ADDRESS BY MR. NOEL TREACY T.D., MINISTER FOR SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND COMMERCE AT THE O'FLAHERTY THEATRE, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, GALWAY ON MONDAY 2ND NOVEMBER, 1998.

I am personally delighted to be here in Galway tonight to address the Political Discussion Society at the National University of Ireland, Galway.

I would like at the outset to thank Caroline Noone for inviting me. The invitation, coming as it does during Science Week Ireland, and following on from the start of the Galway Science Festival which I launched last week is both innovative and timely. From a personal perspective I am always delighted to come to Galway to talk to people from my own "neck of the woods". In particular, events like tonight's give me the opportunity to meet at first hand with the Lecturers and Students at this great College and to hear your perspectives on how Science, Technology and Innovation should develop as we move towards the New Millennium.

The topic chosen tonight - "The Future of Science in the West" is a very broad, but important one and could if we wanted, engage us all in discussion until the wee small hours. Suffice for me to say at this stage that this would not be the ideal scenario, and I understand that you are having a reception in the Red Square Bar in Eyre Square where the intelligent discussion and debate will no doubt continue - perhaps more vociferously.

Since becoming Minister for Science and Technology, I have been keen to promote a much greater awareness amongst the general public of the importance of Science and Technology. Your subject tonight - "The Future of Science in the West" provides another opportunity for public discussion on Science. However, I would prefer that the title be broadened to cover "Science, Technology and Innovation in the West".

Science is an attempt to understand the world around us based on a set of rational principles. It's great strength is the ability of science to make predictions and test those predictions in the laboratory. Science is driven by curiosity, the desire to know how things work, how the universe was formed, how species evolved.

Ireland has a good tradition in Science. However it has not generally been seen as part of Irish Culture. While it is well known that Yeats and Beckett won the Nobel Prize for literature few would know that Ernest Walton won the Nobel Prize in physics for splitting the atom. How many of you in the audience are aware of this especially when his son Mr. Philip Walton is a physicist working in this great institution.

In the past, Science has been seen as something done by "men in white coats" very much outside the everyday life of the majority of the population. This is no longer the case. Science cannot be separated from Society, the Economy and Industry. Science lays out the paths which we can take, and it is up to us to choose the way.

Science and Technology impacts on our everyday lives. It is in our education system at all levels. It is a hugely important part of modern medicine whether it is the drugs which our doctors prescribe or the equipment and operating procedures in our excellent hospitals.

Science impacts on our environment whether it's clean technologies to make our manufacturing industries more environmentally friendly or the preservation of our lakes, rivers and coasts. It is in our agriculture - the prevention of disease, the improvement of crops, the quality and safety of our wonderful food. It is in our arts, media and sport whether it is the material out of which hurleys are made or new methods for treating sporting injuries, or even dare I say it (without prejudice) the maroon and white at full speed, on the National Stage.

Science therefore, knows no borders and technology is not constrained by geography. The technology-based companies in this region, regardless of whether they are home grown or attracted from overseas prove that in the global market place, location of production or research is not an issue if the product is innovative and quality and reliability are guaranteed.

There is an emerging view among international science policy makers that Regional Systems of Innovation are the key to regional economic development.

This is achieved by interaction of the Regional Education System, Financial System, Industrial Base and National or Regional Development Agencies. This generates an innovation based industrial sector in the region, together with high tech research and training in the colleges to meet the needs of local industry. The result is the spinning-off of new technology-based firms and clusters.

When you look at that in practical terms you can see that Galway is strongly placed to develop such an interactive innovation system in this region. Indeed there are already numerous examples of that interaction, particularly between the colleges and companies, although to a large extent it is on a one-to-one basis rather than at the level of regional policy.

Some of this interaction arises from funding provided by our Office of Science & Technology at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and by our Department of Education and Science.

