Tag Archives: Science Foundation of Ireland

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Junior minister for innovation Sean Sherlock (right) with Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton (centre) and and Mark Ferguson, Of Science Foundation Ireland, at the Science Gallery, Dublin, yesterday.

From the Irish Times:

The Government has embarked on a radical reform of how it invests in scientific research. It is phasing out a system that has served the country well over the past 12 years in favour of one thought more likely to deliver jobs and an economic return on the State investment.

 

First comment:

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Ah.

Academics Sceptical As Funding For Research Aims To Prioritise Job Creation (Dick Ahlstrom, Irish Times)

(Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland)

Just look at his record:

Professor Mark Ferguson’s biotech firm Renovo Limited never made a marketable product, even though more than €170m was invested in it — including a large chunk from the British taxpayer. Prof Ferguson and his wife received more than €18m from their time with the company, which ended last year.

…Despite Renovo never producing a drug that could be marketed, Prof Ferguson received €4.5m in salary, including a payment of over €800,000 when he stepped down. His researcher wife Sharon O’Kane received more than €2m and the pair also netted €12.7m by exercising a director’s option when the shares were at their peak in 2007.

I Can Do Job, Insists Science Chief Whose Own Firm Failed (Edel O’Connell, Irish Independent)

Previously: Understanding The Science Foundation Of Ireland Leak Crisis

The Business of Science In Ireland