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With over 12GW of offshore wind energy at various stages of planning, Ireland is on the cusp of a renewable energy boom. Given the size of offshore wind projects, there is great potential for the sector to deliver considerable environmental, social, and economic benefits to Irish society in the coming years. This study, part of the Eirwind project, explores the socioeconomic opportunity associated with the development of the offshore wind sector for Ireland. It focuses on three key areas - job creation, economic value, and regional development potential. The outputs can be used to inform policy and strategies for sectoral development in order to maximise the socioeconomic benefits of offshore wind development and minimise or avoid potentially negative impacts on stakeholders. The study uses qualitative and quantitative research methods to assess the value of offshore wind for Ireland. It builds on previous research to give a contemporary appraisal of the direct and indirect domestic job creation and gross value added (GVA) impact in the coming years. Projections are derived from an economic model that was developed as part of this study. Two scenarios were modelled, one assuming an installed capacity of 2.5GW by 2030 and one assuming 4.5GW by 2030, with 25% of installed capacity from floating wind from 2026. The approach to this modelling – a value chain analysis – was selected as it is more accessible and transparent than traditional methods, such as input-output (IO) modelling, and the model can be updated under changing market conditions. Many previous estimates of the employment impacts associated with offshore wind development are outdated or lack transparency in their methods and are difficult to compare with one another, and therefore verify, due to differences in underlying assumptions. This is the first study to quantify the GVA impact of offshore wind development for Ireland. Key findings of this report suggest that in 2030, 2.5-4.5GW of domestic offshore wind development would support between 4,620 and 8,316 jobs in the domestic supply chain and generate between €325m and €585m in GVA. This equates to between 11,424 and 20,563 person years of employment and €763m and €1.4bn in gross value added for the period 2020-2029. This is a conservative estimate, as it does not take into account induced effects from personal expenditure of the labour force. If the scenarios modelled in this study were to be realised and current trends for other ocean economy sectors were to remain constant, direct and indirect GVA from offshore wind development could exceed that of the marine advanced technology products and services sector, the marine manufacturing, construction and engineering sector, the sea fisheries sector and marine retail services sector by 2030. This would contribute significantly to Ireland’s Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth target of doubling the value of Ireland’s ocean economy by 2030 (Inter-Departmental Marine Coordination Group, 2012). The potential economic impacts of the recent and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which are not yet well understood due to the fast changing nature of the situation, have not been factored into this research, but are recognised in this report. Offshore wind could play a key role in the post-COVID economic recovery by stimulating growth and creating jobs, and several EU state ministers have called for integrating the green transition in the European recovery plan. In addition to the economic modelling, research was undertaken to explore ways in which Ireland can maximise the socioeconomic benefits of offshore wind development, including domestic job creation and the growth of indigenous goods and services, and minimise or avoid potentially negative impacts. A demographic assessment of the areas around ports with capabilities or potential capabilities in offshore wind reveals offshore wind development, and the development of an offshore wind supply chain, could be an effective means for addressing Ireland’s regional economic imbalance and associated issues, such as rural depopulation and the decline of coastal communities. A qualitative review of the experiences in countries with experience in offshore wind highlights lessons that can be learned from elsewhere with regard to the impacts of offshore wind on local communities, tourism, fisheries, and other industries. The report concludes with a number of recommendations, based on the research, for maximising the socioeconomic benefits of offshore wind development. Specifically, these address trends in social deprivation and the unequal distribution of economic opportunities across the island, particularly around ports on the south and west coasts. These recommendations include: Create an offshore wind supply chain stimulus package Invest in port infrastructure to support manufacturing (e.g. at Shannon-Foynes, Waterford, Rosslare, and Killybegs), staging (e.g. at Shannon-Foynes, Waterford, Rosslare, and Killybegs), and O&M (e.g. at Shannon-Foynes, Waterford, Rosslare, Killybegs, New Ross, Rossaveal, and Fenit/Tralee) Take a strategic approach to development of regional clusters around ports in preparation for the next wave of projects on the south and west coasts Support R&D and the development of skills training programmes

