DUBLIN, Ireland ¿ Biotechnology research in Ireland is in line for a substantial boost, following formal government approval last week for EUR711 million (US$684 million) technology foresight fund for biotechnology and information technology. The fund represents the single largest commitment to research the state has undertaken.

A newly appointed implementation body ¿ which includes Frank Gannon, an Irishman who is executive director of the European Molecular Biology Organization in Heidelberg, Germany ¿ will establish a research foundation over the next three months. It will supervise the allocation of funding and appoint panels of national and international experts who will identify research areas in accord with national priorities.

The overall aim is to build a world-class research capability in selected niches to underpin industrial development. The fund is part of the government¿s national development program, under which R&D in industry and higher education will receive almost EUR2.5 billion over the next seven years.

According to Deirdre O¿Higgins at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, which has steered this initiative, the foresight fund is intended for research projects, rather than physical infrastructure. In the run-up to last week¿s announcement, the university sector had expressed concerns that the cash would be spent on independent ¿mega-institutes.¿

¿What we¿re trying to do is get the research happening. This is mostly about people. The bricks and mortar are a side issue,¿ O¿Higgins told BioWorld International.

Nevertheless, the research foundation will have an option to establish its own research facilities. ¿It will be on the basis of a needs analysis,¿ O¿Higgins said. Her department is keen to attract international talent to the country, and government development agencies will market the initiative overseas.

The Irish BioIndustry Association (IBIA) expressed support for the government line. ¿We recognize the need for something additional to the existing research infrastructure,¿ said Matt Moran, IBIA director. He was upbeat about the impact this initiative will have on the overall climate for biotechnology in Ireland. ¿If this works, which we believe it will, it¿s going to attract private money,¿ he said.

¿It will make a dramatic difference,¿ said Jim Ryan, director of BioResearch Ireland, the state agency that commercializes life sciences research from the higher education sector. Over the past few years, he said, the flow of technologies with commercial potential has fallen off considerably. Under this initiative, universities will be able to assemble large teams with sufficient critical mass to make an international impact, he said.

¿It¿s one of the things that has been missing,¿ Ryan noted.