26.10.2011
The Environmental Research Institute, UCC, has received a “high impact” score for its research in a study into the commercial and economic impact of the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI)1.
The report, entitled “Ten Years On: Confirming Impacts from Research Investment”, was commissioned by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and presents an independent assessment of the commercial and economic impacts arising from exchequer investment in the centres initially funded via the PRTLI programme over its first three investment cycles. The study found that the ERI had a high impact in all six evaluation categories (commercial, human capital, capability, reputation, national policy, wider impacts). The ERI was also the only Institute/Centre which had received funding in the environment and marine area in Ireland that demonstrated impacts across all six categories. The ERI was able to demonstrate commercial impact despite the report stating that “securing commercial impacts...in social sciences, humanities, environment or marine related disciplines...was neither feasible nor any part of the reason for which investments were made in these areas”. The ERI was also one of the top ten PRTLI funded Institutes in generating income from non-exchequer and industry sources.
The independent study deployed a comprehensive methodology that mapped the relationships between inputs, outputs, outcomes and impacts of the PRTLI supported centres and focused only on identifying impacts which could be directly validated by industry. The impacts were considered under 6 categories:
Commercial impacts: Industry collaboration, spin-out companies and sale of licenses
Research capability: Attraction of non-Exchequer funding for research activity, conferences, publications that generate income, efficiency of research activity
Wider economic impacts: Improved environmental outcomes, cultural/tourism impacts
National policy impacts: Producing research outputs that influence national policy, expertise advising govt on policy & impacts
Human capital impacts: Pathway of researchers, attraction of expertise to Ireland, quality of graduates, human capital resource for industry
Profile and reputational impacts: Enhanced Ireland research reputation factor in inward investment & development of profile and reputation encouraging indigenous industry
The report reveals a significant improvement in research performance in the centres supported by the PRTLI programme between 2000 and 2009 e.g. trebling of the level of publications produced per annum, level of citations increasing almost ten-fold hosted, 7 times the number of conferences and an annual PhD graduate base of over 12 times the level in 2000. The improved performance has allowed Ireland to achieve a position where it sits above the EU and world averages and is on a par with that of the OECD in terms of research performance indicators. The report notes however that although Ireland‘s innovation system has made significant progress in developing world-class research and development facilities and expertise, it is still not as mature as other leading systems and further investment will be required in order to bring it onto the same stage. A copy of the report can be downloaded from the HEA website (www.hea.ie).
1 The PRTLI programme was established in 1998 to strengthen national research capabilities through investment in physical infrastructure and human capital, channelled through 45 specific specialist research centres and initiatives within and across institutions. Under the programme, funding has been deployed across the sciences (including biosciences and biomedical, environment and marine, platform technologies and materials), technologies (ICT and Advanced Communications) and social sciences and humanities as well as providing strategic investment in a number of university library facilities. The role of PRTLI was specifically focused on building research infrastructure and basic research capability in institutions, allowing a more strategic approach to be put in place; the aim was to put in place the conditions that would allow the right type of activities and projects to subsequently proceed.