IRELAND’S SCIENCE, technology and innovation strategies have failed by all objective measures and a radical change of approach is needed, according to the Marketing Institute.
“We need a national transformation of our innovation policy,” said Tom Trainor, chief executive of the Marketing Institute, who will today publish a detailed review of Ireland’s strategies in this area.
The report points out that Ireland’s share of euro zone foreign direct investment has halved in six years, the country has dropped from 12th to 21st in world competitiveness since 2008 and our European Union innovation ranking remains unchanged since 2004.
The report says that rather than implementation committees, a small team of “people with a track record of delivery” should be assembled to implement science, technology and innovation (STI) policy at a much faster pace.
Mr Trainor suggested this should comprise an internationally successful business person, a Government Minister and a senior civil servant.
“Progress should be reviewed every six months, there should be benchmarking against international best practice and they should ensure we are getting value for money,” said Mr Trainor.
He was also critical of the repeated launch of “ambitious five-year strategies” with little progress being made between the launch of each new plan.
“In a crisis you don’t have the luxury of taking a long time to address things,” said Mr Trainor.
The Marketing Institute report looks at a number of strategies that have been launched over the last six years including the recent report of the Innovation Taskforce and the Government’s 2008 Smart Economy plan, but notes they have failed to deliver.
Mr Trainor said that what was needed was a “war strategy” to get things done. “The analysis has been done, the reports are written and we are quite a distance from where we need to be.”
Matt Kavanagh, head of policy with the institute, said if the Metro North project was abandoned, as recommended in the McCarthy report, €5 – €6 billion could be directed towards STI strategy. This would deliver a next-generation broadband network, allow a complete overhaul of second-level education and still leave funding for projects recommended in strategy documents.
