Business leaders need to get involved in public policy, according to Reuters chairman and former Unilever chief, Niall Fitzgerald.

Speaking ahead of opening the new JE Cairnes Graduate School of Business and Public Policy at National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI Galway), Mr Fitzgerald told The Irish Times that businesses cannot function independently of public policy.

"One operates within the environment of the other," Mr Fitzgerald said.

"I believe that business and public policy should engage," he added.

"Business leaders need to invest time in public policy."

Mr Fitzgerald is a member of the Mandela Trust, established by former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, to aid development in Africa.

He is also on a body that advises Mr Mandela's successor, President Mbeki, on investment policy.

Mr Fitzgerald is involved in organisations supporting economic development in Africa, because of its key role in Unilever's global business.

"A continent of 800 million people with monumental problems is all our problem," he said yesterday.

Mr Fitzgerald also co-chairs the Transatlantic Business Dialogue, which is focused on removing barriers to trade between the EU and the US, which he describes as the "most important business relationship in the world".

NUI Galway has developed the JE Cairnes graduate school at a cost of €16 million, with aid from sources, including €1.5 million from Atlantic Philanthropies and a contribution from Galway businessman, Joe Higgins.

The cash from Atlantic Philanthropies will be used in a new centre that will research the impact of ageing populations on economies.

The centre houses the Republic's first finance centre.

This will focus on developing new financial instruments and techniques for use in the global financial services industry.

It will also produce information on exchange rates and house prices in industrial markets.

A former board member of the US Federal Reserve, Alan Ahearne, will head up the centre.

Mr Ahearne recently stepped down from the Fed - as it is known - where he advised former chairman, Alan Greenspan, on the Japanese and Chinese economies.

A third element is the centre's innovation and structural change section, which deals with the scientific and technological processes that drive modern economies.

The centre will produce a national innovation index that will measure the Republic's progress in developing a "knowledge-based" economy. The innovation centre has attracted €4 million in funding.

A centre for the development of the rural economy has been established with €2 million in EU funding to research rural and regional development.

Launching the centre yesterday, NUI Galway president, Dr Iognáid Ó Muircheartaigh, said the business school would be amongst the best in Europe.

"Our vision for this school is to drive change and innovation in Ireland's knowledge-based economy, particularly within the border-midlands-west region," he said.

The school will offer courses to 1,300 undergraduates and 400 post-graduates.

The school intends to develop links with local businesses to ensure that students can take advantage of placements in industry.