The statement in question was made by the Director of the NMRC at the launch of the centre's annual report for 1995.
All responsible commentators have been saying for some time that technological innovation underpins international competitiveness and that we must re-double our efforts to better exploit and harness knowledge for the betterment of society in general and industry and services in particular.
The message is not new. It comes across in the Culliton report, in the STIAC report and as recently as the Forfás report Sharing our Future which says that our success as a country in the coming decades will depend on our ability to adapt to a variety of high skills and specialised knowledge.