Irish economic development has been hampered by paltry funding for science, technology and innovation, despite acceptance of the value of heavy investment in education. Traditional funding levels meant the Republic continued to languish at the end of EU league for Research and Development (R&D). Forfas, the policy advisory board for industrial development and science/technology, warned earlier this year that funding of £100 million a year was required just to bring us to the European average. It was responding mainly to ominous knowledge gaps within indigenous industry (though stronger research units exist in many multinational companies here). On the horizon could be seen the "knowledge-rich" trail blazer enterprises of Scandinavia and Germany.
The new National Development Plan marks a late conversion. A current annual budget of some £20 million is about to become £1.9 billion for research, technological development and innovation up to 2006. RTDI is to be the new buzzword. Its effective application will be vital to "embedding" our best manufacturing companies, and to targeting new ones by enticing them with the presence of a strong base in particular sectors such as information and communications technology and biotechnology.
Some economists, it has to said, are surprised and concerned at the imminent and dramatic jump in RDTI investment. The new amount exceeds the total roads investment programme of the previous National Plan. A cursory glance at the low profile of science and technology up until recently may provide some justification for anxiety. Science and technology have poor penetration throughout much of Irish industry and there are decreasing numbers studying physics and chemistry at second level. In addition, a proper strategic framework to implement this major aspect of the plan has yet to be confirmed.
There is, however, evidence of a steady, if unspectacular, embracing of science, research and innovation in Government policies. An innovation investment fund is in place, a science and technology awareness programme is achieving some success, and new science parks are coming into being. Moreover, our third level institutions have shown the ability to produce more skilled graduates and to be a good conduit for research funding.
Nowhere is that new direction more tangible than with the "Technology Foresight" initiative. Overseen by the Irish Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (ICSTI), 180 academics, business experts and industry specialists spent a year looking ahead to the year 2015. Their purpose was to determine how Ireland could position itself to reap the economic benefits of technological advances yet to emerge. It is a good example of the forward planning evident in this sector.
Much of the framework is in place to manage a dramatic increase in science funding and greater collaboration between third level institutions and industry. This is notwithstanding the many "aspirational" elements of the plan, while funding mechanisms need to be finalised and approved by the EU (a not inconsiderable hurdle given previous Irish misdemeanours). Science investment too may be exposed to the risks already evident under other development headings, namely labour (and especially skill) shortages, and infrastructural shortcomings. The Government has signalled its intention to deal with such potential bottlenecks. Addressing this aspect of the development plan needs unrelenting attention.