Closing Address by Mr. Noel Treacy T.D., Minister for Science, Technology & Commerce at the 6th Irish Innovation Lecture Culloden Hotel, Holywood, Co. Down, on Monday, 29th November, 1999

Minister McFall, Herr Sauvant, Professor Spiekermann, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Firstly, I want to thank you, Minister McFall, and all of the Staff of the Industrial Research and Technology Unit here, in Northern Ireland; as well both as our own Office of Science & Technology and Forfás, for hosting and organising this extremely useful and enjoyable evening. I also wish to thank the many Representatives of the Business, Research, Public Policy and Industrial Support Communities attending this, the Sixth Irish Innovation Lecture.

I would like to thank and congratulate our two distinguished and highly experienced Speakers, Herr Sauvant and Prof. Spiekermann, who have presented us with an agenda, which our two Economies will ignore at our peril. Design is increasingly becoming one of the key aspects, of the overall Innovation Process.

It is what the Customer sees in the Goods and even in the Presentation and make-up of the Services, that he or she buys. It is what the Customer believes, represents and characterises, what might be called the 'Quality in the Product', which is something much more than the 'Quality of the Product'.

All of us, who have come from the era of protected Industry have been aware of our own ambivalent attitudes, when we looked at the labels or marks of origin, on the various Products, that we were going to buy. We wanted to do 'the right thing' by buying the Local Product, but could not always be confident that the Products available, would be 'up to the mark'. Not so, the Global Consumer.

Faced with a very large range of options, what the New Consumer is looking for, is something that is both attractive and functional. Where it is made is not the issue. How it is designed and manufactured certainly is!

I have been delighted to learn recently, that a number of Public and Private Sector Bodies in the South, including Enterprise Ireland and the Institute of Designers in Ireland, have taken the initiative to develop Awareness of the importance and significance of Design within Companies. 'Opportunities in Design - Strategies for Growth in the Irish Design Sector' sets out an Agenda and a series of Initiatives, for Business itself, and for both Educational and Professional Bodies, as well as for the Development Agencies.

One of the purposes of an Event such as this Lecture, is to learn from each other. You have a formal Design Directorate within IRTU, which offers us an interesting Model. I understand that this also acts as the Agent for the Design Council in London.

I know that a number of Northern Ireland Products have featured in the recent Millennium Products Competition, organised by the Design Council. Similarly, we have had a recent Design Awards Competition sponsored by Glen Dimplex, a Company with a significant presence, both North and South. Like the idea of an Island of Ireland Innovation Awards Scheme, which has already been mooted, it may now be timely to have an all-Island Design Awards Scheme - possibly linked to the Innovation Awards, given the close relationship, between Design and the Innovation Process, in reality. We have also recently had a highly successful National Science Week and almost concurrently a Design Week. Perhaps these could be held jointly in the future and perhaps also on a North-South basis.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the Government's National Development Plan, which was published earlier this month and which will provide an overall allocation of almost £2 Billion in funding for Research, Technological Development and Innovation, over the next seven years. This substantial increase in funding, reflects the Government's acceptance of the relationship between Investment in the Research and Innovation base, of the Economy and sustained Economic Growth.

Our Industrial and Economic future rests in us becoming an Innovation-driven Economy. Investment in Research, related Human Resources and the Application of Enabling Technologies will allow us to attract new generations of Foreign Investment and create Indigenous Firms, which are Globally Competitive. As the Global Economy becomes more Knowledge-based, the key to our continued success, is to re-position Irish Industry, higher up the Economic Value Chain.

In the National Development Plan, a specific allocation of £1.2 Billion has been earmarked for Research, Technological Development and Innovation for Industry; which will support:

• -efforts to embed an R&D Culture into Firms, which already have a Technological Capability
• -the R&D and Technology requirements of the 3,000 plus Companies who do not perform R&D at present, and
• -greater Collaboration and Linkages and between Colleges/Research Institutes and Industry.

This Investment includes a sum of £560 M. which has been earmarked for the implementation of the Technology Foresight Recommendations, through the establishment of a Technology Foresight Fund. This new Fund is being established to invest in World-class Research, in key areas of Technology such as Information and Communication Technology and Biotechnology.

I am confident that the combination of this New Funding for Technology Foresight and the substantial increase in Funding for existing RTI and Collaborative Schemes, will provide a solid basis for Sustained Economic Growth and Development.

Tonight, provides us with an excellent opportunity to look at existing Research, Technological Development and Innovation Policies. This Lecture Series offers our Industrialists and Academics, the chance to build on existing North-South Collaboration, as well as exchanging Ideas and Experiences, on the importance of Collaboration in Design and Innovation Policies.

We are meeting at a most important time in the history of this Island. Today in the Assembly, the parties are nominating those, who will hold Ministerial Office in the New Executive in Northern Ireland. This will clear the way for Devolution to take place and the New Institutions, under the Agreement, including, of course, the North/South Ministerial Council and Implementation Bodies, to come into being.

The Good Friday Agreement brought with it great hope. It offered to us all a bold and generous vision of tolerance and partnership, between all of us, who share this Island. It offered us a future, where we could overcome the divisions of our past and work together, to secure the best future, for all of our People.

Thanks to the patience and wisdom of Senator George Mitchell, and to the courage and vision of Political Leaders, who have encouraged their Communities to take these bold steps forward, we now stand ready to greet the new Millennium with a new beginning in Ireland, leaving the tragedy and conflict of the past behind us.

I would like to conclude by thanking again Everyone, who was involved in organising this Lecture, as well as all of you who have contributed to making this evening a great success. It gives us all a chance to tease out major issues and opportunities, in a conducive and convivial atmosphere.

I sincerely hope that you all have enjoyed tonight's Event. Our congratulations and deepest gratitude again to our distinguished Speakers, Herr Sauvant and Prof. Spiekermann and to the excellent Company, that they work for. I will look forward to the next 7th Lecture in this Series, in Dublin, in the first year of the New Millennium, which we all face with confidence and optimism, on the Island of Ireland.