Ireland needs to invest more in scientific R&D programmes if it is to become a world leader in the field, a Government adviser said today.
Chief Scientific Adviser Prof Patrick Cunningham said although good progress has been made, with Ireland now spending the OECD average on R&D, Ireland needs to "up its game" if it is to reach the National Development Plan targets by 2013.
Speaking at an international conference in UCD, Prof Cunningham said Ireland now has the resources, the policy commitment and the structures to become leaders in the field".
For Ireland to improve, R&D spending by private industry must increase in parallel with State spending, he said.
"The Government target is that of total R&D spending, one-third should come from the State with the remaining two-thirds from the private sector," he said.
Prof Cunningham's role as Chief Scientific Adviser allows him to give advice to the Government on scientific issues and play a key role in monitoring, evaluating and delivering the Strategy for Science Technology and Innovation (SSTI).
The SSTI has targeted 2.5 per cent
of GNP to be invested in research by 2010. One third funded by the state and the rest by the private sector, but last year only 1.6 per cent of GNP went on research.
Prof Cunningham detailed new figures, published this week by enterprise advisory board Forfás, that after lagging behind much of Europe in the mid-1990s, Ireland's spend on research has now reached the OECD average as a percentage of GNP. There are nearly 1,400 firms doing research and more than 1,000 are homegrown firms,. However, up to 70 per cent of the total R&D is done in 345 foreign-owned companies. He also noted R&D spending in the higher education sector has trebled in the last ten years.