The Minister was speaking at the Consultative Forum in Farmleigh House, Phoenix Park to feed into the development of a new national Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation. Attending were 120 representatives of all participating stakeholders, including researchers; Universities; Institutes of Technology; indigenous SMEs; multinational firms; civil society; Government Departments; and State Agencies.
This Forum builds on a written consultation exercise earlier this year when stakeholders were invited to make submissions in response to a consultation paper. Over 80 submissions were received and a number of the key issues to emerge from these submissions were discussed at the Forum, including:
· Supporting the Full Continuum of Research
· Enhancing Collaboration Between Business and Academia
· Evolving the Research Landscape
· Delivering a Vision of Ireland as an Innovation Leader
The Minister said: “We have made great progress to date in building our science base in Ireland, both in academia and in industry. A key goal is to build on that success and continue to target investment at areas of greatest need, impact and relevance. This productive investment plays a key role in our economic growth and societal development so it is therefore crucial that we not only seek to maintain this investment but to see it grow over the lifetime of the strategy.”
The Minister said that the workshop provided a very important opportunity for all key stakeholders to directly contribute to the development of the new strategy.
The strategy, which will set out a vision and roadmap for over for the five year period 2016-2020, is due to be completed later this year.
The consultation paper is available here:
The strategy is being developed under the auspices of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation, comprising:
Department of An Taoiseach Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Chair)
Department of Education and Skills
Department of Finance
Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Department of Environment, Community and Local Government
Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources
Department of Health
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Higher Education Authority