The R&I Observatory country report 2017 provides a brief analysis of the R&I system covering the economic context, main actors, funding trends & human resources, policies to address R&I challenges, and R&I in national and regional smart specialisation strategies. Data is from Eurostat, unless otherwise referenced and is correct as at January 2018. Data used from other international sources is also correct to that date. The report provides a state-of-play and analysis of the national level R&I system and its challenges, to support the European Semester., JRC.B.7-Knowledge for Finance, Innovation and Growth

A key concept in the economics of innovation is the 'public good' nature of knowledge. This generates a tension between incentivizing knowledge production by allowing knowledge creators appropriate the economic benefits and encouraging its diffusion to enhance the social return to knowledge creation. Where firms operate in localities that are characterized by greater entrepreneurship, there may be lower incentives to engage in research and development. This would result from a higher risk of knowledge spillovers to local start-ups and/or that employees may exploit new knowledge in spin-out firms. It has also been suggested in the literature that greater local entrepreneurial activity may lower profits for incumbent firms, through greater competition and/or the leakage of commercially valuable new knowledge. This paper presents a novel conceptual perspective on this tension and empirically tests it. Using Swedish firmlevel data and county-level data on new start-ups, this paper estimates the effect on R&D activity of local rates of business start-ups. It finds that greater numbers of new start-ups in a metropolitan area reduces firm-level R&D expenditure. However, this relationship is not linear, so that at higher levels of new firm formation in a region, firm-level R&D expenditure falls at a diminishing rate. This suggests that the effect of local entrepreneurship on a business' R&D decisions is conditioned by the extent of that entrepreneurship.

This paper estimates, using the most recent Irish Household Budget Survey of 2004/2005, a double hurdle model to determine the socio-economic and socio-demographic factors affecting participation and expenditure of Irish households on the national lottery. Of particular interest is the effect of income on the decisions of how much participants spend on the lottery. The paper also determines the extent to which the tax inherent in lottery purchases is regressive in its incidence on purchasers. It is found that gender, social class, marital status, the presence of children in the home and household size significantly effects lottery participation. Lottery expenditures are affected by income, location of the household, gender, age, education, social class and whether the household has positive betting expenditures. Furthermore, there is evidence that the implicit lottery tax is regressive and that the allocation of lottery proceeds does not compensate for this regressivity.

This paper analyses the importance of decisions to interact nationally and internationally on the likelihood of process and product innovation for a sample of Irish firms. The key contribution is to provide an empirical test of the relative importance of geographically proximate versus distant interaction, using a two-step procedure to remove potential endogeneity in interaction decisions. In doing so it finds that only national and only international interaction have the expected positive effects on the probability of innovation, while engaging in both national and international interaction has no effect. The findings support hypotheses on the importance of both geographically proximate and distant interaction for innovation, though the lack of significance for both national and international interaction means there is no evidence to support the proposition that these forms of interaction are complementary.

This paper analyses differences across sectors in firms’ propensity to innovate and the relative importance of inputs to innovation classifying firms into four broad sectors. The propensity and drivers of four types of innovation (new to firm, new to market, process and organisational) within these sectors are then analysed. The results indicate that, for new to firm and new to market innovation, there is a strong degree of heterogeneity in the drivers of innovation across sectors. The propensity to introduce process or organisational innovations varies slightly across sectors but that there is no evidence of differences across sectors in the drivers of innovation. These results have important implications for policy instruments to meet the needs of targeted firms.

This paper analyses the effects of geography on innovation by small and medium sized enterprises in the South-West and South-East regions of Ireland. Using an augmented innovation production function it estimates, both directly and indirectly, the effects of interaction with geographically proximate external agents and agglomeration economies on product and process innovation in these enterprises. The findings question the premise that geography matters for innovation in the Irish case. There is little evidence that local/regional interaction is more important for innovation and the close availability of a skilled labour pool and a range of urbanization indicators have no effect.

