Research & Innovation

At the Global Irish Economic Forum in Dublin Castle on Saturday, Minister for Jobs Mr Richard Bruton announced a joint investment of €10 million by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), in a partnership with leading international biopharmaceutical company AbbVie to undertake new therapeutic research collaborations in Ireland.

The plan will see SFI and AbbVie team up in Cork and Dublin for separate projects, creating 15 new research roles in the process.

In the larger of the two parts to this partnership, AbbVie will collaborate with researchers at SFI’s research centre, the APC Microbiome Institute in UCC, in a bid to identify new treatments for patients with Crohn’s disease.

The five-year investment plan will see €7.5m put towards 11 new research positions, at a site led by Prof Fergus Shanahan.

The other €2.5m will go towards work at the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, working on biomarkers and drug targets for autoimmune and other immune-mediated diseases – the three-year plan will generate a further four new research positions.

Announcing the investment, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Mr Richard Bruton, T.D, commented :

“At the heart of our jobs plan is supporting more investment by both industry and the public sector in scientific research. Today’s announcement that my Department, through SFI, and AbbVie, a world-leading company in this area, are collaborating to invest €10 million in ground-breaking research is a great example of what we are trying to achieve.” Then he added :

“This clearly demonstrates the importance and value of Government supporting high quality researchers in our academic institutes which enables them to partner with multinational companies to undertake research in Ireland. I wish Jim and his team every success and look forward to working with them in the future.”