A Uachtaráin agus a dhaoine uaisle, tá an-ríméad orm a bheith anseo inniu in bhur dteannta ar Champas álainn agus stairiúil Mhaigh Nuad agus go háirithe a bheith anseo san Institiúid um Luach Nuálaíochta. Sampla an-dearfach í an institiúid seo den obair i gcomhar a bhíonn ar siúl ag an bpobal gnó agus acadúil.
Creideann an Rialtas go bhfuil compháirtíochtaí i dtaighde straitéiseach ríthábhachtach chun nuálacht a chur chun cinn agus chun buntáiste ó thaobh na hiomaíochta a thabhairt do gheilleagar na hÉireann. Sin é an fáth gur gheallamar infheistíocht a dhéanamh in Ionad Inniúlachta Chuibhreannas na hInstitiúide um Luach Nuálaíochta agus i sé chuibhreannas tionscail eile mar chuid den Tionscnamh Ionaid Inniúlachta.
President, ladies and gentlemen, it is appropriate that today I am talking about Ireland's future here in the Innovation Value Institute at NUI Maynooth.
This is a very positive example of collaboration between the academic and business community. It is also further evidence of Intel's commitment to Ireland following its announcement in February of a major expansion at its research and development facility in Shannon.
Today I am pleased to announce the Government's investment of €1 million in the first phase of the Innovation Value Institute Consortium Competence Centre. This is one of seven industry groups established to form research initiatives under the Competence Centre Programme. The Government has launched this initiative because we believe that strategic research partnerships between industry and academia are an important driver of innovation and for delivering a competitive advantage to the Irish economy.
I very much welcome the extensive collaboration involved in this project. As well as involving over 40 private and public sector companies, three Universities - NUI Maynooth, University of Limerick and NUI Galway - are collaborating on this initial research phase.
The Government has called on Higher Education Institutes to work together more closely to assist in driving our transition to a smart economy. This project is just one example of many worthwhile collaborations already being undertaken within the University sector. I would encourage you to continue developing and expanding these research links with industry and between your institutions.
Economic Recovery
I believe that economic recovery is in sight. There are hopeful signs nationally that this recession is bottoming out. The ESRI and other commentators are predicting that the decisions taken by the Government, allied with the flexibility of our economy and our people in reacting to the crisis, means that we are positioned to return to growth, even rapid growth, as the world economy turns as early as next year.
It is clear that, although painful, the tough decisions we are taking are beginning to work. It is encouraging that we expect today's Exchequer figures to show that tax receipts are coming in on target.
A key focus of this Government is protecting as many jobs as we can, restoring competitiveness to the way we do business, and supporting viable but vulnerable enterprises.
I am pleased to say here today that we will shortly be announcing a series of measures to help enterprises to retain employment. This will help people retain their jobs and assist the economy in recovering quickly once the global upturn comes. This is a complex issue and we will be working with the social partners to ensure that such a scheme is workable and not subject to abuse.
Planning for the Future
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it".
For my colleagues and I in government, it is not good enough to survive this major global crisis. We need to think smart, work smart, and be smart in order to build our future.
The Ireland of the future 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 and providing high quality employment for our people.
The country will have smart, efficient and citizen-oriented public services.
It will be energy independent and have high-quality living environments with smart transport solutions.
That is the future that I want us to achieve.
The lesson from severe global recessions in the past is that as well as weathering the economic storm, countries need to restructure their economies to target the next wave of economic growth.
Finland is an example: it suffered a severe recession in the early 1990s, but emerged even stronger because it made the right choices, in particular targeting research into communications and IT.
That is why the Irish Government ensured we were one of the first countries out of the blocks to devise a strategy to reposition our economy.
The Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal published in December sets out our agenda over the next few years of how we will re-orientate and reprioritise the business of Government to achieve the goal of building a Smart Economy.
Our Smart Economy will result in a thriving, high-value, research-intensive, multinational community - the Intels, Googles, Microsofts and Pfizers of this world - alongside a thriving set of Irish innovative companies - we want to create our own Googles and Microsofts or, as Finland has done, our own Nokia.
We already have global Irish companies. We need more.
Increasing productivity is the key to Ireland's future success.
Ireland's best asset is its people. We have a younger and better-educated population than most other countries - better even than the United States. It is the creativity and ingenuity of people and their ability to invent new products and services that will drive Ireland's future growth. Entrepreneurial activity in Ireland is well above the European average with as many as 2,800 people setting up businesses every month. As a Government we will do our utmost to create the best possible environment for these entrepreneurs.
