Companies are now interested in us because of the productivity of our research community

AS YOU read these words thousands of research scientists are toiling away in labs all across the State. They search for discoveries and new knowledge that will advance our understanding of the world around us.

"So what?", you might say; they have their jobs, you have yours. They did science, maths or engineering, you did arts or commerce or accountancy.

Good luck to them.

Yet also be aware that how successful they are at their jobs might well in the future dictate how good a quality of life you enjoy in yours. There are hidden benefits arising from their struggle for discovery.

And this isn't just limited to inventing new wonder drugs, solving the energy crisis or discovering the cure for the common cold.

Most scientists work their whole lives without what could be described as a "breakthrough" taking place. Yet they live in a world of discovery, where experimentation, modelling or calculations help deliver up new knowledge that is added to the world sum of this valuable commodity.

Make no mistake that knowledge is something worth pursuing and something with an inherent cultural and also financial worth.

Central to current Government policy is the goal of creating a "knowledge economy" here, where we earn our keep not by making things for others, but by creating new knowledge that can be exploited directly or sold on to others who will in turn pay us for the privilege.

Last month the Taoiseach announced allocations worth €400 million for the pursuit of new knowledge through scientific research.

This money, channelled through the Higher Education Authority (HEA), is being put into labs and facilities long before any breakthroughs might reasonably be expected to flow from them.

It shows that the Government has realised what other developed economies have also discovered. Having a knowledge economy that mines laboratories for ideas that can be turned into products and intellectual property is the only way to go if you want a vibrant economy.

We used to depend on agriculture to sustain our economy, but this gradually became inadequate to meet our evolving needs.

To this we later added manufacturing which bolstered our finances and opened up more opportunities to create jobs and  boost national income.

Now countries with lower costs are competing successfully for the manufacturing jobs and these are drifting away to Eastern Europe, India and the Far East. The answer to this - the only answer - is to move further up the value chain, competing successfully against the US, Japan, Germany and Singapore in the race to deliver research discoveries in a knowledge economy.

So those invisible labs in our universities and companies supporting invisible researchers who pursue scientific discovery have become very important to our future wellbeing.

You might not see them or understand what they do, but they have it within their power to help the national economy to evolve into something new and even more successful than it has been during the  Celtic Tiger years. And there are further hidden benefits associated with their efforts, as pointed out by the head of the policy and advisory body Forfás, Martin Cronin. He applauds any discoveries and intellectual property arising from the labs but sees other benefits that are less obvious.

High level, high quality research underway here acts as a powerful attractant for foreign-based research-driven companies looking for new ideas and products. In the 1990s we couldn't convince high tech firms to establish research activities here, but last year companies committed €400 million to this activity in Ireland.

They read like a "Who's who" list of top companies from around the world and include drug firms such as Wyeth, blue chip IT firms including IBM and HP and electronics outfits like Intel.

These companies are now interested in us specifically because of the productivity of our research community. They come here to benefit from low corporate tax rates but also because they know
that they can interact with our university research laboratories and readily find - or poach - high quality graduate and post doctoral researchers.

And once you get a reputation, it spreads.

Having good facilities and good people in research helps to attract scientists from abroad, something that really makes the scientific community overseas stand up and take notice.

But you won't have noticed any of this going on in those invisible labs. This work is, after all, invisible unless you are directly involved. Yet the fact that they are there will probably make all the difference as the manufacturing jobs slowly disappear.