| 2005 |
|
YEAR BOOK |
Forf�s, ACSTI and Discover Science & Engineering
|
Working together to build Ireland's knowledge economy
|
|
|
|
The national Research & Development Action Plan, Building Ireland's Knowledge Economy, endorsed by the Cabinet Committee for Science & Technology at its February 2005 meeting, sets out the following vision:
|
"Ireland by 2010 will be internationally renowned for the excellence of its research and be at the forefront in generating and using new knowledge for economic and social progress, within an innovation driven culture"
|
The Action Plan also sets out challenging targets � for Ireland to almost double the amount of gross expenditure on R&D by 2013, to increase the number of researchers from 5.1 to 9.3 per 1,000 of total employment in the same period, and to see a transformational change in the R&D intensity of enterprise.
Realising the targets in the Action Plan calls for the greater integration of all the actors in the National Innovation System (NIS). This includes the higher education sector, Government Departments and agencies and, most importantly, the enterprise sector itself. The new science governance system now in place � the Chief Science Adviser to the Government, Dr Barry McSweeney, the Cabinet Committee, the Inter-Departmental Committee for Science & Technology and the Advisory Council for Science, Technology & Innovation facilitates the integration needed to achieve the ambitious objectives set out in the Action Plan in a coherent and effective way.
Forf�s, the national advisory body to the Government on Enterprise, Competitiveness, Science, Technology & Innovation, is working with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to facilitate a coherent elaboration of strategies between all the other NIS actors in order to ensure that the Action Plan objectives are met. Supporting the Office of the Chief Science Adviser who chairs the Funders' Forum, Forf�s has been assisting with the work undertaken by all the bodies funding research in Ireland to determine the research capacity needed, in particular the number of post-doctoral researchers, to achieve the targets in the Action Plan. Furthermore, much of the work undertaken by Forf�s over the last two years, inter alia R&D programme evaluations, S&T surveys, innovation studies, Statements from the former ICSTI, provides a solid analytical basis for the task ahead.
Recent surveys show that expenditure on in-house R&D per person employed in agency-supported companies grew on average by 5.9 per cent per annum between 2000 and 2003. Business expenditure on R&D (BERD) grew by 9.0 per cent in 2003 to total �1.1 billion. Foreign-owned companies now account for 72 per cent of total BERD in Ireland. The most important sector of the economy for business R&D spending continued to be the "software and other computer related" sector, accounting for 35 per cent of the total.
A current important focus for innovation policy is to develop and facilitate greater industry/academic collaboration. To this end, 2004 saw the publication of a Code of practice for Managing Intellectual Property from Publicly Funded Research and this was followed in September 2005 by the launch of a Code for public/ private funded research.
Other important developments on the S&T landscape going forward concern the ongoing negotiation between the Member States, the EU Commission and the European Parliament on the structure, content and budget for the 7th Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Innovation. The final budget will be dependent on the outcome of the negotiations on the overall EU Financial Perspectives, which will be the major challenge for the UK Presidency in the second half of 2005. Ireland's objective in the negotiations is to ensure that opportunities expand for Irish researchers:
-
�to engage in trans-national collaborative research in thematic areas linked to national priorities and
-
�to avail of improved researcher mobility measures.
In the context of the new governance system for science, an Advisory Council for Science, Technology and Innovation was established in May 2005 to succeed the former ICSTI (Irish Council for Science, Technology and Innovation). The new Council is chaired by Mary Cryan of Cryan Associates and former Chairperson of the Irish Software Association.
Underpinning the successful implementation of all of the aforementioned policy objectives is the need to have a healthy 'pipeline' of science and engineering students and graduates moving into research careers either in industry or in the third level sector. In this context, the Government has committed significantly to Discover Science and Engineering (DSE) � the integrated national science awareness programme. Managed by Forf�s, it brings together a number of pre-existing science awareness activities and was established in response to a recommendation of the Task Force on Physical Sciences.
The objectives of the programme are to:
-
�raise the general level of awareness of the physical sciences;
-
�promote a greater understanding of science across society;
-
raise the level of student uptake of the physical sciences at second and third level; and
-
�promote a positive attitude towards careers in science, engineering and technology.
DSE runs a year long comprehensive range of activities and further information is available on the website www.science.ie
Contact: Helena Acheson, Division Manager, Science, Technology & Innovation Policy and STI Awareness Programmes,
Forf�s, Wilton Park House, Wilton Place, Dublin 2;
Phone: + 353 1 607 3019; Fax: + 353 1 607 3260;
E-mail: [email protected] ; Web: www.forfas.ie