Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 171: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the way the doubling of the output of PhD students from the higher level sector by 2013 is, in and of itself, a quantifiable step towards the development of a knowledge economy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42008/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The OECD 2004 Review of Higher Education in Ireland stated that the lack of a sufficient supply of doctoral students could seriously hinder Ireland's aim to create a research intensive higher education system and to stimulate much higher levels of industrial research and development. One of its recommendations in this area was that steps should be taken to double the numbers of postgraduate students.

The Government's Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation (SSTI) is committing €8 billion to research and development and strives towards ensuring that Ireland will be internationally renowned for the excellence of its research and at the forefront in generating and using new knowledge for economic and social progress, within an innovation driven culture.

The two overarching goals of the SSTI are to build a sustainable system of world class research teams in terms of people and supporting infrastructures and to double our output of PhDs. These goals are interlinked as the quality of both research and postgraduate formation is dependent on access to world class principal investigators to lead teams of post doctoral and postgraduate researchers.

The transfer of people and knowledge from higher education institutions into the market place has been identified as a key objective in the SSTI. The outputs of the investment in research will increase the availability of highly qualified and talented people working in industry and other areas of the economy, increasing the level of innovation and productivity, and contributing towards the development of a knowledge economy.