The new Irish commissioner will be judged on her success in increasing EU investment in research and development, reports FRANK DILLON
THE APPOINTMENT of Máire Geoghegan-Quinn as the EU’s Commissioner for Research and Innovation represents a tremendous opportunity for Ireland to enhance its reputation in this area and should be viewed as a major coup for the State, according to Martin Schuurmans, chairman of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).
"Any country should be delighted to receive this portfolio and it should not be viewed as a public relations role. There's a huge function there in putting innovation at the very heart of the commission agenda and making sure that we capitalise on innovation policy with very tangible results," Schuurmans told The Irish Timeson a recent visit to Ireland.
Asked how the commissioner’s performance could be judged, he says that increasing Europe’s investment in research and development from 1.9 per cent of gross domestic product to 3 per cent over the next few years should be seen as a key objective.
Schuurmans, who has a background in physics and held senior research positions in Philips worldwide, is concerned that Europe has been falling behind in innovation. To address this, the EIT was established in 2008 by the European Commission to reshape the European innovation landscape and to provide solutions to bridge the innovation gap.
The initiative is part of commission president José Manuel Barroso’s EU 2020 objective to make the EU a smarter, greener social market basing growth on knowledge and creating a more inclusive society. In short, it’s all about creating a strong foundation for innovation within the community, fitting well within the new commissioner’s brief.
The EIT is banking on the success of a new collaborative model known as Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs). The first three of these were selected in recent weeks following a competitive selection process. The three initial issues to be addressed are sustainable energy, climate change mitigation, and the future information and communication society.
The three KICs are expected to spend more than €1 billion during the next four years. The KIC InnoEnergy project, for example, involves 13 companies, 10 research institutes and 13 universities working across the Benelux, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany and Sweden.
Intel Labs Europe will participate in the sustainable energy and information and communications areas.
The issue of healthcare will be examined after 2013.
The KICs are designed to be high-profile collaborative ventures with a strong legal and financial structure. Investment from the private sector will be a key feature of the model.
Europe has a reputation for producing large amounts of quality research that doesn’t get exploited but Schuurmans is determined that the work of the KICs will not fall into the same trap. “We have given them very clear business goals to come up with new products and services that have commercial viability. Entrepreneurs will be embedded in these ventures and significant contributions are coming from the private sector,” he says.
The success of the projects will be measured by the number of patents granted, awards, commercial start-ups, cross-licensing and mobility of students and researchers.
Schuurmans talks about a “knowledge triangle” involving education, research and innovation from multidisciplinary teams. “This innovation triangle will shape the future of Europe provided we recognise and accept its challenges and that we build entrepreneurship as the glue of the triangle,” he says.
He adds that Ireland needs to improve its efforts in the area of entrepreneurship education. “In these testing economic times, Ireland’s ability to successfully harness its innovation and entrepreneurship capabilities cannot afford to be found wanting.”
Schuurmans was in Ireland to launch a book, Knowledge-Driven Entrepreneurship – The Key to Social and Economic Transformation,jointly authored by the director of Intel Labs Europe and NUI Maynooth's Prof Martin Curley, with Prof Thomas Anderson and Prof Piero Formica.
Its primary focus is that national strategies must accept the tenet that the future is with intangible assets. Rather than the traditional approach towards the acquisition of physical skills and physical infrastructure, future entrepreneurial success will derive from patents and educational achievements.
“It is crucial that Ireland plays to its strengths and brings knowledge to the fore of its smart economy. In particular, high-expectation entrepreneurship, where disruptive technologies and high ambition meet, will be crucially important to drive sustainable growth,” says Prof Curley.
“Solving grand challenges like climate change, clean energy and aging societies will add significant societal value while creating the opportunity to build and develop strong export-led businesses.”
