Vol. 493 No. 3
78 Mr. Howlin asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her views on a recent report from the Industrial Research and Development Group that research and development by Irish industry and State agencies is significantly overestimated and, in reality, countries including Denmark and the Netherlands spend twice as much per capita as Ireland on industrial research. [15907/98]
At the outset, I want to state that there is consensus at national and international levels that Research and Development (R&D) is of critical importance to competitiveness, employment and the enhancement of society.
Recent reports from the European Commission, the OECD and our own White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation, all highlight the importance of research and development, in a globalised economy. I therefore welcome the Industry Research and Development Group report, which concurs with this approach and provides a useful contribution to the ongoing debate, on the need for industry to perform R&D.
I feel it is important however, to clarify that there is no over-estimation of the level of R&D performed by Irish industry or in any other part of the economy. Statistics on R&D in Ireland are produced for our Department by Forfás, according to long established guidelines, which operate in countries such as Denmark, the Netherlands and all other OECD countries. The IRDG Report provides one interpretation of these figures.
Data collected by Forfás, using the most widely-used basis for making international comparisons of industrial R&D activity namely expenditure by industry on R&D as a percentage of GDP, shows that for Ireland, such expenditure has risen from just below 0.5 per cent in 1986, to just over 1 per cent in 1995, which is equivalent to an investment of around £400 million. This represents a high rate of growth compared to other OECD countries and places Ireland on a par with countries such as Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Canada. We are however, still behind the levels found in countries such as Japan, USA and Sweden, where expenditure on R&D equates to 2 per cent or more, of GDP.
In recognition of the need to increase the level of R&D expenditure in Irish industry, particularly first time R&D performers, this Government secured additional funding for research technology and innovation of 39 Mecu — £29 million approximately — as part of the mid term review of Structural Funds carried out last year. EU Structural Funding of £104 million for InCompany R&D, had already been provided under the highly successful Measure 1 Scheme, but all of this had been committed by July of last year.
As a consequence, I re-launched the research technology and innovation (RTI) scheme, last November, following agreement between the European Commission, our Department, Forbairt/Enterprise Ireland and the Industry Research and Development Group, representing IBEC. Funding under the scheme is allocated by means of fixed monthly tranches, which will end in 1999. Decisions in relation to individual projects are made by an independent committee — known as the RTI/Measure 1 Committee, which is representative of industry, academia, the industrial agencies and our Department.
