The American Chamber of Commerce has published a strategic paper on creating an innovation and commercialisation base in Ireland. Entitled  Retuning the Growth Engine, the paper sets out a blueprint for co-operation between the Irish government, Irish business and the base of US multinationals in this country in order to build an innovation base to underpin Ireland’s future sustainable growth.

The paper was presented to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheal Martin, at its formal launch today at Bank of Ireland, College Green. Speaking at the launch Jim O’Hara, President of the American Chamber of Commerce and General Manager Intel Ireland said: “Ireland is no different to any Western economy in that it is at a crossroads in its development. In today’s global trading environment, intense competition from emerging economies means we need to look to new areas of innovation and added value to sustain our economic success story. Put bluntly, Ireland needs to continue to offer something distinctive in order to attract multinational companies’ innovation investment.” 

Speaking at the launch Micheal Martin, TD, Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment said;   “Recently we have become a magnet for US digital media investment, with industry leaders Yahoo, Google, E-Bay and Amazon making Dublin a European hub of their respective operations. We want companies such as these to locate their business in a society where innovation and creativity flourish. 

“To build on Ireland’s success the Government last year launched the new Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation – or SSTI. Under the SSTI and the National Development Plan 2007 – 2013, the Government is investing a further €8.2 billion in scientific research, building on our continued drive towards making Ireland a knowledge economy.

“The strategy builds on our commitment to the research agenda and highlights the importance of achieving the transition to a knowledge economy. Its implementation will drive economic growth, creating high-quality and high-paying jobs.  It will see Ireland secure its position as one of the world's advanced knowledge economies and become renowned worldwide for the excellence of its research.”  

O’Hara welcomed Government initiatives aimed at creating the conditions for an advanced knowledge economy such as the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation (SSTI), and the National Development Plan (NDP) 2007–2013. “Now is a time of implementation to achieve these strategic aspirations”, said O’Hara. “The American Chamber of Commerce Ireland believes the time is right for a new type of partnership between ‘Ireland Inc.’, the Irish Government, and the US multinational companies who have together enjoyed such successful working relationships to date here in Ireland.”

Retuning the Growth Engine sets out the American Chamber’s blueprint for this future success, which it has called ‘Innovate Ireland’. “We are offering our vision – together with key action areas – for building an innovation and commercialisation base that should ensure Ireland stays on the path of sustainable economic growth”, said Mike Devane, Chair of the American Chamber R&D Group.

“The aim is to create a ‘virtuous circle’ built on positive action in five key areas: education, research, convergence, commercialisation and fiscal policy. The American Chamber of Commerce Ireland believes it can be a powerful ally and catalyst in making this happen.”

Devane pointed out that Ireland has a great opportunity to leverage its close ties with US business and leverage its pivotal role in the European Union, fulfilling and ultimately exceeding its commitment to R&D specified in the Lisbon Agenda.

“The aim should be to evolve the country into a vital global research and commercialisation hub where innovation is our trademark. This will make a real and lasting contribution to the economy by generating value, wealth and exports”, he said. “At the core of this ‘Innovate Ireland’ initiative is a dynamic partnership between the multinational companies, indigenous SMEs, academia, the Government and the people of Ireland.

It proposes that we jointly address the immediate need to develop a strong research base in Ireland, restructure the education system required to support it, and build the commercialisation infrastructure needed to strengthen the economy.”

Derek Collins Director, New Business at Bank of Ireland Corporate Banking, which sponsored Retuning the Growth Engine said: “Bank of Ireland is proud to be associated with the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland in developing Retuning the Growth Engine. Ireland is operating in a highly competitive environment and through this research we see that with the right innovation framework in place Ireland will continue to be best placed to support the flow of new opportunities for US companies. This in turn will attract investment, retain and attract resources and deliver exceptional brand equity for ‘Ireland Inc’ “.   

Retuning the Growth Engine sets out the actions the American Chamber believes are needed in five key areas:  

• Education – investment in education is the strategic enabler of the new knowledge economy. Our goal is to see our education system in the top decile of OECD countries. While the investment in Education will have to double in the next few years, immediate action is required to ensure that the quality and quantity of graduate and post-graduate output matches the future requirement. Resolving the known gap in SET output will require a bold investment in full time adult learning to grow the base of human capital currently in the workplace. .

• Research – Ireland is making a credible investment in research that will provide an engine for economic growth and be the basis of value creation. We need to quickly extend the investments made by SFI to leverage the new investment in the 4^th level, attract new industrial partners and ensure that the Research Platforms we build are sustainable.

• Commercialisation – here the focus is to secure a return for Ireland on the investment made in education and research. This requires a matching investment in a proactive “commercialisation” infrastructure.  This infrastructure must be focused on technology transfer, IP licensing, shared resources and assets, with access to funding and key human capital  to create robust global ventures. It must underpin value creation and collaboration between large and small enterprises and education and research institutes.

• Convergence – the best opportunity for Ireland to leverage its relatively small investment in research and commercialisation infrastructure is to focus our base of existing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and indigenous resources and to identify and exploit emerging areas of technology and market convergence. The convergence of ICT and Medical technologies, for example create opportunities for multinational companies to collaboratively work across sectors.  These collaborations could utilise small Irish technology companies as developers of new technologies and products. These Irish technology companies would have the opportunity to use state infrastructure (eg hospitals) to gain market acceptance for their product and would then use their relationship with the multinational company to access the global markets.

• Fiscal policy – Ireland’s tax and incentive regime should support and encourage risk-taking, capability development, exploitation of IP, commercialisation and the investment by individuals in their own development.

“As US multinationals in Ireland we need to tune our collaborative research proposition in a way that is commercially attractive and mutually beneficial.  Equally Ireland needs to engage in the development of a new vibrant innovation and commercialisation infrastructure. The creation of a new dynamic knowledge economy requires vision and leadership, will take time, and will demand that we all take bold steps, make hard choices and invest in the future.  This requires significant effort on the part of industry, buy-in of all stakeholders, enabled through the firm commitment from the Government and Leadership”, Devane concluded.

ANALYSIS: US multinationals in Ireland to present Irish Government with proposals to retune the economic "growth engine"

DOWNLOAD:  Retuning the Growth Engine

Today, nearly 100,000 people are directly employed^[i] in over 580 US firms in Ireland^[ii] accounting for 70% of all IDA supported employment^[iii]. Indirect employment in sub-supply and community industry & services has been estimated at over 225,000^[iv