Let’s be realistic about our place in the R&D race

FOR years one of the watch cries on the Irish economy was we had to exploit our green image.

That view no longer gets the same status or weight as it did. In a way that’s understandable, if misguided.

The economy has moved on, and to an extent so has out thinking about where out strengths lie in the economic battlefield.

However, features in newspapers demonstrate an unease about where we are in the great research and development (R&D) race.

We are talking a very good game in that regard, but realistically what are the chances of us delivering any sort of critical success in this highly competitive arena?

We may fancy ourselves as nudging tantalisingly close to the cutting edge of technology, but is that true? If we see ourselves in such a self-congratulatory light how come we are still way behind the rest of the modern world in terms of our R&D spend? And why is it we still have to run special supplements extolling the virtues of scientific research in some of our publications while drooling about how much we are doing to better ourselves in this sector of the global economy? It is odd that such an issue, apparently held in such high regard within the State, is in fact seen as the subject of “special reports”.

Michael Porter, the strategic genius at Harvard on global competition, told us bluntly a few years ago in University College Cork we were well behind in the R&D race.

That situation hasn’t changed and it begs the question as to how committed we are to the area.

Could it be that in truth we lack the conviction about what place we actually hold in the world of hi-tech knowledge and computer-driven research?

Confusion about our exact role in this great evolution could be a part of our problem.

R&D is critical going forward - but just how important is a matter of opinion. We need the big multi-nationals to base more of their research here and we have to produce or find those with the qualifications to help the big boys deliver on that goal.

Beyond that it is time to ask where our focus ought to be in the new millennium as an economy with gravity defying capabilities.

The point I’m driving at is that if we are to be realistic, we have to accept we are not Japan or the US and we simply do not have the spending capability to lead us into the next phase of digital cameras or digital anything for that matter.

What we do have is capability in the areas of software and aspects of R&D relating to health and other matters where traditionally those capabilities have evolved with the society.

And it may be that we need to look at our green image and ask ourselves how we can best exploit that in the years ahead.

In a private conversation recently one person deeply involved in the computer business here commented that one of our greatest strengths was our selling and marketing ability.

It is his contention that we ought to give up our pretense of being whizzes when it comes to new technology and to instead provide the platform and the people skills base to others with global brands to sell.

That is not to say we drop everything to do with R&D and run. But the harsh reality is that Ireland hasn’t a global brand to its name in the hi-tech arena, and the chances of us displacing Japan or the US any time soon in the modern technology area look pretty slim.

We have massive potential in food and it is to that area and others, where we have natural ability, that we might turn out attention while we quietly drop the pretence of achieving great things in pure R&D.

In a different context that great Kerryman, Brendan Kennelly, is fond of saying, “why pass your own street”. Draw on your own strengths and experience was what he meant.

In a strategic context it just might be time for a re-think and for us to look to our own strengths as we look to the future.