The importance of research and innovation to the recovery of the Irish economy was underlined by new EU Commissioner Maire Geoghegan-Quinn last Friday when she spoke to an audience at NUI Galway in her first public address in Ireland since assuming the post.
The Galway-native outlined how she is currently drawing up a plan of action which she will present in September and which she will use as a roadmap through her term of office.
“Research and innovation are at the very core of the Europe 2020 Strategy. They are the only way to deliver new sources of growth and sustainable jobs to replace those that have been lost during the crisis. So, they naturally feature in every part of the document. That means that as Research and Innovation Commissioner, I will be responsible for delivering large parts of the Strategy. Put simply, my job is to transform Europe into a really vibrant innovation economy. To help it make the transition from economy to "i-conomy,” she said.
She spoke about her immediate priorities such as the drawing up of the overall plan.
This plan will have to be ready by September because the EU's leaders have decided to hold a special discussion on research and innovation at their summit in the autumn. This is yet another sign of their growing importance for our economy and society.
Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn struck an optimistic note by saying that Ireland has a strong track record in the field of research and development, outlining its sustained strategic investment in research and education, adding that this will stand it in good stead now as it seeks to emerge from the crisis and ensure a durable recovery.
“There is huge commonality between the smart economy approach adopted by the Irish Government at the end of 2008 and the Europe 2020 strategy, not least the focus on research and innovation and environmental sustainability,” she said.
She went on to advice that there are several steps that must be implemented if the country is to fully exploit the opportunities to be offered by an in creased emphasis on research and innovation.
“The first step is to strengthen our science base and ensure that it is internationally competitive. That is why I have since day one in my new job strongly supported the target of investing three per cent of EU GDP in R&D. I am worried that, with budgets under pressure, governments may view research and development as an easy area for cutbacks. This would be completely the wrong reaction. We know, from the experience of countries like Finland, that R&D budgets must be maintained at times like these.
”I am happy to see that, in the budgetary consolidation packages announced so far, the Irish Government has sought to do this. And precisely because public finances are under such pressure, we must get the max out of every euro we spend,” she said.
“In today's globalised world, the secret to success lies in collaboration across borders and cultures. That is why we must have a single, unified research area in Europe, within which researchers and knowledge can move around freely. It is known as the European Research Area, and I am determined to make it a success. For example, I want to remove, once and for all, the pension and social security obstacles which prevent researchers from moving freely between countries,” she said.
Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn said that it is vital that member states, including Ireland, set aside sufficient resources for participation in joint programming.
Meanwhile, we must make the best possible use of European level funding instruments, including the EU Framework Programme for Research – which is the biggest publicly funded research programme in the world.
Under the 7th EU Research and Technological Framework Programme 2007- 2013, Irish companies drew down €152million between January 2007 and October 2009.
”These monies have helped small and medium sized companies, third level institutions and multi-national companies develop new technologies so that the economy can become more competitive into the future,” she said.
Successful Irish projects have secured funding to carry out research into how best to tackle cardio-vascular disease, devise new techniques to reduce the level of seizures in new born babies, further develop new programmes to replace and reduce levels of animal testing.
The Irish food sector has secured financial support to develop new dietary food products. Satellite projects are looking at how we can reduce the level of road deaths in urban and congested areas.
”We must always look to the future. We must always strive for excellence. The benefits of new research, properly applied – can improve the quality of all our lives. We must seize the opportunities that are presented before us. I also want more of the 4,000 third level institutions in the EU to collaborate with industry, and to do so in an EU27 context. Indeed, we must strengthen the links between all three sides of the knowledge triangle –
higher education, business and research centres.
She welcomed the strategic alliance between NUI Galway and the University of Limerick that is working with Irish industry to further develop Ireland's biomedical device industry. This sector alone directly employs 24,000 people in Ireland.
”This alliance is also increasing the level of co-operation between these two universities so as to provide a higher level of scientific and technological breakthroughs in the 'green tech' sector.
She said that more must be done to develop technologies in the Eu rather than outside its borders.
“Europe at the moment is not good at capitalising on its inventions. For example, the technology to invent the mp3 standard for compressing audio data was invented in Europe but it was commercialised in America. This has to change. We have to build a fully functioning 'Single Market for Innovation.'
“Europe is in fact nearly level pegging with the US in terms of the number of patents registered. Yet, the cost of patents in the EU is much higher than in the US. If we could change this, if we could deliver a large and harmonised single market for services and a European venture capital market, just imagine how far ahead we could be,” she concluded
