Report recommends massive R&D spend

Hundreds of millions needs to be invested in research and development, particularly in the enterprise sector, to make sure Ireland is competitive in the global economy, according to a new report.

The report - called “Building Ireland’s Knowledge Economy – The Irish Action Plan for Increasing R&D to 2010” - was prepared by an inter-departmental steering group established by Tánaiste Mary Harney in 2003, which was chaired by Ned Costello, assistant secretary general in the science, technology and intellectual property division of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

The Tánaiste established the steering group to develop the Irish R&D Action Plan as a response to the target agreed by Heads of State at Barcelona in 2002 to increase expenditure on R&D in the EU from 1.9% of GDP currently to 3% in 2010, with two thirds of the increase to come from the business sector. Ireland’s investment in R&D is currently at 1.4%.

The Tánaiste said that the Action Plan complements the report of the Enterprise Strategy Group published earlier this month, which highlights the importance of investment in R&D by the private and public sectors to sustain Ireland’s competitiveness.

To realise this step change the Action Plan proposes the following targets for Ireland to be achieved by 2010:

- Business investment in R&D should increase from €917m in 2001 (0.9% GNP) to €2.5bn in 2010 or 1.7% GNP;

- The number of indigenous companies with minimum scale R&D activity (in excess of €100,000) should double, from 525 in 2001 to 1,050 in 2010;

- The number of indigenous enterprises performing significant R&D (in excess of €2 million) should increase from 26, currently, to 100 by 2010;

- The number of foreign affiliates companies with minimum scale R&D activity (in excess of €100,000) should double, from 239 in 2001 to at least 520;

- The number of foreign affiliates performing significant levels of R&D (in excess of €2 million) should increase from 47 in 2001 to 150 by 2010;

- R&D performance in the higher education and public sectors should increase from €422m in 2001 (0.4% GNP) to €1.1 bn in 2010 or 0.8% GNP.

It recommends a range of actions to support achievement of the targets as follows:

i. Develop a national pro-innovation culture supportive of invention, risk-taking and entrepreneurship;

ii. Re-orient the enterprise support budget to R&D and develop a new and less bureaucratic approach to R&D support that encourages a systematic and continuous approach to R&D within enterprises;

iii. Strongly support the development of strategic research competencies (technology platforms) based on enterprise needs;

iv. Develop the seed capital markets for early stage ventures;

v. Develop a national plan to increase the performance, productivity and efficiency of research in the higher education and the public sectors;

vi. Sustain Ireland’s commitment to building it international reputation for research excellence;

vii. Make Ireland a highly attractive environment for high quality researchers and research careers;

viii. Develop the research commercialisation expertise necessary to ensure effective and rapid exploitation of research in higher education and public research sectors by enterprise.