Dr. Willie Donnelly:

I was intrigued by a presentation given by the President of Stanford University. He said there is as much IT generated in Kansas as in Silicon Valley and asked why all the companies are located in Silicon Valley. It is because they have an open innovation culture. This is very important. We need to build such a culture in the southern region. Our experience when I set up the TSSG was that there were no ICT industries. We had to create one but when the IDA would bring companies to Waterford, there would not be any capacity in human resource terms. For multinationals, the human resource is the critical factor. Why do ICT companies go to Dublin? It is because there is a flow of ideas and people. They need connectivity to similar companies. They do not shy away from that competition. In the south east we need to identify those areas of critical mass in order that we can create industry and plan to develop the necessary infrastructure, like in Silicon Valley. That involves people, structures and support.

The problem we have is that we talk about increasing employment in the south east but we never ask what are the areas where we could attract a critical mass. That is what we did in the TSSG. When we saw we did not have these people, we decided to create spin-out companies, where we seek out people from abroad, and we had people from 20 different countries come to work in the south east. We then moved them out into the companies. These are activities we must undertake and that is what I mean by strategic planning. There is no point in doing this on a yearly basis. We must plan on a five year basis, with an objective, and identify the resources we need. Does Enterprise Ireland match the investment from the IDA? Are both agencies seeking the same industries and promoting the same resources? Are educators developing the skills that are needed? Entrepreneurs like to be next to other entrepreneurs, so we must create a platform to entice them into the region.

The Kilkenny county manager, Mr. Joe Crockett, gave us an opportunity to take the TSSG model and recreate it in Kilkenny. We did not say that in Waterford our focus is on mobile services so we should have the same focus in Kilkenny. We asked what the natural industrial base was around Kilkenny. Agriculture was one answer, but from talking to Mr. Crockett, if we look at the opportunity for growth in agriculture in the region, we can see there are challenges in environmental impacts. I began to wonder how ICT could link to agriculture. The Republic of Ireland is at the forefront of ICT and by combining our natural resources and ICT, we could create not just a whole new industry but one that has huge export potential. This is not just about an integrated strategy, it is about having an understanding of our goals, and all the players must understand that.

In that strategy, when we talk about education, we must look not just at third level but at primary and secondary education. At secondary level, there are schools in the south east that are not offering some science subjects because of cutbacks. Those are the subjects the companies we are trying to attract want to see.

We brought in €112 million in research funding. The universities have baseline funding for research of about €240 million per year while we receive nothing. We are starting from a much lower base.

The other reason the region needs a technological university is common sense. Technology is changing rapidly. Many of the leading companies in the world such as Cisco do not look beyond three years because they cannot predict what will happen beyond that. If we are to train the next generation of graduates and engage with industry, how do we train ourselves? How much would it cost the taxpayer if we had to reskill every academic every three years in order that he would be current? We do that by research instead. Research helps if we bring it into the undergraduate programme. Not only do we train people to go into industry, but they must be upskilled every three years. Through research, we are offering people the ability to do this.

Sun Life is a good example of such upskilling, We have a masters programme where we and the company looked at its needs and then defined the programme around those needs.

The normal academic excellence is still needed, but consideration is also given to skills needs. I understand that 50 of Sun Life's staff have graduated from that programme. That is what the technological university is about. It is about responsiveness. At national level, the debate about the institutes of technology tends to focus on whether 16 or 18 hours of teaching should be provided. That is not the question. That is not how we will enable the south east to grow. The debate should be about being able to respond to needs by working with industry to define and develop the skills it needs. Perhaps Dr. Wall will speak about the skills base.