The research body will need an additional $123m in its budget to help meet government targets and keep pace with research investment in other countries.
Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), a statutory grant funding body for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) research, will require an additional €100m ($123m) in funding between today and 2020, according to Royal Society of Chemistry.
The body has an annual budget of €172.5m for 2018, with 90% of this allocated to current long-term funding commitments. Its initiatives include the SFI Investigators Programme, which put up $51.2m for 26 Stem research projects in September 2017.
The increased budget is needed to align Ireland’s research investment capacity with that of other countries and help achieve the goals of the Irish government’s Innovation 2020 science strategy, according to Mark Ferguson, director general of SFI.
Ferguson said: “Under international benchmarking analysis we would predict that we would not hold our position, not because the quality is deteriorating, but because other people are investing more.”
