CLOSE TO 120,000 new jobs could be created if Ireland transforms itself into an innovation centre, according to the report from the Government’s Innovation Taskforce to be published tomorrow.
But the final draft report – seen by The Irish Times– warns that a "sea change in attitudes towards innovation and enterprise is also required." The report backs the introduction of bonus CAO points for maths in the Leaving Cert in order to boost student interest. It also proposes major investment in upgrading broadband capability. And it backs changes to the bankruptcy laws.
Significantly, it also commits the Government to investing at least 3 per cent of gross domestic product in research and development until 2020. The Government had made no firm commitment to research spending beyond 2013.
The report by the taskforce, to be launched by Taoiseach Brian Cowen, is designed to incorporate feedback from the business and education community into the Government’s smart economy strategy announced in December 2008. The 28 members met five times since last July to formulate their recommendations.
The report says “we need a sea change in attitudes – in public and private sectors – towards innovation and entrepreneurship, to recognise that they involve risk, and occasionally result in failure”.
As well as backing a reform of bankruptcy laws, the taskforce says universal access to high-quality broadband is a key infrastructure for the smart economy. It says accelerated progress is required but makes no proposal in the draft report on new capital funding in this area.
The report also envisages senior civil servants taking placements in major companies in order to get practical experience of business.
On education, the report welcomes the TCD-UCD Innovation Alliance and the NUI Galway-University of Limerick Strategic Alliance. It backs further collaboration between third-level colleges.
But it signals support for student tuition charges saying, “we must develop sufficient revenue streams to sustain excellence in our third level colleges.”
At second level, it says “we need to raise levels of competence and attainment in maths and sciences so that they feed into science and related disciplines at third and fourth levels. We believe that mathematics attainment is crucial in this regard and suggest additional measures to improve this, such as the awarding of CAO bonus points to those taking higher level mathematics for Leaving Certificate.”
Other key recommendations include:
** The establishment of a new national intellectual property (IP) protocol so that entrepreneurs and companies can find and access IP created in the universities in order to turn it into products and services that meet customer needs.
** New moves to develop and market Ireland as an International Innovation Services Centre offering global IP management, licensing and trading services.
** Transformation in the scale and nature of the Irish venture capital environment by attracting top-tier venture financing to Ireland so as to successfully scale innovative companies.
** Ireland branding itself as an innovation hub through attracting the European headquarters of private US companies via a specially-devised European accelerator programme.
The report recommends that the current Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation (SSTI) 2006-13 should continue until 2020. “We believe that current economic difficulties should not be allowed to diminish the level of investment which we believe is necessary and inhibit the return on investments already made,” says the report.
The Innovation Taskforce has been described as one of the most important committees assembled by the Government. It is chaired by secretary general of the Department of the Taoiseach Dermot McCarthy. Members include Lionel Alexander, a vice-president with Hewlett Packard; Dr John Hegarty, provost of Trinity College Dublin; and Dr Chris Horn, co-founder of Iona Technologies.
