The taoiseach will today launch a national strategy on science, technology and innovation, setting ambitious targets for public and private sector investment in research.
If the level of public spending for 2006-2008 is maintained for the lifetime of the next National Development Plan up to 2013, it will mean €8 billion in exchequer funding is channelled into advanced industrial research.
Much of the funding will build high-tech research facilities on third-level campuses across the country, or help fund PhD studies for researchers and technicians.
Government officials say that the national strategy is designed to boost the numbers of specialist staff in state agencies who will work with university staff and local industry The taoiseach will commit the public and private sectors to reaching a combined spending target of 2.5% of gross national product (GNP) on scientific and industrial research by 2010 — the equivalent of almost €3 billion in today’s economic terms and €1 billion more than is currently being spent. At least two-thirds of that investment is expected to come from the private sector.
Bertie Ahern will be joined by a large contingent from his cabinet for the launch.
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One official said: “This strategy will make up a major strand of the next national development plan alongside the Transport 21 plan. It goes hand in hand with the Fourth Level Ireland plan for education.
“It has long been accepted that we are not going to win low-cost manufacturing jobs against keen competition from Asia and Africa, so we have to put something in place to ensure that we win the innovation sector, the new Googles and so on.”
The strategy acknowledges that Irish firms spend less than international peers on R&D and outlines ways to address this. It recommends a strengthening of intellectual property safeguards within the universities and third-level institutes.
Colleges will be helped by Enterprise Ireland to recruit people with the appropriate experience and expertise in research and enterprise activity to staff technology transfer offices and deliver support to researchers.
These units will protect the colleges’ ownership of new processes or inventions, and also help to commercialise the discovery through links with private industry.
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The strategy identifies the need for greater links between Irish publicly funded research and industry, noting that many Irish companies have underdeveloped R&D infrastructure and are dependent on publicly funded research programmes.
Teagasc, the state farm and food advisory body, will be encouraged to work closely with the food industry, the country’s largest indigenous sector, in developing a food and agriculture industry that is both economically and socially sustainable.
It currently has a research capacity of 212 staff at PhD level. Their work spans the entire agri-food chain. Additional researchers will be employed under the new R&D strategy and Teagasc will develop centres of excellence at a number of locations.
The report says other agencies will examine the healthcare, environment, marine and energy sectors for potential innovations.