Seanad debates

Wednesday, 12 May 2004

5:00 pm

Mary Henry (Independent)
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There can be few people in the country today who have not heard of the national spatial strategy and the drive to decentralise the development of the country from Dublin. The arguments in the report are clear. Any hope of a future for regions outside Dublin depends on an actively managed suite of policies encouraging the industrial, educational, infrastructural and political development of the regions.

In that context, the recent decision of the Department of Education and Science to curtail or eliminate the technological sector research programme, TSRP, seems, at best, incongruous and, at worst, deliberately destructive of the spatial strategy. The TSRP has, for several years, supported the development of regionally based research and knowledge expertise in the institutes of technology. The capability has functioned as both a support to the education and training of technologically literate graduates and as a direct support to local and regional innovation.

Ireland's future economic development will not be on the strength of its manufacturing potential but on the ability of its companies to innovate successfully and to be competitive in the international market. If the Minister had been here earlier, he would have heard Senator White stress the need for competitiveness and she is a successful business woman. To innovate successfully, Irish companies need access to locally based centres of expertise. Critical to the development of Ireland's knowledge economy is access to a workforce that understands knowledge, its production, organisation and utilisation. Knowledge is the raw material of the current age.

Study after study has underlined the importance of local access to expertise in successful regional development. Some studies estimate the "sphere of influence" to be as small as 50 km. in radius from the centre. It is no coincidence that, almost without exception, the institutes of technology are sited almost 100 km. apart to maximise there regional impact. The importance of regional expertise is also illustrated in studies of patenting activity where expertise local to the company filing the patent is cited rather than that from another region or country.

The capacity of the institutes of technology to deliver this expertise was being developed through the TSRP. In the absence of the TSRP and its specific function in the support regional innovation capacity, hundreds of students will no longer have the option of being innovative researchers, many tens of innovative research teams established over the past few years will have to disband and teams working in the area of renewable energy, e-business, sustainable development, laser optics, telecommunications, software, rural economics and urban sociology, to name but a few, will be lost.

The Minister for Education and Science recently attended an EU conference at which the impact of third level research on regional economic development was a major theme. As Dr. John Donovan, chair of the Irish Research Scientists' Association pointed out: "It is a wonder how the Minister could say to any of his colleagues that Ireland is so committed to the development of its regions when it has eliminated what are, in many cases, the only support for the regional innovator and entrepreneur. How can he be taken seriously when his right hand is stroking the national spatial strategy while his left hand is strangling it at birth?"

In the wider European context, Ireland has committed itself to the Lisbon declaration "...to be the most dynamic, knowledge based economy in the world" and agreed to spend 3% of GDP on research and development. The purpose of this is to provide a sound underpinning of knowledge creation, manipulation and exploitation on which to base our future economic development. Extinguishing the TSRP will ensure that any value of the 3% investment will be entirely contained within Dublin and larger urban regions. Smaller urban and rural regions will be actively denied access to expertise that will create jobs, sustain communities and ensure balanced regional development.

In his message to me Dr. Donovan wondered how many regional Deputies and candidates in the local and European election campaigns realise that the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit of their regions is being so callously removed. I urge the Minister to reverse the decisions he has made in this regard in light of the importance of the TSRP to the economy of rural Ireland.

Photo of John BrowneJohn Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senator Henry for raising this issue and apologise for the absence of the Minister who is in the Dáil Chamber at present. I am pleased to have the opportunity to outline the significant developments taking place in research in the technological and wider higher education sectors. Unprecedented levels of investment are now being made through our higher education system, across a range of funding programmes, in pursuit of the development of the knowledge base on which our future growth strategy is based. In this regard, the Government has committed €2.5 billion to research, technology, innovation and development under the national development plan.

The Department of Education and Science was delighted in the context of the 2004 Estimates to announce the resumption of capital funding under cycle three of the programme for research in third level institutions, PRTLI. The PRTLI has had a profound impact on the research environment in Ireland. Already, 1,400 researchers are being funded in our universities and institutes of technology and 60 research programmes are in place. A total of 33 new research centres have been approved. The Department made it clear that this was the first instalment of the Government's commitment to the full delivery and timely completion of cycle three.

When one considers that there was no dedicated programme of funding for research and development under the Department of Education and Science prior to 1998, the scale of the €605 million projects approved for funding under the PRTLI since then can be placed in a clear context. Taken with the separate programmes of support for the two relatively recently established research councils, the technological sector programme, HEAnet and the North-South research programme, the picture that emerges is one of a transformed landscape for research activity, individual researcher support and research infrastructure across the higher education sector in a short space of time. The Government-wide priority for developing the knowledge economy is reflected in other complementary, mission-oriented, research funding strands that also rely on and benefit the higher education sector. In this regard, the rapid growth of Science Foundation Ireland's activities has been particularly significant. Reflecting the strategic Government priority attaching to research in the biotechnology and information technology sectors, its funding will grow by €41 million to €113 million in 2004.

This investment has benefited the entire sector. Six institutes of technology have received PRTLI funding. The PRTLI beneficiaries include key strategic research centres and programmes such as the centre for biopolymer and biomolecular research at Athlone Institute of Technology; the smart space management project at Waterford Institute of Technology; ecotoxicology, waste reduction and air pollution at Cork Institute of Technology; the biosolids research programme at Sligo Institute of Technology; and environmental science at Carlow Institute of Technology.

The success of institutes of technology in successfully competing for PRTLI funding, either as lead institutions or collaborative partners, reflects a potentially highly valuable role for institutes of technology in the development of our national research infrastructure. We need to build on key institutional strengths across the higher education sector in a collaborative way if we are to develop the critical mass required to become significant leaders in research.

The technological sector research initiative has been a key element in building that institutional strength within the technological sector. A specific allocation of €38.09 million has been assigned to this under the National Development Plan 2000-2006 to support and strengthen the research capabilities of the institutes of technology sector by enabling institutes to focus on core strengths at both national and individual institute level. This sub-measure comprises three strands: postgraduate research and development skills programme with an allocation of €9.8 million; enterprise platform programme with an allocation of €12.4 million; and core research strengths enhancement with an allocation of €15.9 million.

In the period from 2000 to 2003, €16.25 million has been expended to support these research strands in the institute of technology sector. All of these strands are important components of enhancing the capacity of the institute of technology sector to realise its full potential as part of the national research and innovation system. Following examination of the position in the Department of Education and Science, funding of €5.8 million will be made available in 2004, including €600,000 specifically to support new projects under strand 1, for programmes under this initiative.

In investing so heavily in research activity as a clear strategic priority, the Government is making an unequivocal statement of intent regarding Ireland's place in the new knowledge age. Our higher education institutions are the pivotal players in translating that investment into tangible progress in the coming years. We are making clear strategic choices in order to lay the ground for future development and the higher education institutions are being placed centre stage in that.

I again thank the Senator for raising the matter in this House.