Office of Science and Technology

In its National Development Plan 2000 “2006, the Irish government has identified research, technology development, and innovation as important keys to sustained economic growth and maintaining Ireland's competitiveness in the knowledge economy. The Office of Science and Technology in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is responsible for providing advice on research, technology, and innovation (RTI) issues to create an awareness of the significance of RTI in economic and social development.

Ireland is well along in the process of building an advanced knowledge-based and high-wage economy. Irish people now want more than just to be employed; they expect a higher standard of living. With a tight labor market, Ireland is not attractive to basic manufacturing companies. It needs to build its RTI capability to strengthen Irish industrial performance. Unprecedented advances in science and technology are becoming the bedrock of economic growth, and Ireland's economy is increasingly based more and more on information and knowledge.

The Higher Education Authority is responsible for research infrastructure in the universities. The amount of resources now available for research, technological development, and innovation (RTDI), in the context of the National Development Plan, is vastly superior to what was allocated to these areas in the past.

In 2000, the Irish government has earmarked almost & pound ;2 billion Irish pounds (U.S.$2.3 billion) for RTI. One example, Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), was recently launched to establish Ireland as a world-class center of research excellence in the strategic niche areas of biotechnology and information and communications technologies (ICT). This center will support the future enterprise environment in Ireland. SFI, in turn , oversees the management, evaluation, and allocation of the Technology Foresight Fund of over $550 million for investment in research areas. This fund represents the largest single investment ever in the history of the state in research and development.

SFI has set up advisory panels that are composed of two bodies of high-level experts, industrialists and academics , from both inside Ireland and the international arena. They provide advice on key areas, niches that are internationally recognized and of strategic importance to Ireland.

SFI will fund world-class research teams in universities and technical colleges in Ireland, led by outstanding, world-renowned researchers (SFI principal investigators ). Using these research capabilities, Ireland is projecting into the future with policies that are geared toward creating world-class research companies that develop new and innovative ideas, companies that will compete in the global, knowledge-based economy.

As director of the Office of Science and Technology, Mattie McCabe is responsible for compiling and advising Ireland's overall science and technology innovation policy, particularly as it affects industry and competitiveness. He speaks about the huge investment in basic research the Irish government has committed toward making Ireland an even more competitive site for innovation. The expectation is that Ireland will become a cradle of innovation for future commercial technologies.

Mattie McCabe

The dream of the Science Foundation Ireland and the criteria for success

Our primary investment focus is in life sciences, particularly in biotechnology. To create a cadre of world-class basic researchers, we need to establish an international reputation and a location for carrying out such basic research. What we need to do, in five years ' time, in the biotech area, has not even been developed yet. We would want to see the IDA bringing in companies that can apply the results of the scientific endeavors that we are making now to create new products, and to become stronger companies. The economic benefits for us would be that we have the top- drawer technology companies setting up research operations here and developing viable products in the biotech and ICT areas, which are being derived and collaborated upon by the efforts of Science Foundation Ireland. That then meets the IDA's requirement of creating jobs, which are higher up the value chain.

So we're moving away from manufacturing jobs, creating higher value-added jobs here as a result of the infrastructure, both physical and human. If we are successful, we will see that Ireland will have many more multinational companies here with their research operations embedded, building around the basic science infrastructure that we are investing in.

Now, eventually, the benefits for Ireland will be that these people will move out to become better teachers in universities or they will move out into companies, or collaborate with companies to do new research. The basic research will attract those who will apply the basic research and by applying it in Ireland, presumably that will lend more credibility to Ireland as a place for not just where you extend your operations, but for the place where you actually initiate your operations.

The Irish research model is based on MIT

The best model for this is the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the U.S. and the people who are senior management in Science Foundation Ireland have built up extensive contacts with the NSF. We also looked at the EMBL, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, on the bio side. In setting up the structures, and setting up the assessment processes, our people spent a lot of time at the NSF. The people who are running Science Foundation Ireland adopted the best practices based on the U.S. model.