Ireland ninth in EU for innovation but improvement rate slower than average

IRELAND has the two main ingredients to drive innovation and create the jobs of the future, according to an EU-wide survey, but is being let down by poor follow-through by businesses, especially SMEs.

Overall the country was placed ninth of the 27 member states in terms of innovation performances, which is better than the EU average for the past five years.

But worryingly its rate of improvement was slower than the average, putting the country into the category of “innovation followers”.

The take-up of lifelong learning programmes, the availability of private credit and the increase in broadband access by firms – all seen as innovation enablers – put the country ahead of most others.

However businesses and especially small and medium sized enterprises reduced their efforts to develop and encourage entrepreneurs, new products and services.

This may have been as a result of the economic crisis hitting in 2008, the last year for available figures, and may suggest that the figures deteriorated even more last year.

Presenting the scoreboard, Enterprise and Innovation Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn said the economic crisis may be hampering the EU’s progress to become more competitive through innovation.

“Only rising investment in research and development can drive a more vigorous recovery,” she said, and added that the most innovative countries were those that spent more on R&D.

She reiterated the EU target of 3% of a country’s GDP to be spent on R&D, 1% from the state and 2% from private investment.

But she said this target will be supported by an output target that will measure how effective each country’s spending is in achieving growth and new jobs – something the Irish Government has been pushing.

Ms Geoghegan-Quinn and Entrepreneurship and Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani are also working on new lines of credit for companies wishing to innovate such as the European Investment Bank.

Mr Tajani said that while the scoreboard showed an overall positive picture, there were some worrying signs and the 3% spending target would have to be met. The EU was still lagging behind the USA and Japan but still has a clear lead over Brazil, Russia, India and China, although China is showing signs of catching up.