In the last decade Irish innovation policy has been focused on Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). This paper explores the effects of HEIs, in the context of interaction with other interaction agents, on the innovation output of Irish high-technology businesses. Based on a survey of 184 businesses in the Chemical and Pharmaceutical, Information and Communications Technology and Engineering and Electronic Devices sectors, the paper estimates the importance of in-house R&D activity and external interaction with HEIs, support agencies and other businesses for product and process innovation. A key finding is that the greater the frequency of direct interaction with HEIs the lower the probability of both product and process innovation in these businesses. There is some evidence of a positive indirect HEI effect, through complementarities of interactions with suppliers and support agencies. However, while external interaction is important for innovation output, there is little evidence that geographical proximity matters. These findings have important implications for Irish innovation policy. Last year’s Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation: 2006 to 2013 committed an additional €1.88 billion for research and commercialisation programmes in HEIs. The econometric results presented suggest that this substantial public investment in HEIs may have a disappointing, and perhaps even a negative, effect on the innovation output of Irish business, thus undermining future Irish prosperity. In addition, the absence of evidence supporting the existence of Irish clusters and networks for innovation suggests that policymakers long-standing support for these have been misguided. The paper concludes by advocating that innovation is a business rather than a technological phenomenon and argues for a changed role for HEIs to one of responding to innovative businesses.

This thesis explores the drivers of innovation in Irish high-technology businesses and estimates, in particular, the relative importance of interaction with external businesses and other organisations as a source of knowledge for innovation at the business-level. The thesis also examines the extent to which interaction for innovation in these businesses occurs on a local or regional basis. The study uses original survey data of 184 businesses in the Chemical and Pharmaceutical, Information and Communications Technology and Engineering and Electronic Devices sectors. The study considers both product and process innovation at the level of the business and develops new measures of innovation output. For the first time in an Irish study, the incidence and frequency of interaction is measured for each of a range of agents, other group companies, suppliers, customers, competitors, academic-based researchers and innovation-supporting agencies. The geographic proximity between the business and each of the most important of each of each category of agent is measured using average one-way driving distance, which is the first time such a measure has been used in an Irish study of innovation. Utilising econometric estimation techniques, it is found that interaction with customers, suppliers and innovation-supporting agencies is positively associated with innovation in Irish high-technology businesses. Surprisingly, however, interaction with academic-based researchers is found to have a negative effect on innovation output at the business-level. While interaction generally emerges as a positive influence on business innovation, there is little evidence that this occurs at a local or regional level. Furthermore, there is little support for the presence of localisation economies for high-technology sectors, though some tentative evidence of urbanisation economies. This has important implications for Irish regional, enterprise and innovation policy, which has emphasised the development of clusters of internationally competitive businesses. The thesis brings into question the suitability of a cluster-driven network based approach to business development and competitiveness in an Irish context.

This paper presents new survey-based evidence on the increasingly topical question of what drives innovation in Irish high-technology businesses. The extraordinary performance of the Irish economy since the 1990s has been inextricably linked to highly successful foreign-owned businesses, in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, electronics and computers (Gallagher, Doyle and O’Leary, 2002). It might be expected that innovation in these multi-nationals is largely sourced in other group companies located abroad. It is therefore pertinent to ask, in the context of the recent policy recommendations of the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) (2004), the extent to which these Irish subsidiaries source innovation in Ireland. This may be through their own research and development efforts and/or through interaction for the purposes of promoting innovation with other locally or regionally based businesses, Third Level Colleges and innovation support agencies, such as IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland. Moreover, it may be equally important to ask, in the context of the long-standing emphasis on improved performance of indigenous industry, whether indigenous high-technology businesses interact locally or regionally in order to promote innovation. Beginning with Culliton (1992) and continuing to the present, through, for example, Forfás (2004a) and the ESG (2004), Irish industrial policy has consistently promoted and supported clusters and networks. In recent years substantial State funding has also been devoted to research and development. The National Development Plan 2000-2006 (2000) allocated €2.5 billion and the government established Science Foundation Ireland. The ESG (2004) has proposed further State investment in research and development as well as new initiatives including building enterprise capability, funding collaboration between industry and Irish Third Level Colleges, introducing tax credits for research and development. There is a consensus in the Irish, and indeed the European, policy community that developing innovation through clusters and networks will be important for future Irish and European competitiveness (Bergin et al., 2003; Forfás, 2003; National Competitiveness Council, 2003; European Commission, 2003). By presenting survey based evidence on the sources of innovation in Irish high-technology industry, this paper makes an important contribution to this debate. It begins by outlining the design of the survey instrument and then presents the results. The policy implications of the results are then discussed.

