{"id":913,"date":"2026-04-22T10:55:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T10:55:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leyton.majjane.agency\/ie\/insights\/articles\/research-ireland-strategy-triple-helix-innovation\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T19:31:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T17:31:33","slug":"research-ireland-strategy-triple-helix-innovation","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leyton.majjane.agency\/ie\/insights\/articles\/research-ireland-strategy-triple-helix-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Research Ireland\u2019s new strategy deliver a successful triple-helix model?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Research Ireland recently launched their inaugural strategy<\/a> to \u201chelp deliver a stronger, more resilient Ireland enabled through research and innovation.\u201d Has this new strategy laid the foundations for a successful \u201ctriple-helix model\u201d of innovation in Ireland?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve not heard the term before, a triple-helix model is where government, academia and industry work together in partnership to drive innovation, economic growth and societal progress. The idea was termed by Henry Etzkowitz and Loet Leydesdorff<\/a> back in 1995, who wrote that a \u201ctriple-helix\u201d of academic-industry-government relations was needed for modern innovation strategies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key part of the model is transforming universities from traditional teaching grounds into research institutions that drive innovation and entrepreneurial success, leading to broader prosperity for the economy and beyond. The model has worked well in countries like Denmark, which boasts about their \u201ctriple-helix advantage<\/a>\u201d for research when trying to attract foreign investment (Denmark ranks 2nd on the 2025 European Innovation Scoreboard<\/a> classed as an \u201cinnovation leader\u201d, Ireland is 5th and classed as a \u201cstrong innovator\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Research Ireland\u2019s new strategy doesn\u2019t say it explicitly, the innovation model appears to be the template.\u00a0In Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless\u2019s words, Research Ireland will \u201cstrengthen the connections between academia, enterprise, public policy, and society.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research Ireland\u2019s Chair and CEO, Michael Horgan and Diarmuid O\u2019Brien, both echo this, saying that they will work \u201cproactively to accelerate innovation and impact \u2013 connecting researchers to enterprise, investors, policymakers, and international partners; strengthening pathways from discovery to application; and reinforcing the link between research excellence, innovation-led growth, and regional development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does Research Ireland\u2019s new strategy say?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Research Ireland actually released two documents as part of their strategy launch. Curiosity, Capability, Competitiveness \u2013 Charting Ireland\u2019s Research and Innovation Future 2026\u20132030<\/a> or, if you\u2019re pushed for time, there is also a more digestible Strategy Snapshot<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both present a vision of how Research Ireland plans to \u201cdevelop an internationally renowned research and innovation system for the prosperity of the people of Ireland\u201d, dividing strategic actions and KPIs into three themes: talent (empowering people), economy (strengthening competitiveness) and society (driving solutions).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strategy sets out an ambitious list of actions and KPIs, including targets for 3,800 new PhDs and 2,000 postdoctoral fellows, 50 active spin-out companies founded by Research Ireland-funded researchers, and a pledge to fund 150 Research Ireland awards targeting societal impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s the focus on funding for academia (as well as better connecting it with industry) that is of particular interest, as investment in Irish universities was cut back following the global financial crisis in 2008, leading to criticism<\/a> of underfunding higher education in Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Appearing to recognise this issue, the strategy repeatedly talks about investment in Higher Education Institution (HEI) infrastructure, committing to \u201cstrengthen the international research competitiveness of the HEIs by investing in developing and attracting the best researchers, and ensuring Ireland has the skills, infrastructure, and people needed to capitalise on national opportunities and address pressing societal challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u20ac4.55 billion has already been pledged by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science<\/a> for Ireland\u2019s education, research, and innovation, with over \u20ac2.45 billion of that set for research and innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curiosity-driven research<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Not only does Research Ireland aim to forge new partnerships between businesses and academia, government funding is being directed towards the type of aspirational research (or \u201ccuriosity-driven excellence\u201d) that\u2019s more obviously suited for academic environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curiosity-driven research is what helps humanity to advance, with society-changing innovations such as nuclear fission, space exploration, the World Wide Web, and now artificial intelligence. Unfortunately, curiosity-driven research has many more failures than successes, and the work often never becomes commercial viabile. We\u2019ve still not yet cracked self-driving cars, despite working on the technologies for years, and we have yet to see nuclear fusion provide the limitless clean energy it has promised for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public funding is needed for these types of projects because the risk for industry is too high. Universities act as the starting point, researching and developing ideas at the earliest stages to see if they’re viable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we were to use the NASA-developed Technology Readiness Level (TRL), universities tend to focus on the early stages like TRL1 (basic principles observed) and TRL 2 (technology concept formulated), where the emphasis is on discovery, early-stage exploration and proving that an idea has potential. Businesses usually only step in at the later stages, once an idea has been proven to work and is almost ready to be developed into a product that can be scaled and commercialised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tellingly, all of the strategy\u2019s case studies show how university-led research and discovery can strengthen Ireland\u2019s talent pipeline, deliver economic impact, or create wider benefits for society, with examples including Irish spin-out companies coming from breakthroughs in quantum computing and biopharmaceuticals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research Ireland clearly wants to take a step beyond being more than just a source of grants. As the Chair and CEO both say, their strategy is to \u201cbe a development agency for the system by being More than a Funder: we will help shape the conditions under which research and innovation deliver maximum benefit for Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On paper, this is a very encouraging shift but the hard part, of course, will be the delivery. Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff warned that there needs to be “purposeful adjustment\u201d before the triple-helix model can succeed. Research Ireland\u2019s strategy looks like a welcome attempt to do exactly that: create the conditions for relationships between government, academia and industry to become more structured, more ambitious and more useful to Ireland\u2019s long-term economic and social future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Research Ireland recently launched their inaugural strategy to \u201chelp deliver a stronger, more resilient Ireland enabled through research and innovation.\u201d Has this new strategy laid the foundations for a successful \u201ctriple-helix model\u201d of innovation in Ireland? If you\u2019ve not heard the term before, a triple-helix model is where government, academia and industry work together in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":914,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,99],"tags":[149,151,153,155],"expertise":[171],"class_list":["post-913","article","type-article","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-updates-en","category-rd-tax-credits-en","tag-research-ireland-en","tag-science-policy-en","tag-spin-out-companies-en","tag-triple-helix-en","expertise-rd-tax-credits"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCan Research Ireland\u2019s new strategy deliver a successful triple-helix model? - Leyton Ireland<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Research Ireland's 2026\u20132030 strategy aims to connect academia, industry and government. 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