The Government is launching a ‘Home to Work’ campaign in the run up to Christmas to try to encourage emigrants to return.

An increase in R&D spending and a greater focus on improving the talent pool need to be the main focus areas relating to the maintenance of Ireland’s competitiveness this year, according to the main representative body for US firms based here.

Domestically generated renewable energy can be the next big "game-changer" for the Irish economy, creating "thousands of jobs" and saving the State more than €1bn per year from the importation of fossil fuels, it was claimed yesterday.

ALL-IRELAND SHC QUARTER-FINAL:

A €1.7m Government investment aims to turn 20 good research ideas into jobs with Irish and multinational employers.

Irish researchers who developed a groundbreaking cancer treatment which “shocks” tumours into absorbing massive doses of chemotherapy have won an innovation award.

Pre-tax profits at the Shannon, Co Clare-based R&D arm of chip giant Intel increased by 10% to $5.4m (€4m) in 2011, according to newly filed accounts for the company.

An Bord Pleanála has granted permission for a crucial 40-acre expansion at Intel in Leixlip, which it is hoped could create thousands of jobs.

A nanotech researchfacility in Trinity College Dublin is to create 50 jobs after securing €8m in funding from industry.

Successful Dragons Den contestant Sarah Nic Lochlainn of Aruna Sauces is among the nominees for this year’s Women Mean Business awards.

The Government has launched a new plan to target its scientific research budget in areas that have the greatest potential for economic return.

PRE-tax profits at the Shannon-based R&D arm of chip giant Intel increased in 2010 by 15% to $4.9 million (€3.78m).

STUDENTS who can afford grinds and other supports will have an unfair advantage at the Leaving Certificate until changes are made to how school-leavers are assessed, college leaders have said.

POSTGRAD and post-doctoral researchers are being supported by 120 companies ranging from large multinationals to small indigenous firms under a scheme whose latest phase was launched by Research and Innovation Minister Sean Sherlock.

MACROOM native Ann Kelleher has become the first Irishwoman to be appointed as a vice-president of Intel, in a significant endorsement of the contribution of Irish talent to the multinational.

PRE-tax profits at the R&D arm of chip giant Intel last year increased by 18% to $4.2 million (€3.1m).

The former head of Intel Ireland, Jim O’Hara, is to join the new board of Allied Irish Banks, it was revealed today.

There are job fears at one of the Intel facilities in Co Kildare.

DEVELOPING a hi-tech manufacturing base including homegrown enterprises is key to economic recovery, a conference of leading chief executives heard yesterday.

SOME of the leading global and Irish names in technological and medical devices will have their key research work carried out in a Cork facility under a €5 million investment by Enterprise Ireland over the next five years.

UP to 200 jobs are to be created by Imagine Communications group as it spends €100 million rolling out, what it claims, will be the country’s fastest, most affordable and highest quality broadband technology.

COMPUTER software manufacturer Intel has announced a €50 million expansion of its operations in Shannon with the potential to generate 134 jobs over the next four years.

More than 130 jobs could be created after computer chip giant Intel announced plans for a new research centre in the Mid-West.

Janssen Pharmaceutical are the National Workplace First Aid Champions after competitions organised by the National Irish Safety Organisation (NISO) concluded.

Ireland is getting too expensive for business and needs to improve competitiveness to attract more foreign multinationals, it was claimed today.

TEN of Ireland’s leading companies have committed themselves to conserving energy and tackle high costs under a major new scheme.

An €11.7m national centre for software engineering research will be established in Limerick to ensure the country is equipped to excel on the world stage, it was confirmed today.

Civil engineering and building services group SIAC Construction Limited today announced an 11% increase in pre-tax profits to €4.5m.

FORMER AIB chief executive Michael Buckley is to head the new group that will advise the Government on enterprise policy, Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin announced yesterday.

INTEL has denied it is fighting hard to have a state-of-the-art €1.64 billion chip plant located at its complex in Leixlip, Co Kildare.

The 2004 Environmental Reporting Award has been presented to Musgrave Group by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, in recognition of the company’s work in environmental reporting.

Energy efficiency is now an issue of competitiveness and a business imperative for all companies in Ireland, according to David Taylor, chief executive of Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI).

IRELAND’S winning formula that created the Celtic Tiger, economic growth and record employment will not work in the future, warned one of the country’s leading industrialists.

A European Union conference on the changing roles in the workplace will be held in Dublin Castle tomorrow.

A new computer clubhouse has been opened in the inner city of Dublin, funded by Intel Ireland the South West Inner City Network.

Intel Ireland is to ask employees to take leave between December 20 and January 6, as the firm prepares for sluggish sales following Christmas.

THE threat to industry