With over 12GW of offshore wind energy at various stages of planning, Ireland is on the cusp of a renewable energy boom. Given the size of offshore wind projects, there is great potential for the sector to deliver considerable environmental, social, and economic benefits to Irish society in the coming years. This study, part of the Eirwind project, explores the socioeconomic opportunity associated with the development of the offshore wind sector for Ireland. It focuses on three key areas - job creation, economic value, and regional development potential. The outputs can be used to inform policy and strategies for sectoral development in order to maximise the socioeconomic benefits of offshore wind development and minimise or avoid potentially negative impacts on stakeholders. The study uses qualitative and quantitative research methods to assess the value of offshore wind for Ireland. It builds on previous research to give a contemporary appraisal of the direct and indirect domestic job creation and gross value added (GVA) impact in the coming years. Projections are derived from an economic model that was developed as part of this study. Two scenarios were modelled, one assuming an installed capacity of 2.5GW by 2030 and one assuming 4.5GW by 2030, with 25% of installed capacity from floating wind from 2026. The approach to this modelling – a value chain analysis – was selected as it is more accessible and transparent than traditional methods, such as input-output (IO) modelling, and the model can be updated under changing market conditions. Many previous estimates of the employment impacts associated with offshore wind development are outdated or lack transparency in their methods and are difficult to compare with one another, and therefore verify, due to differences in underlying assumptions. This is the first study to quantify the GVA impact of offshore wind development for Ireland. Key findings of this report suggest that in 2030, 2.5-4.5GW of domestic offshore wind development would support between 4,620 and 8,316 jobs in the domestic supply chain and generate between €325m and €585m in GVA. This equates to between 11,424 and 20,563 person years of employment and €763m and €1.4bn in gross value added for the period 2020-2029. This is a conservative estimate, as it does not take into account induced effects from personal expenditure of the labour force. If the scenarios modelled in this study were to be realised and current trends for other ocean economy sectors were to remain constant, direct and indirect GVA from offshore wind development could exceed that of the marine advanced technology products and services sector, the marine manufacturing, construction and engineering sector, the sea fisheries sector and marine retail services sector by 2030. This would contribute significantly to Ireland’s Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth target of doubling the value of Ireland’s ocean economy by 2030 (Inter-Departmental Marine Coordination Group, 2012). The potential economic impacts of the recent and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which are not yet well understood due to the fast changing nature of the situation, have not been factored into this research, but are recognised in this report. Offshore wind could play a key role in the post-COVID economic recovery by stimulating growth and creating jobs, and several EU state ministers have called for integrating the green transition in the European recovery plan. In addition to the economic modelling, research was undertaken to explore ways in which Ireland can maximise the socioeconomic benefits of offshore wind development, including domestic job creation and the growth of indigenous goods and services, and minimise or avoid potentially negative impacts. A demographic assessment of the areas around ports with capabilities or potential capabilities in offshore wind reveals offshore wind development, and the development of an offshore wind supply chain, could be an effective means for addressing Ireland’s regional economic imbalance and associated issues, such as rural depopulation and the decline of coastal communities. A qualitative review of the experiences in countries with experience in offshore wind highlights lessons that can be learned from elsewhere with regard to the impacts of offshore wind on local communities, tourism, fisheries, and other industries. The report concludes with a number of recommendations, based on the research, for maximising the socioeconomic benefits of offshore wind development. Specifically, these address trends in social deprivation and the unequal distribution of economic opportunities across the island, particularly around ports on the south and west coasts. These recommendations include: Create an offshore wind supply chain stimulus package Invest in port infrastructure to support manufacturing (e.g. at Shannon-Foynes, Waterford, Rosslare, and Killybegs), staging (e.g. at Shannon-Foynes, Waterford, Rosslare, and Killybegs), and O&M (e.g. at Shannon-Foynes, Waterford, Rosslare, Killybegs, New Ross, Rossaveal, and Fenit/Tralee) Take a strategic approach to development of regional clusters around ports in preparation for the next wave of projects on the south and west coasts Support R&D and the development of skills training programmes