The £250 million Scientific and Technological Education (Investment) Fund has been set up. This three year programme will develop technology education at all levels of the system, from primary schools to advanced research at third level. Already £100 million has been paid into the fund, and a further £150 million will be allocated by Government over the next two years.

In addition, in 1998, a total amount of £8m was committed for funding Basic Scientific Research. This represented a doubling of the amount committed in the previous year. This total amount was divided into two amounts to run the Basic Research Grants Scheme and the Long Term Strategic Research scheme. Following a very competitive peer review process NUI - Galway obtained 9 Basic Research Grants covering such areas as Fast Chemical Reactions, Salmon Development and Astrophysics. This represented 10% of the total number of Basic Research Grants awarded this year. This College was also successful in securing a total of £712,000 (close to the maximum available) for Long Term Strategic Research run by the Higher Education Authority. Again this was the result of a highly competitive selection process.

The Strategic Research Grants Scheme, which is administered by Enterprise Ireland, encourages staff to promote links with important sectors of industry, to recognise the concerns of these sectors and to define the relevance of the Research Programmes taking place in the College. In 1998 a total of £1.95 million was invested in Strategic Research and a total of 33 projects were funded. This College was successful in obtaining 7 of these Grants to work in areas such as Fibre Polymers and Laser Welding.

The Applied Research Grants Scheme fosters close links between Industry and Academia through co-funded applied scientific research projects. In 1998 the Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology was successful in obtaining funding for 4 Applied Research projects - for example, using wind turbine technology for a domestic heating system. The Institute of Technology Sligo received 4 grants, for example, studies on Zebra mussels in Lough Allen. NUI Galway received 9 of these grants to work in areas such as the Validation of Vaccine Assays and the designing of a Carbon Fibre Hurley.

All of the schemes described above are highly competitive and all of the other Institutes of Technology and Universities are involved. The success of the West in securing funding in this highly competitive environment demonstrates the quality of Science in this Region. As a Galway man, I am very proud of our two Third Level Colleges' high success rate.

As well as the strengths of the individual College Departments and high tech companies, there have been other exciting demonstrations of the technology capability of the Region such as the spin-off companies arising from the closure of Digital and the formation of Technology West.

There is enormous potential in terms of this Region's research and technology strengths in areas such as the environment, marine, industrial manufacturing and medical devices. In addition there is the two-way development of research capabilities, through collaboration between colleges and companies, with the support of the development agencies and banks. This approach strengthens the research capability of all of those involved and in an ideal world should lead to the development of industrial clusters built around these regional strengths.

Of course while the focus of developing an integrated regional approach is to benefit the region, no one region or indeed country can survive on its own generated scientific knowledge and must look outside the locality to learn and understand developments around the world. Again there are many examples where our institutions have collaborated with other institutions and bodies both in the North and South of Ireland and indeed have participated in international collaborative programmes such as the European Framework Research Programmes. This has the benefit both of acquiring new knowledge which can benefit the Region and also of demonstrating the capability of the Region internationally in the field of Science and Technology.

I am personally very keen to see greater collaboration between Third Level Colleges and Industry. In my capacity as Minister with responsibilities in two Departments - Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Education and Science - I want to see this happening. It is the first time in the history of the State that a Minister has responsibility for two key areas of the economy - education and industry - and it shows our Government's concern to get both parts of the Innovation System working together.

This collaboration approach is also very much to the fore in the thinking at EU level but particularly in the context of the next round of Structural Funds. The European Commission has put forward the opinion that the new round of Funds should seek, to develop Regional Innovation Capability. For example, the natural or physical culmination of such an approach would be the development of a type of Science and Technology Park of which there are many different models. I recently visited a Science Park in Sweden and was hugely impressed with how it operated. We can learn from the Swedish experience.

I would urge all of those in leadership positions in these various organisations here in the West to come together to develop a formal plan for such a Regional Innovation System for the West. We have the capacity, the skills, the systems and structures, the track record and the academic and industrial base, and all that is required is the unity of purpose, to achieve our goal of becoming a key regional player, in a growing world market of innovation and opportunity.

