Comments by Minister Michael Ahern on Forfás Annual Report 2006

Commenting on the Forfas Annual Report 2006 published today (Thursday 28^th June, 2007), Minister for Innovation Policy, Mr Michael Ahern, TD endorsed the importance of continued investment in education and training to creating an innovation and knowledge driven economy.

Minister Ahern said: “Our success in increasing innovation in all its dimensions will determine the pace of economic progress. To that end, the Government, through the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation, aims to grow our national system of innovation and to ensure that all the elements of the knowledge and innovation agenda are properly connected.”

The Minister said he was particularly pleased to note that in a core sample of an EU Community Innovation Survey 2004, 52.2 % of Irish firms were classified as innovation active - the 3^rd highest in the EU. “This is a very positive result as it clearly shows that Ireland performs very strongly on innovation activity rates compared to other countries. However, our business expenditure on R&D, while increasing rapidly, still lags that in key competitor countries”, Minister Ahern added.

“Our target is to more than double company expenditure on R&D by 2013. This will be a significant challenge. However, the Government is fully committed to assisting companies achieve this target. In addition to continued direct agency supports, this Government has recently enhanced the fiscal incentives for companies to invest in R&D through improvements to the R&D tax credit scheme”, the Minister concluded.

ENDS

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