State 'should focus' R&D efforts

IRELAND'S entire research spending is less than the budget of a major multinational company, according to the Higher Education Training Award Council chief executive Séamus Puirséil.

The importance of research has become something of a mantra in this country but few understand its importance, he said.

As the highly influential Roberts Report, Set for Success, pointed out: "Continuous innovation is key to the future survival and growth of businesses operating in what are increasingly competitive global markets".

Not all innovation is based on scientific R&D, but the need for human ingenuity in making discoveries and creating new products meant the success of R&D is critically dependent upon having talented scientists and engineers to hand, said the report.

Given what this country needs to achieve, Mr Puirséil said all institutes of higher education and the higher education system overall need to "urgently review their approach to doctoral (PhD) education".

Speaking in Sligo at the signing of an order giving Sligo Institute of Technology the power to grant certain doctoral degrees, Mr Purséil said: "As we move up the economic value chain, which is Government policy, we have to be careful that we don't lose focus and concentrate our research efforts too widely. We should concentrate on what we are good at."

This country succeeds when we play to our strengths, but to maximise our research strengths we have to be "far more serious about how much money we spend on R&D", he added.

It is also important to appreciate that in science and engineering, doctoral education is necessary for the development of the highest level of skills, particularly in the high-technology fields. Innovation too is vital, he said.

It is important to encourage institutes of technology in building their applied research capacity and to provide specific funding mechanisms to support that goal, he said. In some fields in science and engineering however, that distinction between basic and applied research is not practical.

Restriction of activity to 'applied' areas is difficult to reconcile with the realities of the research process, the principle of a student's academic freedom and the sustainability of research activity, he said.