There is no doubt that due to the advances in Science and Technology, the World has become a smaller place. It is often called "the Global Village". Product life cycles are shorter. We must "Innovate or Capitulate". Ireland can no longer compete on the basis of low costs, natural resources, or currency exchange rates. Our future is in high-tech, highly skilled, innovative products, processes and companies which can sell on the world market.

It is those companies which have a high skilled workforce, carry out R&D and apply technology to produce modern innovative products which will create the economic growth and employment of the future.

We need only look at the sectors driving new job announcements and recent company expansions to be convinced of this fact.

However, we must not become complacent. It is not enough to say that present technological developments are driving current economic growth. We also need to plan to ensure that the Celtic Tiger phenonomen continues into the next century and this means developing capabilities in those technologies which will underpin important sectors of the economy in the future.

It was for this reason, that last March, I asked the Irish Council for Science Technology and Innovation (ICSTI) to undertake Ireland's first ever Technology Foresight Initiative. It is a process, increasingly used by Governments of industrially advanced economies to systematically identify emerging technologies that will be critical to our long term competitiveness. In other words, we are identifying the actions which we need to take TODAY to ensure that we are well placed to exploit future opportunities, tommorow.

One of the major features of the Foresight exercise is that it facilitates participation, inputs and discussion from all of the 'players' in the National Science, Technology and Innovation system - education and training establishments; research institutes; enterprise; trade unions; representative bodies and organisations; Government Departments; State Agencies and Local Authorities.

This is a partnership approach, which in many spheres, Ireland of the 90's has embraced very successfully to the benefit of all. The results of Technology Foresight will become available in January next and our Government will consider the recommendations in the final Report as part of its overall strategy on Post 1999 funding and Ireland's future economic development generally as we move into the new Millennium.

All of these ingredients which I have just mentioned are here in Galway and throughout the West of Ireland. As I have already said the exceedingly strong research and technological focus of our Third Level Colleges in the West - the University here in Galway; the Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology and the high tech content of our outstanding industrial infrastructure - demonstrate that regardless of location a regional community can be a high tech community if it marshalls the necessary resources, in a positive collective manner. We have had a fair amount of success in this regard already. In the high technology sector, in the counties of Galway, Mayo an Roscommon employment grew from 6,500 people in 1993 to 10,000 at the end of 1997; an increase of over 50%.

As well as attracting and developing high-tech companies, carrying on research in the colleges and transferring that knowledge out in terms of products and skills, we must also have a community which is positively disposed towards scientific and technological development. We are proud of this Region's reputation in that regard. This results in the development of our school children, who will see the future relevance and exciting career options in the field of Science and Technology, as future graduates, employees and entrepreneurs, here in their Western homeland.

The development of our Science and Technology competence is a national objective which I, as the Minister responsible, am seeking to bring about. Our Government has invested significantly in all facets of S&T ranging from the introduction of a science curriculum at primary school level and the updating of the science and technology related syllabi at second level, through to significant investment in our third level colleges and in industrial R&D.

To conclude, I think that as a minimum it is a necessary part of survival into the future for any country or region to keep up with the science, technology and skills which are driving economic and social progress.

But I would go further and say that unless Regions, especially those with a rural character, become leaders in these areas, we will gradually lose our people, our industries and our communities to the bigger urban centres. It is often tempting to view high tech development as threatening to our rural and community lifestyle but I believe not only is moving with the times desirable but necessary to preserve the Region's sense of identity and traditional community spirit.

By grasping the opportunities which Science and Technology provide, I firmly believe that the West will continue to be very much alive and the place to be in the next Century. You in the audience here will have a large part to play in this process and I urge you to do your bit, both as individuals and residents, of a great dynamic Western community and citizens of a small, proud and great Nation!