Science Foundation Ireland

What Science Foundation Ireland does

Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), established in 2003 (operating since 2000) under the Industrial Development (Science Foundation Ireland) Act 2003, is Ireland's national competitive research and innovation funding agency. As of 1 August 2024 SFI amalgamated with the Irish Research Council (IRC) to form Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland, the consolidated national agency operating under the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. SFI funds oriented basic and applied research across science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), serving academic researchers, Irish universities, industry collaborators, and postgraduate students through competitive grant programmes and a dedicated research-centre network.

The agency's core offering is a portfolio of interconnected funding programmes and research infrastructure rather than a single product. It operates the SFI Research Centres Programme, a network of 15-17 dedicated centres (ADAPT, AMBER, APC, BiOrbic, CONNECT, CÚRAM, FutureNeuro, iCRAG, I-Form, Insight, IPIC, Lero, MaREI, SSPC, VistaMilk) covering AI, data analytics, advanced manufacturing, pharma, geosciences, marine, energy, and climate. Supporting infrastructure includes the SESAME Grants and Awards Management System (internal award administration platform), the Principal Investigator Programme, the National Challenge Fund, the ETS Walton Visitor Award, and the SFI Centres for Research Training programme (€100M+ investment training approximately 700 postgraduate students across six thematic areas). Public engagement assets include Science Week, Curious Minds, and the Science in Ireland Barometer.

SFI is a statutory government body funded through Irish state appropriations rather than commercial revenue; it disburses, rather than earns, funding, so traditional revenue mechanics and pricing models do not apply. Its "go-to-market" is the competitive grant cycle administered via SESAME and the direct funding of embedded research centres and principal investigators. Customers are effectively four cohorts: Academic Researchers and Universities (primary), Industry and Enterprise partners (primary, including Roche, Eli Lilly, Accenture, IBM, Microsoft, Valeo, eir, Movidius, OSi), Graduate Students (CRT trainees), and the General Public (engagement audiences). The entity has 11-50 employees at its Three Park Place, Dublin 2 headquarters.

Name

Science Foundation Ireland

Legal name

Science Foundation Ireland

Website

https://sfi.ie

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Science Foundation Ireland (operating as Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland since August 2024) is Ireland's national statutory competitive research and innovation funding agency, supporting oriented basic and applied STEM research across 17 research centres, principal investigators, postgraduate training, and industry collaboration, funded by Irish government appropriations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Government Research Funding

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Research & Science Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Science, Technology & Innovation Administration (National R&D Policy) (BPAIAAAK), Environmental & Climate Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAM), Health Research Funding Agencies (Public/Quasi-Public) (HLAJALAB)

Keywords

• Research funding agency
• Competitive research grants
• STEM research funding
• Postgraduate research training
• Public science engagement

Headquarters

HQ city

Dublin

HQ country

Ireland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Science Foundation Ireland is Ireland's national competitive research and innovation funding agency, distributing government-appropriated funding for oriented basic and applied research in STEM areas. It operates a portfolio of competitive grant programmes (Principal Investigator Programme, National Challenge Fund, ETS Walton Visitor Award), sustains a network of research centres covering AI, bioeconomy, health, climate, energy, and advanced manufacturing, runs postgraduate research training centres, and administers these funds through the SESAME Grants and Awards Management System.

