Speech by the Taoiseach, Mr. Brian Cowen, T.D., at the Official Launch of the Joint Venture between Georgia Tech Ireland, NUIG and UL, Royal Irish Academy, Friday, 18 June, 2010 at 12.30pm.
A Uachtaráin, a Theachtaí agus a dhaoine uaisle,
Tá áthas orm a bheith anseo inniu chun an Comhfhiontar seo idir Institiúid Teicneolaíochta Georgia, Ollscoil na hÉireann Gaillimh agus Ollscoil Luimnigh a sheoladh.
Creidim go dtacóidh an Institiúid Taighde Aistritheach le forás eacnamaíochta inbhuanaithe a chur chun cinn ag leibhéal náisiúnta agus ag leibhéal réigiúnach.
Presidents, Deputies, ladies and gentlemen,
I am delighted to be here today to launch this Joint Venture between the Georgia Institute of Technology, NUI Galway and the University of Limerick.
I believe that this new Translational Research Institute will help to drive sustainable economic growth at both national and regional level.
When I launched the Alliance between the University of Limerick and NUI Galway here in February, I spoke of its significance in showing that our universities are moving from competing at home to collaborating to compete on the world stage.
The added dimension offered by the involvement of Georgia Institute of Technology is very exciting, given its long-standing and extensive international track record of industry-focused research and technology development.
As the first applied research facility of the Georgia Institute of Technology outside the United States, Georgia Tech has made a very significant contribution to Ireland and to the development of the midlands gateway to date. As a public representative from the midlands, I very much welcome the deepening of its involvement in Ireland through this new partnership.
A common theme of both our national spatial strategy and our smart economy framework is the need for greater collaboration between institutions within Ireland - to maximise our impact on the global stage.
This is particularly important in enabling regions outside Dublin to achieve sufficient scale, and this Joint Venture can help build a strong cluster of research activity linked to the Atlantic Corridor, helping to spread investment across the country.
Last year, when we launched our Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal, we spoke of the need for mergers and alliances in Higher Education.
The Government recognises that this is a very challenging time for the Higher Education Sector. I welcome new initiatives like this Joint Venture which will maximise the impact of investment at a time of scarce resources. We will shortly finalise a new national strategy for higher education, which will address the sector's long-term role in Ireland's economic recovery.
Over the past decade, we have made significant progress in establishing a strong research environment, building scientific excellence in potentially strategic areas.
Investment in knowledge increased at an annual average of around 10% in the last decade, compared with EU and OECD averages of around 3%.
Economy-wide R&D spend has trebled over this time and R&D investments now account for over five-in-ten new IDA projects.
At this time of very scarce economic resources and pressure for reductions in expenditure, we are maintaining an allocation of €600 million for Science, Technology and Innovation in 2010.
The Innovation Taskforce which reported in March set out a vision for making Ireland a Global Innovation Hub.
This will require a sustained commitment of Government resources to research and development. But the Taskforce also identified the need to ensure we translate this investment into sustainable jobs and economic growth. We need to strengthen the links between our research institutions and industry to ensure that we develop, transfer and apply knowledge in productive ways.
The goal is to build a strong base of indigenous firms, while attracting and further embedding multi-national companies here. There is plenty of evidence that sustained investment will result in more and better jobs at national level. This is complemented by our focus on investment in regional centres as reflected in the most recent IDA Strategy.
I believe that this Alliance between NUI Galway, the University of Limerick and Georgia Institute of Technology can make a significant contribution to our strategy because of its strong focus on translational research and on linkages between higher education and industry.
I am pleased to note that research collaboration in the energy and sustainable environment sectors is a priority of the Institute. The Government has identified the green enterprise sector as central to the development of the Smart Economy and the High Level Action Group on Green Enterprise suggested that the sector has the potential to create 80,000 jobs in the coming years. Research in these areas is also vital in assisting us in developing solutions to global challenges such as climate change and energy security.
In conclusion, I would like to commend all involved in establishing this Institute. It is exactly the type of development that the Government is trying to encourage.
I believe it can help us achieve our goals for increasing collaboration between higher education institutions, better linkages between higher education and industry, and delivering the economic growth and job creation we need in the years ahead.
Thank you for inviting me here today and I wish you every success with this venture.
ENDS.