Dublin's Innovation Week hosted a wealth of events, including a lively debate on how best to deliver the smart goods and details of the high-tech Aviva Stadium, write CLAIRE O'CONNELLand EMMET RYAN

SHOULD IRELAND cherry-pick from other economies, or should we concentrate on innovation ourselves? Is our education system up to the task of feeding the much talked-about “smart economy”? And what exactly is that smart economy anyway?

These were just a few of the topics echoing around the cavernous and marbled setting of Dublin’s City Hall last Wednesday evening during a public discussion between a panel of economic, education and business experts and a packed audience of mostly men in suits.

“What’s smart about Ireland’s smart economy?” asked the title of the event, organised by the Royal Irish Academy and Dublin City Council as part of Dublin’s Innovation Week.

But before wading into the debate, a quick toe-dipper – what does the smart economy mean to each of the panellists anyway?

For Prof Peter Clinch, special economic adviser to the Taoiseach, it hinges around bumping up our limping productivity and pulling together to do so.

Prof Frances Ruane, director of the ESRI, puts the spotlight not just on fancy products, winners and photo-ops they entail, but also on less obvious innovative processes to grease the country’s wheels.

Tom Boland, CEO of the Higher Education Authority, wants to see a population with the “skills and competence to live happy, healthy and fulfilled lives”, while Jim Barry, CEO of NTR plc, reckons it’s about getting together a coherent plan to deal with the “perilous state” of our finances, competitiveness and public sector and come out with a 21st century economy at the end of it.

The cat went among the pigeons early, with facilitator Dr Michael Cronin from DCU asking whether, as a small country with limited resources, Ireland should avoid costly and potentially disappointing innovation and just copy good ideas from elsewhere.

With barely a ruffled feather the message came back: we can copy where it’s smart to, but innovation is still the key. “We have to be innovative or I can’t see a future for the economy,” said Clinch.

But can an education system that emphasises rote learning over creativity slake the thirst of a smart economy? Boland questioned the current set-up’s ability to deliver the smart goods, emphasising the need to engage with science at primary level and develop skills such as communication and creative thinking at higher levels. “We are not consciously thinking about how the education system should be restructured to deliver a very different agenda.”

Much of the discussion centred on what Ireland is missing – a spirit of enterprise and innovation in children, a tolerance of failure (which, as Barry pointed out, teaches far more than success), tangible role models, communication about what is actually being achieved and even basic organisation. “We have a huge opportunity to marshal the way we organise the arms of the state and we are not doing it,” noted Barry.

On the up side, the discussion highlighted our island status, which Ruane pointed out originally drew us to the highly exportable disciplines of pharma and electronics, and even gave Ryanair a launchpad. Our geography could now be one of our distinguishing strengths, particularly for renewable energy.

Lansdowne Road is undergoing a technological revolution as part of its transformation into Aviva Stadium, according to the projects directors.

“The old stadium was hayshed structure technology. There was nothing in there but toilets and lights. The new stadium is more like a nuclear submarine,” said Michael Greene, project director of Aviva Stadium.

Greene made the comments at an Innovation Dublin event held at the stadium. The small-scale presentation was attended by representatives of sectors as diverse concert promotion, cultural management and sports timing.

The event began with an initial presentation by Greene and Neil Parnham, a telecoms engineer with Kentz.

The core focus was on the efforts made to ensure the stadium will be up to the requirements for the Uefa Europa League final, which will be held at the Dublin venue in 2011.

This includes strict requirements in terms of communications infrastructure and press spacing.

After the 30-minute presentation the attendees were brought on a tour of the stadium, which is still under construction, to get a better idea of how the technology will be deployed.

This included showing how a 40in screens will be installed across one part of the stadium where it will be difficult for spectators to view the large screens at either end of the ground.

The new stadium will have facilities in place to make it easier for the visually impaired and hard of hearing to enjoy a match-day experience.

The lifts being installed are designed for use during an evacuation. The primary reason for this move is to enable disabled access.

The stadium is due to open in April 2010.