Product overview

Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), now operating as Taighde Éireann - Research Ireland since August 2024, is Ireland's national competitive research and innovation funding agency. SFI functions as a platform of interconnected funding programmes and research infrastructure rather than a single product. The core offering consists of competitive research funding programmes (Principal Investigator Programme, ETS Walton Visitor Awards, National Challenge Fund) and a network of 15 SFI Research Centres conducting research in AI, bioeconomy, climate, health, energy, and manufacturing. Supporting infrastructure includes the SESAME Grants and Awards Management System for award administration, the Research Database for finding funded researchers, and public engagement initiatives (Curious Minds, Science Week). The SFI Centres for Research Training programme provides postgraduate training valued at over €100 million across six thematic areas including AI and Data Science. The portfolio is unified by SFI's mission to fund oriented basic and applied research that promotes industry competitiveness and employment in Ireland.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SESAME Grants and Awards Management System An online grants and awards management system allowing researchers to apply for SFI funding, manage awards, and submit proposals through the SESAME platform. Designed for principal investigators, research institutions, and research centres seeking SFI funding.
• SFI Research Centres Programme A network of 17 world-leading research centres (ADAPT, AMBER, APC, BiOrbic, CONNECT, CÚRAM, FutureNeuro, iCRAG, I-Form, Insight, IPIC, Lero, MaREI, SSPC, and VistaMilk) conducting scientific research across key areas including AI, bioeconomy, climate, health, energy, and advanced manufacturing, and serving academic researchers, industry partners, and postgraduate students across Ireland.
• SFI Centres for Research Training A programme investing over €100 million into six centres providing postgraduate research training for approximately 700 students in areas including AI, Machine Learning, Digital Enhanced Reality, and Foundations of Data Science. Designed for postgraduate students pursuing STEM doctoral training in Ireland.
• Principal Investigator Programme Core competitive research funding programme for individual principal investigators in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to conduct oriented basic and applied research. Available to researchers at eligible Irish research institutions.
• National Challenge Fund A competitive funding programme supporting research teams developing innovative solutions to national challenges. Designed for interdisciplinary teams addressing priority challenges facing Ireland.
• ETS Walton Visitor Award A funding programme enabling international researchers to visit Irish research institutions and collaborate with SFI-funded researchers. Designed to support international scientific exchange and collaboration.
• SFI Research Database A searchable database of SFI-funded researchers and their research profiles across Irish institutions. Available to industry partners, collaborators, and the public to find researchers by discipline or institution.

Quantifiable outcome

• €100 million+ invested in research training for 700+ postgraduate students
• +1 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability12 records

