Reality check for Ireland to meet innovation targets

The best antidote to the current world trade turmoil is innovation, the creation of products and services that make life better — whether it’s butter, vaccines, or text messaging. Every country wants to foster a culture of innovation, but it’s not easy to do.

Ireland has been trying hard, but as shown in the latest release from the EU’s statistics office, the results are patchy. Just before the recession, Ireland was ranked 12th most intensive country in the EU for research and development (R&D). We have since fallen to 18th. After the economic crisis, public investment in R&D has been slow to recover. Officials in the Department of Business, Enterprise, and Innovation point to the lack of funds because of the recession. Hence R&D expenditure by governments in the years following the recession fell from the peak of €930m to receiving a budget allocation of €751m in 2018.