Innovation report highlights 24 points

INNOVATION IRELAND, an ambitious report by a Government-appointed taskforce, was launched by Taoiseach Brian Cowen yesterday, with the aim of potentially creating 117,000 jobs by 2020.

The report contains 24 key recommendations, and an additional 38 supporting proposals to transform Ireland into an “international innovation hub”.

It calls for innovation and entrepreneurship to be placed at the heart of enterprise policy and says that Irish culture needs to stop stigmatising business failure.

Among the main recommendations included in the report are: the implementation of a more efficient approach to identifying and accessing intellectual property arising from public research investment; investing 3 per cent of gross domestic product in research and development; the creation of a national network of angel funds to invest in early-stage companies; the attraction of new investment and the consolidation of existing foreign-direct investment; the introduction of additional measures to promote the study of maths and science; the creation of placement schemes in companies for both graduate and undergraduates; and the marketing of Ireland as a leading innovation location and destination of choice for European and other overseas investors. While no specific details of the costs involved for each recommendation were contained in the report, it did classify them as cost neutral, low cost or high cost.

Each recommendation was accompanied by one of four “timeline” indications: “immediate”, which indicates that action should be taken within three months; “short-term”, which refers to an implementation period of less than a year; “medium-term”, which indicates a timeframe of one to two years; and “long-term” which suggests over two years.

The report states that regular reports on the progress of the implementation of recommendations should be prepared for consideration by the Government and for publication.

Speaking at the launch of the report at the Science Gallery in Trinity College Dublin yesterday, Mr Cowen said that the report is of central importance to Ireland’s economic renewal.

“Innovation, in both the production and use of ideas, technology and processes, across all areas of economic activity, is crucial because it drives productivity growth, and, consequently, economic growth,” said Mr Cowen

One of the stated aims of the report is that by 2020 Ireland will have a significant number of “large, innovation-intensive companies, which are Irish headquarters and owned”. The taskforce also stressed the importance of fostering indigenous entrepreneurial enterprises, rather than focusing solely on multinationals, which already have a strong base here.