Outsmart and outthink them: ex-Intel chief gives his vision

EDUCATION, TECHNOLOGY and innovation are the key opportunities for Ireland in the 21st century, former Intel chief Dr Craig Barrett has said.

At NUI Galway yesterday, Dr Barrett called on Irish politicians to raise funding available for research and development, calling it “seed corn for new businesses”.

He claimed a 3 per cent investment of our gross domestic product into research and development “is no longer a reasonable target” – Ireland currently injects between 1.5 and 2 per cent of its GDP – and that we “have now to compete with the rest of the world to get paid”.

The Stanford University scholar said future investment in universities needed to be a “sustained commitment” if we were to achieve our growth goals.

“We cannot jerk around with the R&D policies of our Government or a company and expect to get good results,” said Dr Barrett. “It needs to be a sustained commitment . . .

“We have got to see our private sectors involved with the universities. They have the great ideas. We need to see them acting as mentors and partners in research. It is vital.”

Dr Barrett, keynote speaker at the Education for Innovation seminar in NUI Galway, pointed to the success of Silicon Valley and its relationship with Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University as the perfect example of where Irish investment should be focused.

“Look at Microsoft,” he added. “They have a research budget of approximately $8 billion [€5.9 billion] a year. That is huge and is more than all of Ireland spends in R&D.

“Israel now invests 5 per cent of its GDP into research and development . . . That is the future for Ireland and if we fail to pursue it with vigour, passion and resources, there will be no future for us because our lunch will be eaten by somebody else.

“We must outsmart them and outthink them.”