Financial support by the Irish Government has played a major role in the development of the bioeconomy in Ireland to date, and public funding will continue to be vital in the years ahead.
Research & Innovation
Investment in research has been essential in laying the foundations for the Irish bioeconomy. For example, since 2014, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has invested over €40 million in fundamental and applied bioeconomy-related research. This funding has been responsible for developing research capacity, capability and knowledge outputs for the development of the bioeconomy. Examples include U-Protein, NXTGENWOOD, and InformBio.
Other research funding agencies, such as Science Foundation Ireland and Irish Research Council (now Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland), Teagasc, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), Bord Iascaigh Mhara, and Marine Institute, have also contributed considerably to expanding the knowledge base for Ireland’s bioeconomy through investments in research. For example, BiOrbic Bioeconomy SFI Research Centre, CircBioCityWaste and CABBBIE.
In the years ahead, Government investment towards research will remain a cornerstone to our bioeconomy development, ensuring constant support for the development of innovative biobased products, nature-based solutions, rural, regional and coastal development, sustainability and circularity. This commitment to investment is underpinned through Ireland’s Bioeconomy Action Plan, with specific policy pillars and actions in place to ensure the bioeconomy is embedded as a topic in future national research funding programmes such as DAFM’s Thematic Research Calls and the EPA’s Research Calls.
Piloting and Demonstration
However, to help the Irish bioeconomy take the next step in its development, and to advance the research and innovation that has been carried out to date, the Government is now committed to funding bioeconomy piloting and demonstration activities in Ireland.
The idea behind piloting and demonstration activities is to ‘scale-up’ bioeconomy concepts, to demonstrate their viability in ‘real-world’ settings and, ultimately, to develop biobased innovation and solutions, new markets and value-chains for the biobased materials that are produced at land, sea, during processing, and in our waste sectors. These investments will also bring the bioeconomy to life, tangibly demonstrating the benefits of the bioeconomy to primary producers, industry, businesses, customers, consumers, communities and politicians across the island.
Government investment in these activities will help to address the scientific and financial risk in purchasing capital equipment required to scale up bioeconomy activities, and to deploy the personnel required to run and to sustain these operations. It is expected that other actors, in addition to Government, will have a role to play in funding piloting and demonstration, including academia, the private sector and financial sector. Between 2022 and 2024, DAFM has committed €22 million towards bioeconomy demonstration activities. Other Government Departments, and agencies such as Enterprise Ireland, are also likely to be active in this space.
Find out more on our Bioeconomy Landing Page.