Vol. 430 No. 5
142 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the objectives that he has set for the science and technology programme; the system of evaluation that is in place to decide the priority projects in pursuit of these objectives; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The objective of the Science and Technology Programme is to support the enhancement of competitive advantage in Irish firms through the appropriate use of technology. It approaches this through a portfolio of infrastructural, financial and skills support attuned to the present and anticipated needs of Irish industry.
The pioneering nature of the 1989-93 programmes required a flexible, pro-active approach on the part of industry and academia. It set out a range of implementing actions and over the past number of years these have been reviewed and evaluated in a number of ways such as in the S&T Development Committee, on the Boards of the Programmes in Advanced Technologies, in the R&D Grants Committee. In addition a comprehensive system of ex-post evaluation has been put in place to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of projects. All of this was underpinned by external evaluations carried out on behalf of the EC Commission, and by the OP Monitoring Committee.
