In addition to the governments capital investment in education under the National Development Plan 2007-2013) the Irish Government announced in June 2006, a new Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation, involving an investment of €8.2 billion over the next seven years.

The strategy aims for a doubling of postgraduates, with 1,000 PhDs every year by 2013 and a further 315 postgraduates in the humanities and social sciences. Five main areas of the economy will be opened up for hugely enhanced R&D - agri-food, marine industries, energy, healthcare and the environment.

As part of an overall strategy to attract, develop and support enterprise funding forms part of an over enterprise strategy that includes providing corporate tax credits for research and development and one of the most attractive jurisdictions in the world for intellectual property taxation.

Find out more about Ireland's R&D Benefits

Research and Development funding in Ireland

Intellectual Property

Research and Development Tax credits