Address by Mr. Noel Treacy, T.D., Minister for Science, Technology and Commerce

At an EU Conference "CREATING AND APPLYING VISION IN THE REGIONS"

On Thursday 13^th December 2001 at 9.00 am

at GSI Conference Centre, Beggars Bush, Dublin 4

I am very pleased to welcome you all here to Dublin. This may be the first time for some of you to visit our small island but hopefully it will not be the last.

It occurs to me that you may be curious about our location here - Beggars Bush. Well, in the early part of the last century down to about 1820 or thereabouts, there stood in a field at the spot now occupied by the north-eastern corner of Beggars Bush Barracks an old vaulted building in ruins. These ruins were covered in a dense growth of ivy, nettles and brambles, which was used as a refuge and point of reconnaissance by highwaymen, robbers and smugglers as the ruins commanded a view along the five roads radiating from this point. It is somewhat ironic that nowadays part of this building is also occupied by our Labour Court, which is an industrial relations tribunal, who for the most part arbitrate on pay issues between employers and employees. Some would possibly consider that Beggars Bush is still a home to robbers and highwaymen!

Well, enough of the local colour. I am delighted to be able to be with you all here this morning to open this interesting and noteworthy conference "Creating and Applying Vision in the Regions". To the outsider, this may seem like an ambitious title. However, as a public representative from a small western region beyond the River Shannon, I recognise the importance of creating visions. Furthermore, as a Minister, I also have the task of taking such a title one step further to try to realise the vision of our region.

I commend the objective of this Conference, which is a very practical one, to disseminate experiences and good practice about the use and potential benefits of using foresight as a strategic, and proven, activity to improve competitiveness, job creation and sustainable development in a regional context.

Here in Ireland, we have had our own particular experience of foresight - a Technology Foresight. It was a very good experience for us and we used the process, which was a national exercise, to generate the necessary inputs for our National Development Plan that runs up to the year to 2006.

To be frank, Foresight was a bit of an "adventure" for us. We were not sure what the destination would be. We had borrowed `maps' from other national authorities and apart from a few experienced `scouts' like James Gavigan and Eamonn Cahill from IPTS in Seville who helped us to hold the compass steady and to whom we are deeply indebted, we were all quite inexperienced in terms of foresight. Nevertheless, we knew from the enthusiasm and advice gleaned from other countries such as the Netherlands, the UK, Austria and New Zealand that important benefits lay ahead and so we pressed on.

I say this in order to emphasise how important it is to learn from and where possible to use the experiences of others. That is the reason that the Practical Guide produced by the FOREN network, is so important and will be so useful for others who are uncertain about whether or how to embark on similar adventures.

Such a Guide is long overdue and I congratulate all of the network partners in bringing their work to such a productive conclusion. Through Forfás and Enterprise Ireland, we here in Ireland had the opportunity to contribute to and participate in the work of the FOREN network. As the national development agencies here in Ireland address the serious challenge of unbalanced regional development, I am sure that they will in the future be able to draw on the contents of the Guide with some confidence, based as it is on the practical experience of so many regional players from across the European Union.

Making a reality of visions, be they regional or national, is something that I mentioned at the outset. In relation to the recommendations that emerged from the Irish Foresight exercise, our Government was able to respond positively and allocated over €700 million to fund world-class basic research in niche areas of Biotechnology and Information and Communication Technologies. The need to make a quantum leap in terms of our investment in generating knowledge was recognised and we decided that the Foresight Fund, which is now managed by Science Foundation Ireland, should be open to researchers outside of Ireland. Furthermore, different Government Ministries took the Foresight messages and used them to inform policy development in their own strategic areas - specifically, in the area of renewable energy and agriculture and food.

The techniques used by us in the Foresight exercise stimulated many of the panel participants and all of those who attended scenario workshops to adopt these techniques in their own enterprises and state organisations. Whilst we have not had a formal evaluation of our national exercise, we are a small country, and directly and indirectly we learn about the adaptation of foresight techniques at the more local level. Nevertheless, there is still scope to work in a more futures-oriented way in the development of policies at the national, regional and local levels.

I have already mentioned the Guide as the productive conclusion or `final product' of the FOREN network but of course the productive activity does not stop with the Guide. The day-to-day work of each representative from the 26 organisations that came together under the FOREN banner continues apace. That work will now be informed by all that they have learned from each other and from the project. The sharing of this new knowledge and experience with other stakeholders in their regions will contribute to a greater awareness and hopefully a greater utilisation of foresight as a powerful technique to future-proof strategies and to ultimately shape those same regions. I would urge the FOREN members and other conference participants here today to take up and take forward ideas from this Guide and from this Conference. Seek to introduce them, where appropriate, into your regional planning and development strategies by piloting foresight-type activities that will build on the good foundations laid by the FOREN network.

Needless to say, the contacts and friendships made during the life of the network will continue - that is the essence of a good network. And that brings me to reflect on the role of networks, regions and foresight in the future development of the European Research Area. As you all know, in its Communication "Towards a European Research Area" of January 2000, the EU Commission outlined the objectives and scope of a new strategy. The vision was clearly expressed in that strategy of having a fully developed, functioning and interconnected research space, in which barriers would disappear, collaboration would flourish, and where a functional integration process would take place.

The Communication was widely welcomed, particularly by Heads of Governments during a number of subsequent European Councils and was also strongly endorsed by my colleague Ministers at the European Research Council.

In the context of today's conference we should note the remarks on the ERA Communication from the Committee of the Regions regarding the significant role to be played by local and regional authorities. This significant role will involve them "in training, providing assistance to laboratories, support for researchers and links with the expectations of local populations". The Practical Guide produced by the FOREN network shows local and regional authorities how to make that important link with the expectations of local populations.

The organisation of European research and innovation systems must be region-conscious. This involves a targeting of economic development through a systematic mobilisation of all of the resources available in the regions towards concrete goals, harnessing growth, competitiveness and employment, fostering research, technology and innovation at local and regional levels.

Ireland, in drawing attention to the important contribution which SME's and micro-enterprises can make, through the Framework Programmes, to improving the technological innovation levels of the Union, has always tried to stress the point that SME's are not simply smaller versions of big companies. They are different. Similarly, regions should not simply be regarded as small countries. They too are different - particularly in relation to their capacity to generate, absorb and integrate technological innovation and transforming it into economic growth. As the recent Commission Communication on "The Regional Dimension of the European Research Area" points out - adopting a single development model would be a mistake.

The Practical Guide reflects and accommodates this regional diversity. Furthermore, the Guide demystifies what, for many regionally based actors, might appear to be a highbrow and marginally relevant activity, i.e., strategic futures work. The Guide makes, to my mind, a convincing case for the necessity to use participative and long-term approaches to inform present planning and policy decisions at local as well as national or supra-national levels.

I have just returned from an EU Research Council meeting, which was held in Brussels on Monday last and where we finally reached political agreement on the next Framework Programme - FP6 - which will run from 2003-2006. I'm sure that you will be interested to hear that networks, regions and future and emerging needs are all topics that concern the Research Ministers.

I think that it is very important that a futures-oriented perspective is taken in the seven thematic areas to be funded under the next Framework Programme. Ireland had advocated this approach from the outset of the negotiations. A strong influencing factor in adopting this position was the positive experiences gained with the FETs area (Future and Emerging Technologies) of the specific programme for Information Society Technologies in the Fifth Framework Programme.

In conclusion, may I once again commend the organisers of this Conference. One has only to look at the Conference Programme for this day to see that the keynote speeches and in-depth presentations have all of the ingredients to make this a very worthwhile and noteworthy exercise. I wish all of the participants every success for the future.