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| IBM's Irish technology campus, at Mulhuddart in West Dublin
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The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan TD, today , on behalf of the Irish Government, welcomed publication of the first report on the implementation of the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation (SSTI) 2006-2013. The investment made in 2007 and 2008 to date is in excess of €1.4bn. Taoiseach Brian Cowen said that Ireland is "building a world class research system."
First Report on the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation
Coughlan noted that the Report shows that growth in research activity in Third Level Institutions is paralleled by "equally dynamic growth in business sector R&D, which is almost double the level recorded in 2000" and said: “Enterprise Ireland has developed a range of schemes to ensure we have the capacity to capture and transform the ideas and advances coming from higher education research into commercial reality. In January 2008, IDA and Enterprise Ireland launched a new €500m revised and simplified R&D grant scheme for companies to boost their research efforts in order to underpin future competitiveness”.
“Growth in researcher capacity, led by SFI (Science Foundation Ireland), coupled with the enhanced R&D tax credit, continues to be a major attraction for overseas investors, and is resulting in a series of significant industrial and academic research collaborations. It is particularly welcome that as many as 40% of the 114 new projects negotiated by the IDA in 2007 were R&D investments”.
| All Eggs in Basket of Third Level Research |
| It's no surprise that spending of €1.4bn would produce a list of "achievements" but questions regarding a strategy that is so focused on third-level research, remain unanswered.
There is also no clarity on whether the €8.2bn programme is mainly geared towards US multinationals, when the costs of operating in Ireland, remain uncompetitive compared with other locations.
The older Irish-home grown high tech companies, have been struggling in recent years and in 2008, the biggest firm Iona Technologies, was sold to a US company. Spin is always the winner over honest appraisal of the challenges.
As for company R&D spend, it is likely to be dominated by US firms and separate IDA Ireland support is unlikely to have been netted off.
Finally, at the end of the current National Development Plan, will there be ready funds for 10,000 researchers on the public payroll?
Finfacts Report: Innovation, The Venturesome Economy and Ireland
- - Michael Hennigan |
Coughlan highlighted what she termed some of the key positive developments detailed in the report:
Enterprise Ireland and IDA are working closely with companies to strengthen the research and technological base of the enterprise sector in order to drive productivity, competitiveness exports and jobs;
Science Foundation Ireland’s (SFI) success in growing our human capital at the highest level – adding more than 30 world class Principal Investigator teams each year – and our success in connecting funded research teams with industry are together transforming what Ireland has to offer as a location for inward investment;
Collaboration between SFI researchers and industry has increased significantly. SFI’s Centres for Science, Engineering and Technology (CSETs), in particular, have engaged with a wide range of industrial and other partners. The strength of these collaborations with industry is also borne out through the acceleration in the number of patents filed, to its highest level in five years (107 patents in 2006 and 137 in 2007).
The Tánaiste also pointed out that the pipeline of R&D investments supported by IDA and Enterprise Ireland continues to be both "robust and encouraging" as the following recent announcements confirm:
- Business Objects, a SAP company, will invest €29m to create 100 IT research posts to make Ireland a major R&D centre for the company.
- IBM announced a €7 million investment creating 18 R&D positions and a Global Centre of Excellence for Water Management in Mulhuddart.
- Boston Scientific will invest €50 m. in strategic medical devices R&D in Galway.
- CITI, one of the world’s largest financial services companies, will base its €35 million RDI investment in next generation e-banking in Dublin.
- Beckman Coulter Inc, has launched an innovative four year collaborative research programme with NUI Galway in the field of Molecular Diagnostics
- IBM to establish Europe’s first Cloud Computing Centre, located at the IBM Innovation Campus at Mulhuddart.
- Pfizer will invest €190 million in a centre-of-excellence for process development of Pfizer Global Research & Development products.
- Enterprise Ireland support a Houghton Mifflin Harcourt €350m investment in its eLearning research and development centre - 450 high-value jobs.
Positive trends are also evident at the early stage commercialisation end. Real start-ups from the research investment have gone from 5 in 2005 to 13 in 2007; licences have tripled from 15 in 2003 to 55 in 2007; invention disclosures have grown from 135 in 2005 to 264 in 2007; patent filings have gone from 83 in 2005 to 137 in 2007 and, incubators employment has gone from 135 in 2005 to 264 in 2007.”
Summing up the success of the STI Initiative to date, Coughlan concluded: “This report shows that the trends to date from our investment in the SSTI are very encouraging. At the same time, the ramp up in investment in research in Ireland is very recent by international standards and other countries are also investing in this area. I am confident, however, that by sustaining our strategic investment in R&D, we will realise economic and employment wins and improve our competitive advantage.”
“We also need to ensure we capture the interest of young people so that they go on to study Science Engineering and Technology subjects at third and fourth level and take up and create well paid and satisfying jobs in our economy. A major international review of the awareness programme by Discover Science and Engineering has just been completed and its findings will be used to enhance science literacy particularly at first and second level education”, she added.
Commenting on the report, the Taoiseach, Mr. Brian Cowen T.D. said, “the Government has been farsighted in recognising the impact investment in science, technology and innovation can have on national competitiveness and on Ireland’s ability to compete globally. The impact of this investment is already very evident. Ireland has almost trebled expenditure on R&D over the past 10 years to get to where we are now.”
This report reflects the progress we are making in:
- Building a world class research system;
- Capturing, protecting and commercialising ideas and know-how;
- Driving growth through research and innovation in enterprise;
- Providing solid sound foundations in education; and
- Ensuring that the different parts of the research system are working well together."
Referring to the "transformational changes occurring in the higher education sector," the Taoiseach re-emphasised the importance of continued investment in research to develop our human capital at the highest level. “Government initiatives such as the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions, Science Foundation Ireland and the R&D investments in the health, agriculture, marine, environment and energy sectors are contributing to the development of a world class research base in Ireland.”
