O ’Keeffe announces 50 jobs in financial services software firm, Sept 17, 2010. L - R: Peter Marshall, Managing Director Fi-Tek, Batt O'Keeffe TD, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Barry O'Leary, Chief Executive IDA Ireland.

The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Batt O’Keeffe today announced another 'top-level' group to draw up a plan for innovation research priorities. It's a clear recognition that the shambolic Irish research strategy is floundering and is badly in need of retooling.

Last May, O'Keefe he would 'lead the drive'to create 117,000 net new Irish jobs in innovation over the next 10 years by implementing the report of the Innovation Taskforce.

Announcing the membership of a 'high-level implementation' group of 'top industrialists' and public servants Monday, O’Keeffe described the appointments at the time as 'high-calibre and target-driven.'

The Minister himself has no business experience, never mind any exposure to innovation; most of the group were drawn from the Innovation Taskforce which published a flawed report last March, that guessed between 117,000 and 235,000 jobs could be created in the high technology and biotech sectors over the coming decade. The targets are fanciful and are extrapolated from the experience of America's Silicon Valley where a tech company has a 25% chance to survive 7 years and where the biotech industry made its first profit after 42 years, in 2008  -- the 3 biggest firms were responsible for the lion's share of the earnings.

The officially titled 'research prioritisation steering group', which will be headed by Intel Ireland’s general manager, Jim O’Hara, will identify up to 20 target areas on which the Government should focus its allocation of public funding for research and development over five years.

O’Keeffe has asked that work be completed within 12 months with an action plan for each priority area setting out specific goals over five years. He wants the group to focus on areas that will yield the best return for taxpayers’ investment in research and, ultimately, create
high-quality jobs.

Announcing the steering group today O’Keeffe said: "We want to identify research areas that can deliver the best economic dividend for our people through enterprise development and job creation. This year, the Government is investing €598m on academic and commercially focused research and development spread across all Government departments and agencies."

The total annual science budget is about €1bn.

The Minister has asked international experts who have completed similar exercises in other countries to assist the steering group.

The Government’s economic advisory agency, Forfás, will undertake the project under the guidance of the steering group.

The project will take a year to complete and identify between 10 and 20 priority areas following extensive consultation.

Finfacts said from the outset in 2006, on the announcement of plans to spend €8.3bn on Science, Technology and Innovation by 2013, that there were no specifics provided on how we were going to become a world class knowledge economy in six years and it raised the question as to how much was aspiration and if the then  minister really knew himself? The question remains unanswered.

Today's announcement is the fourth advisory body on research strategy since December 2008.

In March 2010, the Government accepted the recommendations of the Innovation Taskforce report as it provided some good headlines and the Opposition remained silent while the research establishment in the universities endorsed the bonanza of public funds.

In July, Taoiseach Brian Cowen announced the €500m Innovation Ireland Fund with the hope to win interest from US venture capital companies.

It appears the feedback on the fairytale scenario in the Innovation Taskforce report with no credible hard facts to support its case,  has not been positive.

At last, it's willing to look at the experiences and challenges in other countries.

We have been advocating this position for years.

SEE also: Finfacts article, Aug 2010; Irish Innovation: Ireland banking on the faith-based smart economy strategy