Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 207: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation the number of times the high level implementation committee for the innovation taskforce has met since it was announced in May 2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38430/10]

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I have to date chaired three meetings of the High Level Implementation Committee which was established to oversee implementation of the recommendations in the Report of the Innovation Task Force (ITF). The Report provides a road map for positioning Ireland as an international innovation development hub and I am very pleased with the progress we are making in realising this objective.

Our inaugural meeting on 1 June enabled the Committee to ascertain those issues where it could move immediately to implementation, where it needed, in the first instance, to constitute and deploy expert working groups as specified by the ITF and where close engagement with agencies and other Government Departments to progress implementation was necessary. An immediate development following from this meeting was my appointment of an Intellectual Property Implementation Group charged with developing and realising the intellectual property- (IP) related recommendations of the ITF Report together with a detailed IP review conducted by Forfás for my Department. The development of a clear IP Protocol will help Ireland maximise the return on public investment and support the commercialisation of Irish research and development.

At our second meeting on 20 July, I briefed Committee members on the significant progress that had been made in implementing key recommendations in the ITF report, namely: The €500 million Innovation Fund-Ireland, which had been announced by the Taoiseach on 12 July, will target the development of a vibrant venture capital community in Ireland through attracting top international venture capitalists.

Together with the Taoiseach, I had launched Cycle 5 of PRTLI on 16 July, a €296m investment supporting third level research and leveraging €63m private investment.

The very positive outcome of my discussions with the Minister for Finance with regard to identifying and securing provision for a number of ITF recommendations in the Capital Envelopes to 2016. These provisions, which were subsequently published, will enable my Department and its agencies to support innovative companies, grow high performance start up companies, provide more venture capital and develop a portfolio of sector specific Angel Funds and increase Enterprise Ireland supports for commercialisation. They will also enable the retention of a strategic mass of world class researchers who act as a pull factor for foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ireland.

Secretaries General of Government Departments and Chief Executives of agencies provided detailed updates on the implementation of recommendations for which their organisations has lead responsibility. In the light of these detailed reports and ensuing discussion, the Committee agreed in the first instance to focus on priority recommendations for implementation.

For its third meeting on 19 October, the Committee agreed that it would focus in depth on a small number of the priority recommendations in the venture funds and venture capital areas and on our start up and seed funding strategy.

Members of the Committee also had an exchange of views on the tax recommendations from among those in the ITF Report which they regard as priorities for Budget 2011. The Committee also welcomed the recent decision by the Council of the Irish Universities Association to endorse a scheme of bonus points for leaving certificate higher level maths students and noted the progress that was being made in implementing other initiatives, such as Project Maths, to promote the take up of higher level maths.

This meeting afforded me an opportunity to brief members on significant developments in other fora that had taken place since 20 July and which support the implementation of the recommendations in the ITF Report.

The Committee's next meeting is scheduled for 15 December.