Ireland: a playground of research, development and innovation!

Ireland: a playground of research, development and innovation!

Throughout the last thirty years, Ireland has steadily risen up the league table to take its place as one of the leading research, development (R&D) and innovation locations in the world.

Today, Ireland is increasingly seen as the place to undertake R&D activity, and is ranked as the eighth most innovative EU country.

This has led to more and more major players on the global market locating their companies here. In 2018, no fewer than 13 out of 15 of the world’s leading medtech companies call our shores home. And all of this means a plethora of great job opportunities for R&D engineers in Ireland.

The medtech sector is a great example of the kind of opportunities in R&D in Ireland today. The sector currently employs almost 40,000 people, the second-largest in the whole of Europe.

Ireland is one of the largest exporters of medical products in Europe, with annual exports amounting to €12.6bn. One-third of the world’s contact lenses are manufactured here, as are 50 per cent of all ventilators found in acute hospitals worldwide.

Added to this, Ireland enjoys having 10 of the world’s top pharmaceutical firms located here. The biopharma industry has grown rapidly, particularly during the last decade, and shows little sign of slowing down.

All this means one thing: a major and ever increasing number of contracting jobs in research and development, in medical devices, in the pharmaceutical, bio technology, ICT and financial services sectors.

For the R&D engineer, Ireland is a playground of innovation and opportunity. It provides the ideal environment for the creation of new, ground-breaking technologies, and is a place where R&D engineers can see their creative ideas come to life.

Top of the line technologies, the very latest equipment, world class facilities, ambitious projects, a commitment to innovation, and the opportunity to work with global leaders facilitate this ideal working environment.

The collaboration between industry, academia, state agencies and regulatory authorities in Ireland facilitates it still further.

Ireland’s low corporate tax rate, along with a young, skilled and well-educated workforce with strong technological and business skills, plays a big part in this.

The Irish government’s commitment to increasing job opportunities in research and development can be seen in its €8.2bn investment through the Strategy for Science Technology and Innovation.

In addition, the IDA offers grant aid for R&D projects. This includes a 25 per cent tax credit designed to encourage companies to undertake new or additional research, development and innovation activity in Ireland.

R&D jobs can be very stimulating, challenging and rewarding. From a humanitarian perspective, R&D engineers are at the forefront of technology development, making a real difference in peoples’ lives globally.

It is an exciting time to be working in R&D in Ireland, with so many job opportunities and career prospects.

As they grow and reach a certain level of development, R&D engineers have the option of either becoming managers of people (engineering manager) or technology managers/tech leaders (principal engineer).

Both roles are rewarding, challenging and exciting. Becoming a people manager means monitoring and driving the performance and development of a team of talented engineers.

Becoming a principal engineer means you will be in charge of developing new technologies, bringing projects from the idea stage to completion, as well as improving on existing products and providing technical leadership.

This path can include patenting your own products and even to you rising to the vice president level in a company.

The average pay for a R&D engineer with two to three years of experience is €42,899 per year.

If you are interested in finding out more about the great job opportunities for R&D engineers in Ireland, contact Bimi Felix of Hero Recruitment today on 086 8395533 or email bimi@hero.ie.