Canada trip underlines Minister's drive for R&D action

Innovation was the watchword as 35 Irish companies headed to Canada this week on an Enterprise Ireland-led trade mission.

And it wasn't just for technology sector firms. The group travelling included educational establishments, regional support networks and companies, a tile company, and groups in the drinks and renewable energy fields.

Eight businesses formally signed deals worth a total of about €25 million over the past four days. For many more, the intent of the mission was longer-term gain. They have been touching base with companies in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal and with the very active and successful Irish-Canadian community.

This was on top of Airtricity's €7 million acquisition of a wind farm developer, Gale Force Energy, an announcement which coincided with the trade mission.

For Enterprise Ireland and Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin, who was leading the visit, strategic goals were also a priority. Enterprise Ireland concluded two important accords that will see significantly enhanced collaboration between Ireland and Canada on a range of fronts.

The Minister said he was impressed with the Medical and Related Sciences Research Facility (MaRS) where science, venture capital and legal and support services are housed in the one centre in an effort to improve the commercialisation of Canadian research.

He also praised the link-up with the National Research Centre of Canada's (NRC) industrial research assistance programme, which concentrates on facilitating research and development (R&D) among companies in the small and medium-sized enterprise sector (SMEs).

Programme director Dr Tony Rahilly, who left Dublin for Canada as a young graduate, noted that 40 per cent of SMEs were involved in R&D initiatives in Canada, accounting for about 60 per cent of all R&D spend.

During the trade mission, Mr Martin alluded repeatedly to Ireland's commitment to increase spending on R&D radically, especially by private business.

He said the Government R&D strategy, in which he is the driving force, was "the most important issue on my desk". The Government has targeted a €3.8 billion spend on R&D by 2013, through its strategy for science, technology and innovation, including a doubling in the number of PhDs.

"Ireland has undergone a transformation in the last decade or so and we have moved rapidly to a high technology-based economy," said Mr Martin. "That transformation was really about an investment-driven economy and the next big agenda for us has to be the knowledge-driven economy which has to be driven by investment in research and development."

Mr Martin noted that the Government had set a series of benchmarks which it hopes will transform the R&D environment in Ireland and pointed out that these are closely linked to industry.

"We want to more than double the R&D spend in business. We want to get more SMEs to spend more on R&D and to get those that are not doing so to start spending in this area," the Minister said.

The Minister said the Irish contingent was quite happy with the trade mission. "The quality of the companies on this mission is very high and there is s good range of companies. It's great to see companies like these growing."

Mr Martin praised the move by Enterprise Ireland to a more sectoral approach rather than the former regional structure. The linkages with research institutions are an important part of that new approach.

So too is the opening this week of the Enterprise Ireland office in Toronto as the agency assesses the continuing value of the locations of the 35 offices in its network.

Nick Marmion, the man who will head the Toronto office, said the State agency was satisfied with the success of the trade mission. "We have had a tremendous reception here and people are clearly very interested in examining how Ireland has achieved the success it has," he said.

"The agreements signed with MaRS and the NRC are areas we see as holding significant potential for Irish and Canadian businesses going forward," added Mr Marmion, who has previously headed Enterprise Ireland's Dubai office. "We are both gateway economies to important economic blocs and there are good prospects, not just for direct exports but also for other areas of co-operation, such as research collaboration, licensing arrangements and joint ventures."

Marina Donohoe, Enterprise Ireland director for the Americas, said the American market was of growing importance to Irish exporters. This factor, and the knowledge-based sectors which are driving the Irish economy, were behind the decision to open a Toronto base. Ms Donohoe added that the importance of the Americas would be further recognised in upcoming moves to open offices in South America, initially in Sao Paolo in Brazil.

"North America is the biggest innovator globally in almost any sector you care to name and Irish companies have to have a credible position in order to be active and engaged in this market," she said.

"We are working with a core group of companies and we are encouraging more companies to establish a presence here," she said. "We have set ambitious targets - €100 million in incremental export growth over the next three years. Having Irish Government investment in both financial resources and the time given by ministers is enormously helpful and the successes we achieve send all the right messages back home."

It's been a busy 12 months for Enterprise Ireland. The Canadian trip follows similar missions to South Africa, Australia, China, Japan and India, among others. But the Minister is wary of complacency. "While the importance of R&D to our economic development is increasingly recognised, there is a continued need for further concentrated action in this area if we are to retain our successful status in terms of economic performance," he said.