Partnerships

30 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• TeagasccoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIreland's Agriculture and Food Development Authority partnered with Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) on dairy research examining gestation length and calving performance in dairy cattle. The research was co-authored by scientists from both countries and published in the Journal of Dairy Science.
• Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLed the Kenya-Ireland dairy research collaboration alongside Teagasc, studying gestation length and calving performance in dairy cattle as part of the Dairy Ireland Kenya Project.
• Ireland's Department of Agriculture, Food and the MarinecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGovernment department providing support and funding to the Kenya-Ireland dairy research collaboration alongside Science Foundation Ireland.
• Embassy of Ireland in KenyacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupported the Dairy Ireland Kenya Project through the Embassy's development cooperation programme, facilitating international scientific collaboration between Kenya and Ireland.
• ADAPT SFI Research CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSFI Research Centre at Trinity College Dublin focused on digital content technology, AI, and digital media research, with ethics in education as a core philosophy.
• Insight Data Analytics SFI Research CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMulti-institution SFI Research Centre (NUI Galway, DCU, UCC) conducting AI research including knowledge representation, machine learning, and human-AI interaction. Hosts researchers like Prof Alan Smeaton and Prof Barry O'Sullivan.
• Lero SFI Research CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHeadquartered at University of Limerick with researchers working throughout Ireland. SFI Research Centre focused on Irish software research including AI, automation, driverless cars, and cybersecurity. Has 200 researchers.
• Connect SFI Research CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSFI Research Centre for Future Networks conducting research on how humans interact with AI, connected sensors, facial and voice recognition technologies.
• Confirm SFI Research CentreminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSFI Research Centre for Smart Manufacturing developing improved AI applications for the manufacturing industry.
• VistaMilk SFI Research CentreminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSFI Research Centre applying AI to the dairy industry for improved efficiency and sustainability.
• BiOrbic Bioeconomy SFI Research CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBrings together over 100 researchers from University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, Teagasc, NUI Galway, and University of Limerick, along with 10 industry partners to create sustainable bio-based products from natural resources.
• AccentureminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndustry partner in the SFI Centre for Research Training in Foundations of Data Science, supporting postgraduate training in data science alongside academic institutions.
• IBMminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndustry partner in the SFI Centre for Research Training in Foundations of Data Science.
• MicrosoftminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndustry partner in the SFI Centre for Research Training in Foundations of Data Science.
• ValeominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndustry partner in the SFI Centre for Research Training in Foundations of Data Science, collaborating on automotive research through Lero.
• Alan Turing InstituteminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational partner institution in the SFI Centre for Research Training in Foundations of Data Science, one of 82 international partner institutions including MIT, Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford.
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational partner institution in the SFI Centre for Research Training in Foundations of Data Science.
• MaREI SFI Research CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSFI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and the Marine based at University College Cork. Conducts research on atmospheric changes, climate action, coastal systems, offshore wind energy, and climate dialogue with communities. Collaborates with industry, government, and civic society.
• iCRAG SFI Research CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSFI Research Centre for Applied Geosciences exploring Ireland's natural resources, groundwater, minerals (including lithium and cobalt for decarbonisation), and offshore wind foundations.
• RochecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndustry partner in the EYE-D project focused on eye disease research, receiving molecular targets discovered through research to develop potential treatments for blindness.
• Eli LillycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndustry partner in the EYE-D project, collaborating with Trinity College researchers to develop treatments for eye diseases based on discovered molecular targets.
• Fighting Blindness IrelandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCharity partner in the EYE-D project, providing patient recruitment support and clinical research collaboration.
• Progressive Vision ResearchcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerClinical research facility partner in the EYE-D project, facilitating patient studies and clinical research collaboration.
• eirminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTelecommunications company partnered with ADAPT Centre on the AIMapIT project to develop AI for improving pole inventory databases using Street View imagery, with estimated economic value of €3m over three years.
• Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborating with ADAPT on Linked Data project to make OSi's geospatial data (50 million+ unique geographic identifiers) accessible through the web for humans and AI. Project contributed to Ireland achieving 1st place in European Open Data Maturity Index 2017 and 2018.
• NuritasminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIrish company combining AI and genomics to discover bioactive peptides with health benefits, highlighted as example of Irish AI innovation.
• Movidius (Intel company)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIntel company founded in Ireland developing technology to deploy AI on devices in a power-efficient way.
• IDA IrelandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGovernment agency with which SFI shares personal data for the improvement of education and minority representations in STEM fields as part of its statutory functions.
• Enterprise IrelandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGovernment agency with which SFI collaborates for industry development and shares data as part of its statutory functions for promoting competitiveness of industry in Ireland.
• SEAIcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSustainable Energy Authority of Ireland with which SFI collaborates and shares data as part of its research and industry promotion activities.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• National Science Foundation (NSF): United States' national competitive research funding agency for non-medical STEM. Operates the same fundamental model — government-appropriated funding allocated competitively to universities and centres — making it the archetypal peer for SFI.
• Irish Research Council (IRC): Ireland's other national research funding agency, focused on the humanities, social sciences, and the arts. SFI and IRC were amalgamated in August 2024 to form Research Ireland, making them the closest direct peer as co-equal pillars of Ireland's competitive research funding system.
• Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG): Germany's central research funding organisation supporting basic and applied research at universities. Comparable mandate (national-level STEM and broader research grantmaking) and similar reliance on peer review and centre funding.
• European Research Council (ERC): Pan-EU agency funding frontier research across all disciplines. Peer to SFI in competitive peer-reviewed grantmaking for individual investigators and as an alternative funding source that competes for the same European talent pool.
• Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF): Switzerland's principal national research funding agency supporting scientific research across all disciplines. Closely mirrors SFI's competitive grantmaking model and centre-based research support in a similarly small, innovation-intensive European economy.
• UK Research and Innovation (UKRI): United Kingdom's national research and innovation funding body, formed by merging seven Research Councils. Peer to SFI in mandate, structure, and operating model, and the natural benchmark for the post-merger Research Ireland organisation.
• Research Council of Norway: Norway's national funding agency for research and innovation, allocating government appropriations across thematic areas and research centres. Peer in mandate, scale (small country with distributed research funding), and industry-oriented programming.

Broad incumbents

• Wellcome Trust: Large charitable foundation funding discovery research globally, including in Ireland. Peer as an established research-funder of comparable scope, but operates from a UK charitable base with much larger endowment capacity than SFI's government appropriation.

Others

• Enterprise Ireland: Irish state agency that funds and supports domestic business innovation, and an explicit data-sharing and partner agency to SFI. Not a competitive peer but the closest domestic counterpart for industry-development complementing SFI's research mandate.

Regional players

• National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC): Australia's primary funder of health and medical research, parallel to the health-research dimensions SFI supports via SSPC, APC, FutureNeuro, and CÚRAM. Comparable competitive grant funding model in a different geography.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/scienceirel
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@researchireland
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/science-foundation-ireland
• Instagraminstagram.com/researchireland
• TikToktiktok.com/@researchireland
• Facebookfacebook.com/ScienceFoundationIreland

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments7 records

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Frequently asked questions about Science Foundation Ireland