Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

The Innovation Taskforce has identified an ambitious set of recommendations to transform Ireland into a global innovation hub and drive job creation in innovative export-focused sectors. Recent changes in departmental structures have brought innovation to the fore in my new Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, and the Deputy will be aware that the Government has asked that I personally chair a high-level implementation committee to oversee implementation of the report of the taskforce. The implementation committee is composed of top industrialists and Secretaries General of key Departments. CEOs of State agencies and officials from other Departments will also participate in the work of the committee as required.

The Taoiseach has asked all Ministers to prioritise the implementation of recommendations from the Taskforce report for which they are responsible. In that context, I have asked my ministerial colleagues to review the current state of play on each of the recommendations for which they have lead responsibility. This review will enable an initial stocktaking by the implementation committee to ascertain those issues where we can move immediately to implementation, where we need to work in the first instance through expert working groups as specified by the taskforce and where we need to engage closely with agencies and other Departments to progress implementation.

Some recommendations are already being worked on. For example, the taskforce made a number of recommendations relating to the management of intellectual property, IP, and access to state-supported IP. A review has been underway to determine whether the current IP arrangements for publicly-funded research in Ireland were optimum. The implementation of the recommendations arising and specific recommendations of the taskforce are being progressed through the harnessing of the expertise and goodwill of practitioners and experts who have contributed to this work. I will be making further announcements in the coming days on how these skills will be harnessed to progress this agenda.

Implementation of other recommendations will require reprioritisation of resources. These will need to be considered by Government and I will be bringing any such proposals to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Renewal for consideration. Tax proposals will be considered in the context of the budgetary strategy.

See this speech in context