The President of the European Research Council has criticised Ireland's record for drawing down European funding.
Speaking ahead of the ESOF conference which opened this evening, Helga Nowotny said Ireland 'could do better'.
She said Irish universities needed to be more international and open in their outlook in order to attract the best young scientists and draw down more funding.
She said Ireland did not compare well with other small countries such as Austria.
Ms Nowotny also said young scientists needed to be encouraged to apply to the Research Council for funding and universities needed to do more to support them in their bids.
The European Research Council disburses an average of €1 billion to fund basic research projects annually. Next year it will distribute a total of €1.7 billion.
Its latest data shows Ireland is behind countries like Greece, Hungary, Norway and Finland in terms of the amount of funding it attracts from the council.
Out of 25 countries that receive funding Ireland comes 17th. Helga Nowotny said Ireland should be in the middle field. However she said Ireland had made a good start and she was confident that the country could catch up quickly.
Ms Nowotny said ERC funding gave young people the chance to work on their own ideas and to be scientifically independent. She said ERC grants could be as high as €3.5m over 5 years.
European Science Open Forum
The European Science Open Forum officially opened this evening in the National Convention Centre.
ESOF is the largest and most prestigious European general science meeting and is held in a leading European city every two years.
The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has supported ESOF 2012 and Dublin City of Science on behalf of the Government.
Speaking at the opening, Minister Richard Bruton said: "In 2003 Ireland was ranked 36th in the world for quality of scientific research output; in 2010 we were 20th. In 2000 our total spend on publicly-funded R&D was €290m; in 2010 it was over €800m."
The ESOF 2012 general science conference is the largest scientific gathering in Europe this year, with over 5,000 delegates expected to attend.
