Speech by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin at the launch of the EPICentre INTERREG IIIA Cross Border Project

Magee Campus, University of Ulster, Monday, 6th February, 2006

Ladies and Gentlemen, Distinguished Guests, I am very pleased to be with you all today to launch this important technology project. And I would like to thank Professor Richard Barnett for his kind invitation and Professor Jim Allen, Pro Vice Chancellor at the University of Ulster. I would also like to thank Mr. Paul Hannigan from the Letterkenny Institute of Technology. I commend the third level institutions for coming together to act as a focal point for technology in the region.

Here in Derry and the North West region, the simple and incontrovertible logic of approaching issues on a cross border, co-operative basis is plain to see. Enhanced co-operation in trade and business development enables us to take advantage of economies of scale; to find and harvest economic synergies; and to develop mutually beneficial strategic approaches to economic development which strengthen the capacity of this area to compete effectively in Europe and beyond.

This project is an important part of that strategy. Global competitiveness is creating a growing need for improvements in efficiency and productivity. The EpiCentre Technology Centre will help to solve practical industrial problems through partnership between practitioners and researchers.

The EPICentre Project demonstrates how we will encourage a real transformation in the way we do business to be more productive and clearly identifies our determination to adapt to globalisation pressures. There is an imperative to drive productivity upwards not only in high technology sectors but right across the spectrum of manufacturing. If we don't place a priority on higher productivity today we forego the opportunity of higher real incomes tomorrow and the social benefits that prosperous economies, North and South, can provide for the island.

Because of this I would like the thank the European Union for providing, through the INTERREG IIIA Ireland/Northern Ireland Programme, seventy five per cent of the €2.6 million grant awarded to this project. The remaining twenty five per cent of the grant was contributed by Governments, North and South. There have been economic and social problems in most border areas in the European Union and the INTERREG Programme was designed to tackle these.

INTERREG has helped to create genuine cross border partnerships and has greatly improved the economic and social landscape of the border region. The whole region, including the North West, has benefited from INTERREG funding - in January, I launched the RIM21 Robotics project between Sligo Institute of Technology and the North East Institute of Further and Higher Education. The North West Technology Zone, a virtual Cross Border Technology Park between Letterkenny and Derry has received 10 million euro in this round of funding - more funding than any other single project in this INTERREG programme.

I am pleased that InterTradeIreland, the all-island trade and business development body, recognises the strategic importance of science, technology and innovation, and that it has a number of successful projects operating in this arena.

The University of Ulster and Letterkenny Institute of Technology are two of the academic institutions already partnering with InterTradeIreland in its all island technology transfer programme - FUSION. Each FUSION project is a three-way partnership - comprising a company in one jurisdiction linked with a research institution in the other jurisdiction and utilising the skills of a high calibre graduate to meet a specific technology need - for example the solution of a process engineering problem, or the development of a new product. The high demand from the business community all over the island of Ireland for access to FUSION is proof of its bottom-line value.

InterTradeIreland's INNOVA programme is an all-island collaborative research and development programme, which has seen some of the island's most successful companies join forces. Companies from the Biotechnology and Computer Software sector are already benefiting from this form of north/south collaboration.

In November 2005 InterTradeIreland directed significant funding towards the North-West Science & Technology Partnership - a cross-border collaborative network formed in 2004 between industry, academia and other key stakeholders to strategically promote, support and strengthen science and technology based innovation and business in the North West region.

Another excellent InterTradeIreland initiative which you may be familiar with is EXPERTISEIRELAND, the all-island research portal, which is a joint project between InterTradeIreland and the Irish Universities Association. EXPERTISEIRELAND is the gateway to the island's knowledge base and the most advanced on-line portal of its kind in Europe. It is therefore a very powerful tool in our drive to develop a knowledge economy, North and South.

The INTERREG IIIA Programme is worth one hundred and eighty two million euro (€182 million) over six years to Northern Ireland and the six Southern counties adjoining the border. Our membership of the EU has brought us many benefits and Programmes like INTERREG have been instrumental in developing innovative ways to deal with common problems.

However, both Governments are aware that we cannot rely on the EU to meet all our infrastructural needs. The Irish Government has long recognised that Derry Airport is an important component of the transport infrastructure for the whole North West.  This is why we, together with the British Government, have jointly committed up to €15million for the further development of the airport. We know we need to develop better transport links and we are working on that. In addition to funding the airport the Irish Government are working on upgrading the N2 - the Carrickmacross bypass opened last year - to deliver 70km of high quality improvements on the Dublin-Derry road.

We are a small island with limited resources - financial and otherwise - and a key challenge we face now is to use what we have to gain maximum advantage. In this context, North/South co-operation makes sense and has a real potential to increase the efficiencies of the island economy and improve the value both economies get from spending public monies.

A word of thanks to the Special EU Programmes Body who are the Managing Authority of the Ireland-Northern Ireland INTERREG IIIA Programme. The SEUPB is a cross-border implementation body set up under the Good Friday Agreement 1998. They are doing valuable work in difficult circumstances. As you may be aware, the EU sets spend targets for EU funded Programmes every year, which have to be met to avoid a loss of funds. Both the 2004 and 2005 targets set for our INTERREG Programmes were challenging. Thanks to huge efforts by all involved - including the North West Region Cross Border Group - the targets were not only met but, in fact, were exceeded. I congratulate everyone involved with that achievement.

I would also like to acknowledge North West Cross Border Group who deliver INTERREG in this area. As many of you know already, this is a grouping of four councils Donegal County Council in the South and Derry City Council, Limavady Borough Council and Strabane District Council in the North. The partnerships - as this group, ICBAN, and the East Border Region are commonly known - are a unique and effective delivery structure of the INTERREG Programme throughout the European community. Mr Eamon Molloy and his colleagues in the North West Cross Border Partnership are making a special contribution to the area by identifying regional needs and directing funding to them.

The most important people to thank are the project partners, Professor Martin McGinnity together with Paul Hannigan from the Letterkenny Institute of Technology and Gerry McGuckin of the North West Institute of Further and Higher Education for coming up with this innovative cross border project and to Peter Devine, the manager of the EPICentre project, who was mainly responsible for organising this launch..

Many of you will have heard about the Lisbon Agenda which in 2000 saw the European Council set itself the goal of making Europe `the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion by 2010'. This is the kind of project that is very necessary for Europe to meet this goal.

Sincere congratulations to everybody involved and I would like to wish you much success with it.

ENDS

ETE 1517