By following our Smart Economy plan, Ireland will become:
A country where there will be a critical mass of companies - both Irish and international - at the forefront of innovation, creating the products and services of tomorrow;
A country where entrepreneurs from anywhere in the world will want to come because it provides the best environment for turning ideas into products and services for sale including a highly competitive tax regime, business supports, infrastructure and state agencies and institutions which are aligned to create competitive advantage for their clients in innovation enterprise; and
A country which is a leader in green technologies, in particular renewable power from wind and ocean sources. This Government is absolutely committed to the environmental agenda and we have mainstreamed this throughout the Smart Economy blueprint.
Ireland is one of the most open economies in the world. The future of our economy will depend on exports. We need thousands of thriving Irish companies creating high-value products and services that will provide well-paid, quality employment.
We already have one of the best concentrations of high-tech multinationals in Ireland. Our plan is to incentivise them to invest further in the high-value research and development areas that provide secure employment and increase exports.
We are already investing billions in research and we need to get a return on it. We will now move this to a new level and create an exemplary research, innovation and commercialisation ecosystem - we will become an Innovation Hub in Europe.
We need to develop an enterprise culture from school children upwards and right through the universities and institutes and throughout our companies. It should be a reasonable aspiration of all children born in this country that they might, one day, start their own business. That is what I am trying to achieve.
In the past, we have used one of Ireland's best attributes, our ability to be agile and to make quick decisions to get ahead of the game. We did that when establishing the International Financial Services Centre. We did that when setting out to become the European Headquarters for some of the world's best companies. Building Ireland's Smart Economy sets out a blueprint of how we can ensure that we achieve such success again.
Ireland's Place in Europe
I believe that the European Union is central to Ireland's future. The EU has been a crucial ally to Ireland over the past twelve months in fighting this recession and retaining as many jobs as possible.
The researchers here may know that Ireland is drawing down over 1 million euro a week from the 7th EU Research and Technological Framework Programme 2007 - 2013. In the first twenty months of this Programme, 353 different projects have drawn down over 83 million euro in funding to support the high-tech sector in Ireland. Many businesses in our capital working in tandem with the Dublin universities have been successful beneficiaries under this programme.
We must stay to the forefront in developing and promoting new and evolving technologies if Dublin is to remain as a key innovation hub in Europe. Dublin has successfully been awarded the European City of Science in 2012 and this is a great opportunity to showcase Dublin's commitment to the research and technology sectors to the rest of the world.
Investing in the Future
Despite the difficulties facing the Irish economy, the Government is continuing to invest heavily in implementing the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation. Ireland's expenditure on R&D has almost tripled over the past decade and this year we are investing €646 million. This investment is crucial if we are to reorient the economy to attract high quality jobs through driving innovation within firms and across the economy.
While the current economic crisis is creating real challenges for business, continued investment in research and development is essential to maintaining competitiveness and preparing for economic recovery. As markets contract, the importance of using innovation to increase competitiveness becomes even more important to business. Already, we can see real, tangible benefits arising from our investment under SSTI to date.
For example, over the period 2000 to 2007, Enterprise Ireland supported 430 High Performance Start-Up companies, 40% of which were specifically R&D projects. This investment yielded sales of €638 million, exports of €344 million and generated employment for 5,500 people.
In a recent independent survey of companies that had received R&D support from Enterprise Ireland, both productivity and sales increased for the majority as a direct result of the funding. There was an average growth of 18% and 24% respectively and over 70% of companies employed new staff as a result of R&D funding.
This investment in research, development and innovation is also vital because the outputs and impacts of strategic investment in R & D are a significant draw for Foreign Direct Investment firms. The establishment of a strong research base in Ireland is proving to be a vital driver of major investment decisions by overseas and indigenous companies.
For example, in 2008, 43% of IDA investments won were research related and are valued at €420m. Almost one third of R & D investments involved collaboration with Irish third level institutions and research institutes, many of which have been supported by Science Foundation Ireland.
However, while we have made significant investments and progress under SSTI to date, we now need to move into a new phase. We need to maximise the return for our investment by promoting the commercialisation of this research. We must ensure that the outputs of Ireland's research base are brought to the marketplace and result in increased productivity, economic growth and high quality employment.
We also need to ensure that the public see tangible rewards for public investment in research and development particularly in the context of scarce resources and competing policy objectives.
President Obama recently called for scientists to move from the laboratory and into society to inspire a new wave of invention and innovation amongst the population. I concur with this view and believe we have set out the roadmap to achieve that objective in our Smart Economy plan.
There is also a job to be done in showing the value of research and what it can contribute, not only to job creation and economic growth, but also to solving current human problems such as in healthcare or in meeting the challenges of climate change and energy security.
I know that the IVI Competence Centre initiative is specifically designed to undertake research of direct relevance and benefit to industry. The focus on green computing is also very much in line with the Government's vision to transform Ireland into a sustainable green economy as set out in the Smart Economy Framework.
I wish those of you involved in this initiative every success. I hope we will see the tangible benefits in terms of growth and jobs in the very near future.
Thank you.
ENDS