It was announced today that Enterprise Ireland has secured €5m from EU’s Horizon 2020 to bring 50 international academics to Ireland. 
 
Career-FIT is a postdoctoral fellowship programme, part-funded by Horizon 2020 and Enterprise Ireland with the aim of bringing 50 high-level research fellows into Ireland to work in the Enterprise Ireland Technology Centres.
 
These centres which are jointly supported by IDA Ireland deliver industry-focussed research to the 482 company members. The Career-FIT programme is designed to help fill the skills gap in some of the Technology Centres ensuring that Irish companies have access to the best academic researchers in their industry sector.
 
A key feature of Career-FIT is the opportunity for experienced researchers from outside Ireland to develop their careers in market focused applied research through 3 year fellowships with secondment into industry through Ireland's Technology Centres.
 
It will facilitate the placement of 50 international academic experts in 13 Technology Centres where they will work on industry-led research of direct relevance and value to Irish businesses. It is hoped the outputs of the collaboration will help Irish companies to build, scale and expand their reach in global markets.
 
Speaking at the launch, Minister Mitchell O’Connor said, "The Career-FIT programme is the first of its kind, addressing the skills shortage in industry-focussed research in Irish Technology Centres. This programme will benefit both the successful academic researchers and the Irish companies connected with the industry-focussed Technology Centres."

Source: www.businessworld.ie