The relative age effect (RAE) has been consistently documented among elite football players at youth level but has been shown to dissipate at senior level. This research explores whether players born earlier in the calendar year, initially selected to play at an elite level, are more likely to be identified as dropouts at a later date. Statistical analysis is used to test for the presence and extent of RAE from a sample of almost 9,000 elite underage national league football players in the Republic of Ireland. Results reveal a bias towards players born early in the calendar year, and in the first quarter in particular. The bias is most pronounced at the youngest age group included in the analysis, at U15 level. Further statistical analysis assesses the differences between the observed distribution of births of 163 players who were identified as dropouts and the expected distribution of births. Players born earlier in the calendar year are also found to be more likely to be identified as dropouts from underage national league football in the Republic of Ireland. In comparison, their relatively younger counterparts, although less likely to be selected to play at an elite level initially, are significantly less likely to be identified as dropouts. Recommendations made based on the results include adopting a more strategic and long-term approach to be adopted during the initial player selection processes, and further education of coaches regarding youth development as well as the presence and consequences of RAE.

The aim of this thesis is to develop and test frameworks and tools to measure and evaluate the economic impact of publicly funded research centres, thus addressing calls from policymakers for greater accountability and justification for investment of public funding towards research activities. In addition to developing impact measurements tools, the Research Impact Index (RII) is tested using a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) funded research centre. Testing the tool facilitates the identification of strengths and weaknesses of the framework and tools before large scale roll-out of the RII. The development of robust tools and frameworks to measure and evaluate the economic impact of publicly funded research centres requires conceptual clarity on research impact. Research impact can mean different things to different people. Therefore, this thesis offers conceptual clarity on what constitutes an impact through a thematic analysis exploring the meanings and conceptualisations of research impact across the research sector in Ireland. Following this, the thesis contributes to the development of a novel framework for measuring the economic impact of publicly funded research centres. The IMPACTS framework (Impact Measurement and Performance Assessment of Centres for Technology and Science) adopts a systems-based approach to research impact assessment which views research centres as important cogs within an innovation system. An important new, and to date underappreciated, element in this framework is the inclusion of a research centre's contribution to the overall innovation system, while simultaneously identifying the strength of the system is an important input and platform for a research centre's success. The study uses data generated though two survey instruments, the Research Centre Impact Questionnaire and the Industry Partner Impact Questionnaire. The questionnaires were designed to facilitate the assessment of research centre impact that minimises common methodological challenges, such as issues of attribution, additionality and time lags. The quantitative and qualitative data from the questionnaire will be combined to construct a multidimensional index to measure and evaluate research centre impact. The development of the IMPACTS framework and Research Impact Index (RII) will result in a step change in measurement of the performance of publicly funded research centres, enabling them to optimise structures and ways of working to maximise economic impact. In addition, it will help funding bodies select and oversee funded centres to increase the efficiency in conversion of investments into impact for industry partners and the regional and national economy. Findings will be disseminated to science policy practitioners, funding bodies and research centres management teams.

Foreign study is an emerging trend in the education market. Increasingly, students choose to leave their home country to study abroad. This decision is not only coupled with financial and time costs, but also involves the challenges of new cultures. This thesis examined push and pull factors, investments and expected returns on foreign education, and parental influences on the decision to study abroad for international students in one Irish university. A concurrent triangulation design was used to collect data, which involved quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis at the same time. To collect quantitative data, the research used an online questionnaire with 216 responses. In-depth semi-structured interviews were used to collect qualitative data. 24 international students agreed to be interviewed. Quantitative data results indicated that personal factors, which included satisfying language and academic requirements, were the most important factor in international students’ foreign study decision. Destination university’s programme availability was also a popular factor influencing the foreign study decision. Qualitative data showed that the push factors discussed most frequently in the interviews were, lack of programme availability in the home country, and the length of time to study for certain programmes in the home country. The thesis explored factors that were not present in previous literature, such as international students’ attitudes towards competition and university’s ranking. Destination universities should promote their high ranking, as many students preferred high but not top-ranking universities, as they felt that their applications would more successful. The results also showed that destination universities should consider parents’ role in the foreign study decision when promoting programmes in Asian, and particularly, East Asian countries. Moreover, the thesis showed the different priorities for international students from different regions. Destination universities should tailor their promotions to the region/continent that they wish to target.