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Thu 08 Aug 2009Investing €8.2bn in appliance of science myth
Pleas for continued State funding for university-driven scientific research are just the voice of yet more vested interests, writes MICHAEL HENNIGAN
IN RECENT months, The Irish Timeshas published a number of articles defending the €8.2 billion science budget in the current National Development Plan, but its striking that the practitioners of the hard sciences present few hard facts in its defence. Dreams of finding a new Nokia are fine but critics question the over-reliance of a small country like Ireland, on university-driven basic research.
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