Chief Scientific Advisor, Prof Patrick Cunningham, pictured in May 2007 with the winner of the Irish Times Science Speak 2007 competition, TCD student, Shane Bergin and RTE Broadcaster, Pat Kenny.

Ireland has made significant progress in its ambition to become an international leader in scientific research but needs to "up its game" if it is to reach the Government’s own National Development Plan NDP targets by 2013, the Irish Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser Prof Patrick Cunningham said today.

In a major presentation to an international conference of science researchers at UCD Prof Cunningham gave details of new figures, published this week by Forfás*. These show that having lagged behind much of Europe a decade ago, Ireland’s spend on research has now reached the OECD average as a percentage of GNP. R&D spending in the higher education sector has trebled in a decade.

*Annual R&D spending by Irish Higher Education Sector exceeds €600 million; Only163 patents obtained in major world markets since 1996

Prof Cunningham said this morning: "We are now at the OECD average which represents good progress. But the Government’s target is not to be average – it is to be among the leaders. In that respect, we still have a big job of work to do but we have the policy commitment in the National Development Plan, the resources and the structures with which to do it." He was speaking at the annual conference of the Consortium of Higher Education Researchers.

The Chief Scientific Adviser provides high level advice to the Government on scientific issues and plays a key role in monitoring, evaluating and delivering the Government’s Strategy for Science Technology and Innovation (SSTI 2006-2013). This is his first public statement on this aspect of his role.

He said the SSTI target – incorporated into the National Development Plan - is that 2.5 per cent of GNP would be invested in research by 2010. One third of this was to be provided by the State and two thirds by the private sector. In 2006 some 1.6 per cent of GNP was spent on research: "Despite our improvement it will be a challenge to reach that target", he said.

The new Forfás figures show that in the past decade Ireland has dramatically increased its spending on research in third level institutions, in both monetary terms and as a percentage of GNP. "In 1996 we spent under €200 million compared to €600 million in 2006. We have now caught up completely with the OECD average in terms of spending as a proportion of GNP, from a position just a decade ago where we were well below that figure. That is substantial progress and means the State has delivered on the commitments given in the last National Development Plan."

"We are on track, but still well short of the target," he said. "The Government’s aim was not just to reach the OECD average but to position Ireland among the leaders in research and development. As the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin put it at last year’s launch of the Government Strategy for Science Technology and Innovation: ‘Ireland by 2013 will be internationally renowned for the excellence of its research, be at the forefront in generating and using new knowledge for economic and social progress, within an innovation driven culture’".

"This is an ambition about which everybody in the university sector and within the science community is enthusiastic. We are certainly not among Europe’s leaders yet and there is major challenge ahead to get us there. But Ireland now has the resources, the policy commitment and the structures to achieve this ambition."

He said other measures apart from the level of spending showed that Ireland remained among Europe’s average performers. "Non-monetary measures of our progress include for example the number of researchers employed here per thousand of population, and in that regard the Forfás figures published earlier this week show us in the middle, rather than among Europe’s leaders." He said the European Innovation Scoreboard, recognised in Europe as a seminal measure of each country’s performance in this area, also placed Ireland among the average performers rather than among the leading countries that include the Scandinavian countries and Switzerland.

He said State spending, while critical, would not on its own bring Ireland to where it wanted to be. There were two other vital contributors:

• R&D spending by private industry must increase in parallel with State spending.

• We must ensure that society receives the benefit of this increased funding.

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