From Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
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Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, and Minister for Defence and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, have today (Tuesday, 6 July 2021) announced a new Science Foundation Ireland-Defence Organisation Innovation Challenge of €2.4 million. 10 teams will compete for funding to develop disruptive solutions to key Defence Organisation challenges, for use across the Defence Forces.
The Department of Defence and the Defence Forces make up the Defence Organisation, and have identified five challenges for researchers to explore solutions to:
reduce the environmental impact of Defence Forces aircraft, land vehicles and vessels
As part of this challenge, the Defence Organisation is also interested in disruptive ideas that include the latest technology in fields like:
In a first for Ireland, the challenge will see successful research teams from around Ireland connected and working with members of the Defence Forces to develop solutions to the challenges.
The challenge will consist of three phases:
Following application review, up to 10 successful teams will be awarded funding to undertake team building, scoping and concept validation activities. They will then go through a rigorous progress review after 3 months. Up to 5 shortlisted teams will be provided with further funding of €200 thousand to validate and prototype their proposed solutions. Finalists will compete for an overall prize award of €1 million.
The Defence Organisation is composed of the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces. The organisation will establish a joint research, technology and innovation unit, to take advantage of the benefits of research and technology. These will support current and future capability within the Defence Organisation.
Minister Harris commented on the launch:
“I am delighted to launch a new challenge-based funding programme that will support Irish research, our Defence Forces and ultimately society.
“If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s taught us the value of research, and just how important the work of our scientists is.
“We have seen how quickly science can move, and how powerful it is. Our aim with this challenge is to harness that energy, put our scientists and the women and men of our Defence Forces together and accelerate technologies that have potential for use across our Defence Forces.
“We have almost 2,000 aircraft, land vehicles and vessels in our fleet – imagine the impact we could have by reducing their effects on the environment.”
Minister Coveney, commenting on the initiative, said:
“It is really encouraging to be able to launch this new innovation challenge that will support our Defence Forces.
“This initiative will result in new technologies that will support missions and capabilities aligned with national defence policy. We have seen how challenge-based research can support different sectors of society and I am excited to see how it can support our Defence Forces.
“A key element of our recently launched Department of Defence and Defence Forces Strategy and the Defence Organisation RTI Unit is to increase our focus on research, innovation and technology in support of Defence Forces capabilities and I see this as an important move towards that.”
Professor Mark Ferguson, Director General of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of Ireland, said:
“At SFI, we consider challenge‐based research funding to be of high strategic importance to Ireland, enabling talented teams to address significant national and global challenges.
“Fostering collaboration between government departments and agencies such as the Defence Forces, companies, researchers and entrepreneurs is of crucial importance if we are to ensure science plays its role in the development of our society and economy. We are delighted to launch this new collaborative challenge to enhance the Defence Forces effectiveness and reduce its carbon footprint through research. I look forward to learning about the outcomes and to future challenge collaborations.”