The Minister of State for Science, Jimmy Devins, emphasises the need for continuing State investment in science despite the current economic downturn, writes Dick Ahlstrom
THE Government's science strategy will help to bring the country out of its current economic decline, and maintaining the existing science policy will pay dividends in the future, according to the Minister of State for Science, Technology and Innovation.
"The strategy for science, technology and innovation is part of the National Development Plan and €8.2 billion has been committed to this. It would be my belief that the budget for STI would be maintained," Dr Jimmy Devins told The Irish Times.
A level of concern has been expressed by academic researchers fearful that the Government might change its position on its continued strong investment programme in STI, but Devins is doubtful that this will happen. He could not "prejudge" what the Minister for Finance might do as he prepares his unprecedented early Budget for October 14th. "Everything I say is qualified by that," he says, and he "was not privy" to decisions being made on the Budget.
Even so, it remained "well recognised" that the existing commitment to State funding for STI under the science strategy remained strong, he says. There had been statements in recent weeks by the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister for Finance that this policy was the way to go.
"As far as I am concerned, I believe the strategy should be maintained and brought forward to its next stage of development."
He is well aware of the challenges faced by the economy and the country in the coming months, yet steady investment in research remained the best option. "The knowledge economy is the way we can get out of these difficulties," he says. "The strategy for STI is the correct strategy. The implementation of the strategy and all of the money allocated to it is the way forward."
He had spent the early months of his new brief meeting the "service providers" including funding bodies such as Science Foundation Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, Forfás and also the academic researchers in the third-level institutions. His view that the STI strategy would be in the best interests of the country had been strengthened by these exchanges.
"I believe what we are pursuing at the moment is the correct strategy. It is going to cost money, but we are starting to see the benefits of the strategy," he says. He took heart from the fact that of the 114 new start-up companies brought in by IDA Ireland in 2007, 40 per cent of them included a strong RD element. "Obviously, it is paying dividends and delivering jobs on the ground."
He accepts that, by their nature, investments in research took time to mature and bring benefits and that there could be a "time lag" of between five and 10 years before the results of research investment could be seen. "We have come relatively late to the investments in science, technology and innovation compared to our European neighbours and the US but we are catching up," he says.
"The challenge is we have to drive this forward because none of our competitors are going to rest on their laurels." China and India were becoming major competitors on markets where Ireland had done well in the past. "The competition is out there," he says. "The whole issue of jobs is an evolving process."
Ireland had lost its textile industries in the past due to competition from lower-cost economies, this despite the fact that "we have a highly intelligent, a highly educated and a highly adaptive workforce," he says.
He was encouraged by the positive results from the "value for money" analysis of investment being made by research funder Science Foundation Ireland. He added however that it would take time for investments to yield their full dividends and he hoped that they would benefit the country. "I would look at this as a work in progress," he says.