Green opportunities abound

EDITOR'S BRIEF:These days, green issues are seen more and more as opportunities rather than as threats by entrepreneurs

IN TIMES like these, it's hard to see the wood for the trees. The current wave of distressing financial news is likely to continue as the full extent of the recession bites. It's hard to be upbeat about the short-term outlook.

Nevertheless, while the Government's belated announcement that it was focusing on innovation to secure our future recovery was greeted with much scepticism, the foundations of the plan are well-established and correct.

Primarily, we need to vastly improve our ability to commercialise the research efforts on this island. Increased tax incentives for research should help this sector weather the recessionary storms, and certainly, encouraging researchers to think commercially and businesses to seek advice on new ways of doing things is clearly a sensible policy.

Yet it's important to continue to direct innovation at all areas of society and business, for every area of life is open to improvement and innovation. That will become particularly important in the area of human resources and daily management.

Nevertheless, from a national perspective, we need more of a focus for our innovation policy.

Technology is one obvious sector, but in this time of turmoil, perhaps we should be identifying other areas where we could excel.

One of these could be in putting Ireland at the forefront of eco-business. In a year that will end with the Global Environmental Summit in Copenhagen and a potential replacement of the Kyoto Agreement, now is the time to put Ireland in a strong position for a future green global economy.

The green movement within the Irish business world is already quite strong and just needs nurturing and support. Where the green agenda was once regarded as a New Age fad by the mainstream populous, today, green issues are seen more and more as opportunities rather than as threats by entrepreneurs.

"Green collar" employment will need foreign support, but a focus on this area could position us well for the next wave of growth which, even though it seems so far away now, is going to come. Perhaps we might even be able to create our own green multinational, rivalling the Microsofts and Nokias of previous economic revolutions.