Ned Costello of Irish Universities Association gives the speech at the Asia Ireland Higher Education and Global Talent Forum in Dublin, 9 July as part of Asia Business Week Ireland 2015

1. Asia Matters
Asia Ireland Higher Education and
Global Talent Forum
9 July 2015
Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Dublin
@asiamatters_biz #AsiaIrlTalent @asiabizweek
‘How Asia and Ireland Can Partner in Education to Create
Global Talent Clusters and Drive FDI’

2. 9 July 2015
Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Dublin
Talent for Innovation:
The Role of Universities
Ned Costello
Chief Executive, Irish Universities Association

3. Talent for Innovation
– The Role of Universities
Ned Costello, Chief Executive, IUA

4. SPOTLIGHT
ON HIGHER
EDUCATION

5. Composition of Higher Education
Universities Colleges Institutes Total
Apprenticeships & Other 2,821 2,821
Undergraduate 83,634 9,032 78,630 171,296
Level 6 5,627 381 8,979 14,987
Level 7 25,665 25,665
Level 8 74,703 8,647 38,333 121,683
Occasional 3,304 4 5,653 8,961
Postgraduate 27,705 2,961 6,850 37,516
Level 8 & 9 Taught 19,230 2,286 5,399 26,915
Level 9 Research 715 92 575 1,382
Level 10 (PhD) 7,033 299 566 7,898
Occasional 727 284 310 1,321
Total 111,339 11,993 88,301 211,633

6. As a small open economy with few natural factor advantages, Ireland
is exceptionally reliant on talent and human capital.
Figure 5: New Entrants to Higher Education
Human Capital
15%
25%
35%
45%
55%
65%
75%
85%
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
New Entrants (Numbers) Participation Rate (Past & Projected)
Participation rate (Numbers held at 2014 level)

7. Figure: Articles in top 5% of world in 1996-99 vs in 2008-11, versus volume of articles for
the same period
0"
1"
2"
3"
4"
5"
6"
7"
8"
9"
10"
0" 10000" 20000" 30000" 40000" 50000"
%"of"ar'cles"in"top"5%"of"world"(by"cita'ons)"
Volume"of"ar' cles"published"
Denmark"
Finland"
Ireland"
Israel"
New"Zealand"
Singapore"
1996@1999"
"
2008@2011"
Source: Elsevier, ScopusVolume of articles published
%ofarticlesintop5%ofworld(bycitations)
1996 - 1999
O 2008 - 2011
Bibliometrics - Comparative Performance

8. Bibliometrics - Collaboration
Source: Forfas Survey

9. Research Trends
Source: Forfas Survey

10. PRO Researchers and R&D Personnel
Source: Forfas Survey

11. Researchers in Industry
Source: Forfas Survey

12. Total Researchers in Industry
Source: Forfas Survey

13. GBAORD
Source: Forfas Survey

14. • 30 new products launched on the market
• 97 active spin-outs from RPOs at end of 2014 - in existence at least
three years post-incorporation
• RPOs worked with 1371 different companies under research
agreements
• 168 Licence/Options/Assignments executed
• 1,930 new research agreements (collaborative and contract) signed
with companies
Knowledge Transfer - KTI Results 2014

15. • The majority (66%) of companies with which the RPOs worked on
research agreements (contract and collaborative research) were
based in Ireland.
• 27 new spin-out companies were formed
• 117 new patent applications filed
• Major increases on 2013 seen in the number of research
agreements and number of companies engaged and in the number
of licences executed
Knowledge Transfer - KTI Results 2014

16. Invention activity
All data normalised to €100m of research expenditure
Ireland 25 new patent filings a year – equal to middle ranking UN universities
- but behind top ranked UK and US universities.
Licensing
On average the system public research is producing 30 new licences per
annum per €100m research expenditure.
This is ahead of MIT but behind Oxford.
Spin-out companies
On average Ireland is forming 8 new spin-outs per €100m spend annually
and seeing 3yr+ survival of >20 per €100m p.a.
This is substantially ahead of MIT and Oxford.
HEALTH Warning – International data only available for volume not value!!
Comparisons

17. Spotlight on Internationalisation

18. Researchers on Hosting Agreements
1640 agreements issued to Asian researchers from 33 different
countries in Asia since the beginning of the scheme in 2007.
402 researchers from 30 different Asian countries are working at
present in Ireland (either on hosting agreements or they are already
exempt - switched to stamp 4 after 2 years work on a Hosting
Agreement).
Irish institutions host 66 different non EEA nations on HA at present.

19. Researchers on Hosting Agreements
American Chinese Indian Iranian Pakistan Russian Canadian
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
58
109
130
28
34
9
13
48
98
124
25
29
18
8
60
105
97
4
13
29
21
45
73
60
15 12
23
14
Numberof
Researchers
Top nationalities on Hosting Agreements in Ireland -time trend
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
Source: Forfas Survey

20. Students from Asia in University Sector
• Total number of full time students in Ireland for undergraduate and
postgraduate 2012/2013 = 164498
• The total number of students from Asia in Ireland are 5222 of which
4188 are in the Irish University Sector
• Significant cohort of medical students
Source HEA Statistics 2012/2013
http://www.hea.ie/en/statistics/2012-13

21. Students from Asia in University Sector
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
Bahrain
Bangladesh
BruneiDarussalam
Cambodia
China
HongKong
India
Indonesia
Iran,IslamicRepublicof
Iraq
Israel
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Korea,Republicof
Kuwait
Lebanon
Macao
Malaysia
Maldives
Nepal
Oman
Pakistan
Philippines
Qatar
SaudiArabia
Singapore
SriLanka
SyrianArabRepublic
Taiwan,ProvinceofChina
Thailand
UnitedArabEmirates
VietNam
Yemen
Number of full time undergraduate students from Asia in the
University Sector

22. Students from Asia in University Sector
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
Bangladesh
BruneiDarussalam
China
HongKong
India
Indonesia
Iran,IslamicRepublicof
Iraq
Israel
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Korea,Republicof
Kuwait
Lebanon
Macao
Malaysia
Myanmar
Nepal
Oman
Pakistan
PalestinianTerritory,Occupied
Philippines
Qatar
SaudiArabia
Singapore
SriLanka
SyrianArabRepublic
Taiwan,ProvinceofChina
Thailand
UnitedArabEmirates
VietNam
Number of full time postgraduate students from Asia in the
university sector

23. • Ireland’s research system has made strong progress, coming from a
low base.
• A strength of Ireland’s research system is that it is very open,
strongly based on competitive excellence, and internationalised as
a result.
• Research outputs and impact of are internationally competitive but
need to improve further.
Conclusions

24. • Ireland’s knowledge transfer system has developed strongly,
especially since it is even less mature than the research system.
• While public investment in research did receive priority during the
boom, there are some worrying emerging trends in outputs.
• The promised new strategy needs to be ambitious and contain
proactive measures to move us to an overall target in the region of
2.5% of GDP for public and private investment in research.
Conclusions

25. Conclusions