The chief executive of MediaLab Europe, a third-level college set up by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Government, has described the State policy on immigration as unfriendly. Dr Rudy Burger, a US citizen, said he went through "an agonising process" to get his work permit earlier this year. Such a policy would "cut Ireland's growth at the knees" because it hampered innovation, he said.
A multi-disciplinary, culturally diverse environment was a key element to fostering innovation in companies. Interesting things happened "at the boundaries of different ideas and different cultures". "Walking around Dublin, all you see are white faces," he said.
Dr Burger was speaking at a University of Limerick conference on "Launching innovative products: A project management perspective".
He had been put "through the wringer" when getting a work permit earlier this year despite arriving in the State to help run a Government-funded project.
He arrived at a Government building at 6 a.m. to find the queuing tickets had been given out. The next day he arrived at 4 a.m. and waited "the entire day for a five-minute meeting". "I have got to go through the whole thing again in six months.
"There has got to be a better way," he said.
MediaLab Europe, based at the former Guinness Hopstore in Dublin's city centre, is a hightech research centre and multimedia college which will begin taking students in September.
A big factor behind the success of the IT sector in the US was its relatively liberal immigration policy, Dr Burger added. In a US company, the chances were that 50 per cent of "the technology side of the house" were of a foreign nationality.
Dr Burger said immigrant workers increased diversity, contributed to national growth and improved everybody's quality of life. "In the same way that the IDA has been running around giving tax breaks to multi-nationals who locate here, I think it is time that the Irish Government gave tax breaks for foreigners to relocate in Ireland".
A culture of innovation also had to encourage risk-taking and "value big mistakes rather than small successes".
The conference, which continues today, was organised by the Enterprise Ireland-sponsored Technology Transfer Initiative, the Centre for Project Management and the Product Development Management Association.
