway, the institutes of technology in Athlone, Dundalk, Galway-Mayo, Letterkenny and Sligo, and St. Angela's College, Sligo and identifies a number of research areas where collaboration will take place, including biomedical science and engineering; environmental science; health services research; marine and energy; food and agriculture; socio-economic sciences and humanities; social entrepreneurship; and software development and applications.

The Director of the BMW Regional Assembly, Gerry Finn has welcomed the signing of the milestone agreement - which was developed under the auspices of Lionra, the Region's higher-education network - as representing a significant boost to the research resources of the regional economy while also ''placing the institutions in a stronger position to seek research and development funding'' and developing the capacity to ''facilitate the necessary shift towards a regional economic base which creates more sustainable and diversified sectors of employment, is more innovative, more knowledge-based and ultimately can compete on an internationally basis - a necessary transition for the future prosperity of the Region''.

The Regional Assembly has highlighted the lack of public funding awarded to the institutes in the BMW Region under the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI) and Science Foundation Ireland programmes and has raised this issue at meetings with An Taoiseach, the Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation and the Chief Science Adviser. However, one of the priorities under the EU co-financed BMW Regional Operational Programme 2007-2013 is to enhance Regional research, innovation and ICT infrastructure and capacity. This focus arises from the Regional Assembly's 2004 Audit of Innovation report which identified an innovation deficit and inadequate entrepreneurial character when compared to the Southern and Eastern Region. This agreement also tallies with the vision set out in the Assembly's Regional Foresight 2005-2025 exercise of an innovative, knowledge-based and competitive BMW Region.

http://www.bmwassembly.ie/news/press/Research%20Signature.html

Posted by iroronan at June 26, 2009 04:56 PM