Address by Mr. Noel Treacy, T.D., Minister for Science, Technology and Commerce at the dinner of 1999 Plenary Meeting of the Chairmen and Secretaries of the EU National Advisory Councils for S&T Policy on 17th June 1999 at 8pm in Powerscourt House, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow

It gives me great pleasure to be invited here this evening to address the 1999 plenary meeting of the Chairmen and Secretaries of the EU National Councils for Science and Technology and invited observers.

I feel that the theme of your two-day meeting "Evaluating Public Spending in RTD - Methodologies, Impacts and Consequences" is a very important topic and one that reflects a common area of both interest and concern to Governments world-wide.

Earlier today, Dr. Edward Walsh, Chairman of the Irish Council for Science, Technology and Innovation presented to you an overview of the current arrangements for STI evaluations in Ireland and the approach taken by the Science and Technology Evaluation Unit in Forfás, our National Industrial Policy Advisory Body. He also outlined how recommendations are implemented and the linkages to policy development in the Irish system.

Here this have been publicly funded through our own Government Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and which are in direct response to Ireland's first ever White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation which was published in 1996. It is the nature of White Papers, be they from National Governments or the EU Commission, that a certain level of scepticism often prevails regarding their ultimate implementation. I am glad to say that this was not the case here in Ireland.

The improved State S&T planning structures, recommended in the White Paper, have now been implemented. I chair an Inter-Departmental Committee which is responsible for co-ordinating and prioritising State S&T investments, so that we can ensure that Ireland targets these investments at the areas that will best meet the nation's future needs. The White Paper also called on the establishment of a permanent Science and Technology Advisory Council to bring expert advise and breathe new life into this essential prioritisation process. I am happy that this Council is here with us today under the chairmanship of Ed Walsh and has worked strenuously at its task in the two years since it was established.

The Technology Foresight Exercise and the Science, Technology and Innovation Awareness Programme, both heralded in this White Paper, are prime examples of the commitment that our Government has to the importance of science, technology and innovation in Ireland so as to create a future economy that will be characterised by sustainable high employment, high living standards, competition and innovation.

On the eve of the next millennium, research, technology, and innovation will play an increasingly central role in the way in which our societies develop. Together with education and training, it is a fundamental pillar of the "knowledge society" which we gradually see emerging. A society in which economic performance and quality of life will depend more on production, transmission and exploitation of knowledge than on the manufacturing and exchange of material goods. In order to prepare for this future and enable this change to work effectively for the benefit of all, governments must invest, appropriately and resolutely, in research and technology and at the same time must encourage initiatives by the private sector within each country.

Reports from the first ever Technology Foresight exercise to be carried out in Ireland were published in April of this year. The Irish Council for Science, Technology and Innovation undertook the initiative which was completed in an extraordinarily short time frame of twelve months. Mr. Brian Sweeney who is the vice-chairman of ICSTI and is Chairman of Siemens Group Ireland chaired the Technology Foresight Task Force.

Through a process of communication and consultation, the eight expert panels established, reached a consensus about the actions needed to underpin and sustain economic prosperity for the sectors under consideration which were:

Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals

Information and Communication Technologies

Materials and manufacturing Processes

Health and Life SciencesNatural Resources

Energy

Transport and Logistics and

Construction and Infrastructure

The clear, over-arching message coming from Technology Foresight Ireland is that Ireland needs to evolve rapidly to a knowledge society, capable of exploiting the enormous potential of new technologies in the pervasive areas of information and communications technology and biotechnology.

Technology Foresight Ireland concluded that the Irish economy should be repositioned, to be widely recognised internationally as a knowledge-based economy. The partnership of Government, industry, the higher education sector and society must combine to deliver this knowledge framework.

This partnership will produce a future economy for Ireland that is depicted by RTI (research and technology innovation) intensive and advanced technology-based indigenous and overseas companies, using high level expertise.

A vibrant, cohesive, durable and internationally recognised competitive RTD base involving industry, universities and colleges and research institutes, which provides an attractive career structure for researchers to work in Ireland

An environment conducive to innovation

Investment in the physical and human infrastructure

Citizens who are well informed on scientific issues in the context of an innovation culture

Our educated work force has been vitally important as a competitive strength in the past. Demands made on the work force grow in step with increasing international competition. We are currently experiencing shortages, both in terms of the numbers of trained people and in terms of the relative levels of skills in specialist areas. This arises particularly for modern sectors of business, which are heavily reliant on research and technology.

The firms in these modern sectors of business in Ireland are currently more production-oriented rather than research and development oriented. To illustrate the point only 500 companies in the country are R&D performers and only 50 of those spend more than £1m per annum on R&D. Emphasis must therefore be placed on the importance of strengthening relevant research areas to world class standards so as to maintain Ireland as a competitive location for doing business and more importantly to position the Irish economy higher up the value chain.

In the White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation that I have already mentioned, there was an overall recognition that all of the decisions put forward and relating to Science and Technology would have a lesser impact unless there was a generally improved public perception of Science and Technology. The White Paper highlighted the need to develop a dedicated programme for the promotion of Science, Technology and Innovation. As a result, the Science, Technology and Innovation Awareness Programme managed by Forfás on behalf of our Office of Science and Technology is now in its fourth year.

As seen in surveys and studies over the years, Ireland has compared unfavourably with other European countries in relation to interest in and knowledge of science and technology in the past. The survey carried out under the Awareness Programme in 1996 indicated that science and technology was seen as damaging the environment and resulting in more job losses than gains. This situation is now changing. A 1998 survey of public attitudes towards science and technology provided indications that the public's attitudes have grown more positive towards science and technology since the Awareness Programme began and highlights the programme's success in this regard.

As I said earlier, high-tech companies, innovative products, a skilled workforce and intensive R&D will be the key drivers in this economy's future development. We do not have a choice in this regard. From a Government perspective, one can stimulate such an activity by providing grants, subsidies or loans, for example, but that is not a sustainable way to achieve the long-term objective. For future economic development we need to arrive at the situation where the public at large, our primary and second-level students, the business sector in general, the generators of research and technology in the colleges, research institutes and the financiers of research and technological development whether private or public, each in their own way have an appreciation of the impact and benefits of science and technology.

Science and Technology awareness is not just about our economic development but in the same way as artistic and sporting success on the international stage makes us proud to be Irish, so too, an international reputation for success in scientific fields is something which gives us both a psychological and practical boost.

Science Week Ireland is the main mechanism within the Awareness Programme that can create such a culture among the Irish people and delivers the message that Science, Technology and innovation can

Develop leading edge industry and skilled jobs

Develop exciting career options

Develop creativity in our children

During Science Week Ireland 1998, last November, over 150 events took place nation-wide which represented the practical demonstration of the themes and messages of the STI Awareness Programme. The large number of events that took place alone highlighted a number of points. Firstly, there is willingness on the part of the scientific and technological community to engage with the public. Secondly, there is a willingness to do so in a co-ordinated way for maximum impact. Thirdly, there is a public appetite for science and technology like never before. I am certainly looking forward to an even more successful and enjoyable Millennium Science Week Ireland this year.

I hope here this evening that you have all gained an insight, however small, into some of the initiatives that are being carried out on behalf of the Irish Government in the area of Science, Technology and Innovation in Ireland.

To conclude, I would like to wish you all a most enjoyable and entertaining evening here in this magnificent Palladian style house at Powerscourt. I do believe that there is some traditional Irish song and dance to follow - but please don't ask me to lead the charge!