Speech by the Taoiseach, Mr. Brian Cowen, T.D., at the Launch of 'Innovation Ireland' - the Report of the Innovation Taskforce in the Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin on Thursday 11 March, 2010 at 12 noon.
A dhaoine uaisle;
Tá áthas orm a bheith anseo libh inniu chun Tuarascáil an Tascfhórsa Nuálaíochta a sheoladh. Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil libh as teacht. Tá áthas orm freisin go leor de chomhaltaí an tascfhórsa a fheiceáil anseo, chuir shib go leor ama agus iarrachta isteach i reiteach an Tuarascáil chuimsitheach, tráthúil agus tábhachtach seo.
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Ireland has faced the global economic and financial crisis head on. We are coming through this difficult period - I am determined that we will continue on this path. And I am confident that growth will return later this year.
But I don't want us to come through it, merely surviving as best we can. I want us to come through the recession with a capacity to provide our citizens with enhanced opportunities and living standards.
We have a clear vision and it is guiding our thinking and actions through this difficult period.
I know where I want Ireland to be.
In the aftermath of the global crisis, a new economic order will emerge. We will face renewed competition from both east and west. I want Ireland to be positioned to take full advantage of the opportunities that will be presented.
Restoring Ireland's cost competitiveness and simply waiting for global demand to pick up will not be enough. 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.
In December 2008, I launched the Government's medium-term economic framework - Building Ireland's Smart Economy. This contains five key action areas for driving productivity growth and innovation across all sectors of the economy, public and private. The report of the Innovation Taskforce being launched today is concerned with one of those action areas - which involves positioning Ireland as a Global Innovation Hub.
I would now like to hand over to some Members of the Taskforce who, via a short video, will themselves explain their vision of what Ireland can achieve.
Ladies and Gentlemen, at the first meeting of the Innovation Taskforce, I set out my vision for the Ireland of the future. It will be a smart, high-value, export-led economy. It will have some of the world's leading research-intensive multinationals, a number of which will be Irish-owned. It will have thousands of innovative small and medium enterprises. These companies will be creating the products and services of tomorrow for a world market.
The Innovation Taskforce has endorsed this vision.
To position Ireland as a Global Innovation Hub, we must make Ireland:
- the best place in Europe to turn research and knowledge into products and services;
- the best place in Europe to start and grow an innovative company;
- the best place to relocate or expand and scale an SME; and
- the best place in Europe for research-intensive multinationals to collaborate with each other and with clusters of small companies.
If we do this successfully, the Taskforce estimates that in the order of 120,000 new jobs could be created by 2020 - as a minimum.
And Ireland can do this: many of the world's leading multinationals already have operations here; we have built-up our research base over recent years; we have a very high rate of entrepreneurship; we have a young, and increasingly well-educated population, and we offer an English-speaking, business-friendly location.
The Innovation Taskforce have shown 'the glass is more than half full' when it comes to Ireland's potential.
But we need to re-focus and re-invigorate all parts of the "innovation ecosystem". The focus of all efforts must be the entrepreneur and enterprise if we are to deliver a step-change in job creation we need.
The Report echoes many of the themes which emerged at the Global Economic Forum in Farmleigh last September - and we will be working with the new Global Irish Network to progress these ideas.
One of the Taskforce recommendations is that Ministers should undertake regular international visits to promote Ireland as an Innovation Hub.
In the next few days, I, and the members of the Government, will lead a major marketing effort around the world as part of St Patrick's Day celebrations. The report of the Innovation Taskforce and its vision will be a central pillar of the message we will bring with us.
I will be bringing a positive message of hope and confidence about Ireland. I am going to tell everyone why I am confident and proud of Ireland; what we have to offer and what will be the source of our success for the future.
And the good news is that, in so many ways, we have the fundamentals of these success factors in place. We have not lost them at all in this recession. The foundations for economic growth are not destroyed, but are firmly in place, ready to be built on.
In their Report, the Taskforce has focused, correctly, on how we can now deliver a step-change in the level of company start-ups and job creation in innovative, export-focused sectors.
The Taskforce has made a wide range of recommendations including in the areas of investment in research and development, the higher education sector, access to Intellectual Property, public procurement, tax and other incentives, convergence and other opportunities for transforming existing companies, infrastructure and marketing.
The report contains many excellent ideas, as well as calling for reinforcement and better alignment of existing efforts and programmes.
The report suggests a roadmap for achieving our goal of making Ireland a Global Innovation Hub - I intend to ensure that we use it to deliver on that goal.
It won't happen overnight.
It will require a re-prioritisation of resources at a difficult time.
We will need to adapt the strategy and respond to new challenges as we proceed.
Above all, it will require the different elements of the public and private sectors to work together effectively.
But it can be done. It must be done. And the Government is determined that it will happen.
Conclusion
As we take forward this work, I am very encouraged by the level of interest in the work of the Taskforce - as demonstrated by the number of submissions they received. It shows a level of energy which we need to capture as we start implementing this Report.
In fact, I know that the Taskforce's work has, by itself, already been an important stimulus to thinking and action by many organisations and individuals. In other words, the process itself has been important.
Before I conclude, I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the Taskforce members for their exceptional contribution of time and effort. This has resulted in a comprehensive, timely and very important report.
I can assure the Taskforce members that their work is of central importance in delivering the Government's vision for Ireland's economic renewal. Not least, the recommendations and vision in this Report are a timely input which will inform how we best align the structures and priority actions of Government as we continue on the road to economic renewal.
People say the best way to predict the future is to invent it. One of Ireland's best attributes is our ability to be agile and to make quick decisions to get ahead of the game. We need to use that quality now, as we have in the past.
I will be working with my colleagues in Government to take forward the Taskforce's recommendations as we seek to make Ireland a Global Innovation Hub.
Thank you very much
ENDS.
http://www.taoiseach.ie/eng/Innovation_Taskforce/