Positive noises from Government should comfort R&D sector

NET RESULTS:With a grim budget to come it is vital that stated commitments to science and technology are kept

WITH THE emergency budget looming, researchers trying to read the tea leaves in advance of Tuesday’s fiscal punishments can likely take some comfort in recent reiterations of the importance of national research and development from key Government figures.

A case in point was Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment

Mary Coughlan who sent what appeared to be a reassuring message about the centrality of science and technology investments and skills to Ireland Inc when speaking on RTÉ1's Marian Finucane Show last Saturday.

This was a specific point of emphasis for her as she discussed where the economy was now, and how the Government planned to rebuild it as the State emerges – one hopes – from the recession.

Given the Tánaiste’s joint position as No 2 in command and the Minister most directly overseeing actual commitments to research and innovation, and the proximity of what everyone expects will be a swingeing budget, this seems, on face value, a significant statement.

Given similar noises in recent weeks, it would appear the Government will remain at least reasonably steadfast if not fully committed to budgetary promises in this area.

The sums that had been promised in the past are a significant portion of the overall budget. The Government's Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation (SSTI) 2006-2013, endorsed again in the more recent Government document, Building Ireland's Smart Economy, earmarks €8.2 billion towards fundamental, applied and enterprise research.

With the Government also concerned about turning such tech and science investments into jobs, it must be reassured by recent IDA Ireland statistics that show that more than 40 per cent of foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in 2008 were based around RD.

As it launched its new strategy document, Powering the Smart Economy, last week, Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) was eager to emphasise such linkages and note that much current RD work both in multinationals in Ireland and in indigenous companies has developed from SFI-funded and supported research groups.

Of course, there are other sources of research funding and projects run independent of this large State agency. But only the sourest critic would refuse to concede that SFI has helped transform the research landscape and given the State a more structured research profile internationally.

At the launch of the report, SFI director Prof Frank Gannon noted that the organisation had not just met but exceeded most of its targets from its initial four-year plan, committing about €1 billion towards research.

Some of the duplication of research effort across institutions has been removed, and synergies between them developed through the multi-member CSETs (Centres for Science, Engineering and Technology) and SRCs (Strategic Research Clusters).

But, as Gannon conceded, the next stage of development for SFI will be more difficult. The initial nurturing of RD capacity – starting from Ireland’s extremely low standing in this area to begin with – was always going to be able to produce visible results more easily than the ongoing feeding, expansion and conversion of the sector into jobs and new industries required in the next phase.

So it is good to be hearing a buoyant recognition from Government leaders of the importance of science and technology, and research and development, as a sober budget approaches.

Gannon said at the launch that he was confident SFI and Irish researchers could meet the fresh targets laid out in the new strategic plan, as long as budgetary commitments remain what they are in the Government’s SSTI report.

That may be hopeful thinking for Gannon, but indications are that any cuts will not be as devastating as they might have been.

For this grace, one might look beyond Irish shores and across the Atlantic to a new US president that has repeatedly, and in stark contrast to his predecessor, highlighted that continued investment in and support of science and technology is crucial to both the US and the world economy.

Scientists have been in the doghouse for so long in the US that getting presidential backing, as seen in the high-calibre scientific appointments within the Obama administration, must, for the scientists and technologists, seem a rather unscientific miracle.

Given the glow cast on science and tech in the States by a president still attracting much post-election honeymoon interest at home and abroad, a bit of “technology transfer” of this attitude from the US to other countries isn’t surprising and will help bolster the profile of science and technology here.

But we will have to wait for the budget next week to gauge just how warm the Government is feeling towards areas that spent a long time out in the cold in the past.

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