Mr. Thomas Hunter McGowan:

When we evaluate all of our programmes, we take account of dead weight, which is very important. I refer to things that would have happened anyway regardless of whether we were involved. We make sure to remove that element from all of our programmes. We do not report the full value of those elements relating to companies that would have proceeded to do things in a certain way. The question of when we will reach our limit, or when our mission will be accomplished, is a difficult one. The sands are shifting as we move into the new territory on this island of the innovation model. That is a shifting concept because new innovation is rolling out all the time. One might think one has mastered something, but something new will come along. We are going through a whole range of new technologies that are coming at us. We are stuck now with new challenges that people would not have anticipated a decade or 20 years ago. When the entire domestic market suffered as badly as it did, it put pressure on companies to find new markets. Our role was to try to give them the capabilities to try to make sure they could do so.

Everything we do is about providing capability. We give sales capabilities and science, engineering or technology ability to companies. We provide innovation capability within the company. We provide assistance, but until the companies have those abilities and are able to export and innovate we will not reach an end. However, there may come a point where the general dynamic of the economy comes into play and our system functions well and works strongly.

Mr. Gough may wish to speak about a recent cross-Border study in which the OECD looked at innovation on a cross-Border and regional basis and came up with some interesting findings.