Science agency takes a prudent approach to spending its budget

Dr William Harris, head of Science Foundation Ireland, aims to change the country's perception as a backwater for high-tech research, writes Jamie Smyth

Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the agency set up to oversee research and development investment, has slowed ambitious spending plans laid down by the Government to ensure public money is allocated efficiently.

But despite coming in under budget in its first three years the agency does not expect to lose any of the €635 million funding allocated in the National Development Plan, according to the director general of the foundation, Dr William Harris.

"Originally the budget was for €100 million per year but we didn't have a system in place, and if we did it too quickly we wouldn't succeed," says Dr Harris, who was headhunted by the Government last year for the top post.

At a meeting last November with the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, Dr Harris outlined a more conservative strategy that will see the agency spend just €115 million between 2001 and the end of 2003. The foundation also said it planned to conduct a full review of the science sector.

"We didn't know the size of the research community or what kind of technology they were working on. But by this November we will know about the community, laboratory needs and how to complement our investments with other institutions," he says.

Dr Harris rejects the assertion that the Government in any way pressured him to slow spending due to its own fiscal difficulties, and suggests that the political commitment to fund scientific research has never been stronger.

"It's a very bold move by the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach who recognised that Ireland's economic miracle of the 1990s was at risk... staying at the top is the challenge now," says Dr Harris.

Countries such as India and China, and Eastern Europe will grow to challenge the Irish economic system over the next few years, and the Government's preparation of the economy for this will determine future prosperity.

For companies such as Wyeth, Iona and Intel to be located in the Republic, we need ideas and brainpower, according to Dr Harris.

For many years the Government's funding of research and development activities has been among the lowest in Europe. But the availability of €2.5 billion under the National Development Plan for research - split between the SFI, the Higher Education Authority and Enterprise Ireland - is intended to develop a research infrastructure in the Republic.

"Although it \ has a tradition of research, if you talk to scientists not many of them would speak about Ireland as a world-renowned place for high technology research. Rather they think of the US, UK or Germany," he says. His mission is to change the perception of the Republic as simply an efficient manufacturer of technology products by attracting some of the world's best scientists here to undertake cutting-edge research in the target sectors of biotechnology and information communications technology. He hopes to use the SFI and its budget as a catalyst to help change third-level institutions in the Republic and build them around researchers.

Universities and Institutes of Technology in Ireland were principally set up for undergraduate teaching," he says. "In the 1990s there was only a few million available to fund research, so not many academic staff got to do research."

With considerable experience of managing research funding, as a director of the US National Science Foundation, Dr Harris is well aware of the stiff competition for high-profile research projects.

"The University of Texas has about 50,000 students and each department may have 50 researchers, while a department in an Irish university may have just five or six people," he says. This difference in scale makes it difficult for Irish colleges to compete. The only way it can be done is if Irish universities link together more for research activities, he adds.

Industry and universities need to form partnerships in the same way US institutions did about 15 years ago. Companies like Wyeth have complex problems that they need solutions for and academics could help. The university sector in the Republic is also too centralised, says Dr Harris, who would favour a more flexible third-level structure. "The whole pipeline of education is too important for Ireland's future for people not to get involved," he says. Stiff international competition in specialist areas such as biotechnology is one of the reasons that SFI has taken longer than expected to begin offering grants and spend its budget.

Extensive funding made available by the Higher Education Authority over the past two years has also removed some of the more immediate needs for Irish researchers. But the announcement of €32 million in funding programmes yesterday by the SFI is a sign that the organisation is beginning to make a difference.

The foundation announced 13 separate research projects over a five-year period. These span sectors including genetic research, optical imaging technologies and semiconductor research.

Six of the awards were made to Irish researchers and seven will attract researchers from Japan, Canada, US, UK and Europe to relocate in the Republic.

"Together these 13 researchers bring Ireland a base of expertise in disciplines that are shaping the science of tomorrow. They will provide a powerful boost in important areas of research, education and industrial development. They will be a down-payment on the scientific and economic future of Ireland," he says.

But there is still a lot to be done, says Dr Harris, who expresses concern about the alarming drop-off in students choosing to study computer sciences and engineering at third-level colleges. "The big issue is, are students getting the right information and opportunity to get a scientific background," he says.