Speech by the Taoiseach, Mr Brian Cowen, TD, At Engineers' Week On Monday, 8 February, 2010, at 1pm
Thank you for inviting me here today to launch Engineers' Week 2010. It's an event which, perhaps more than most, reminds us of the extent to which there is much about the future that we shape for ourselves.
Our prosperity as a society rests ultimately on two qualities: our skills and capabilities as individuals; and how well we collectively deploy them to address what is important to us.
A smarter economy, and a smarter society, is one where we are continuously learning to improve our performance in these two areas -- being smarter on the one hand; and working smarter on the other.
Growth in economic output results from just two things: An increase in the number of inputs that go into production and, importantly, improving productivity - developing new ways to get more input from each unit of output. This is the essence of the smart economy - clever solutions to get us more for less right across all sectors of the economy - public and private.
The 'Smart' in Smart Economy is used as a means of describing to the public the need for Ireland to be a 'high-productivity' economy.
Productivity is the key driver of economic performance and economic sustainability.
The Smart Economy framework has five action areas to enhance productivity and lay the foundations for economic renewal:
Meeting the Short-term Challenge of securing the enterprise economy and Restoring Competitiveness - we must stablilise the public finances, get credit flowing and keep people in jobs. We must drive down costs;
Building the Ideas Economy - education and research and development have been shown to be key drivers of innovation. It is not just what products and services you produce, it is about how you produce them.
Enhancing the Environment and Securing Energy Supplies - productivity is enhanced by lowering carbon inputs into production;
Investing in Critical Infrastructure is essential to enhance productivity- for example, good ICT infrastructure is essential to support businesses;
and, finally,
Making the public service, governance and regulation more efficient and effective.
A clear focus on smart solutions is in many ways what defines the discipline of engineering. That is why I see it as a discipline from which we all have much to learn and can play a key role in driving economic development.
One area where we have made significant inroads is in developing world-class research capacity here in Ireland.
It is now ten years since the Government established Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). During this time, we have seen a threefold increase in economy-wide R&D, two-thirds of this coming from the enterprise sector.
Ireland's volume output of research articles rose by 33% between 1998 and 2007 while the output of France, Germany and the UK was roughly level over the same period.
Ireland's share of world papers has risen by 20% and its citation share has risen by 32%.
What is reassuring is that Ireland's citation impact is particularly strong suggesting high-quality work.
One important indicator of the quality of this research presence is that in 2009, half of the new investments brought here by the IDA were Research, Development and Innovation driven projects, collectively valued at €500m.
And virtually all of the top multi-national corporations based in Ireland are connected in some shape or form to our growing niches of research excellence, supported by the work of SFI.
Across all of its programmes, SFI-funded researchers are currently working with over 300 companies -- both SMEs and multinationals -- collectively employing around 56,000 people.
Through the leading-edge, engineering related research being conducted in these and other SFI-funded centres and programmes, Ireland is now recognised internationally as a real player in the global R&D landscape.
We have attracted and retained many leading international scientists and engineers here over the past decade in niches of ICT and biotechnology. And we should be confident today in our capacity to support the product and process innovation that will deliver the solutions of tomorrow.
Government also added in 2008 a third pillar to the Science Foundation Ireland remit -- that of sustainable energy and energy-efficient technologies. And there is already in place a portfolio of research investments on issues such as smart houses and biomaterials-based solar panels.
Through the SFI Mathematics Initiative, six highly successful research projects have been supported over the past number of years, at an award value of €14m in total, to build key human resource capacity in this vital sector.
And the Stokes Engineering Professorship & Lectureship programme is now supporting nine posts within the higher education sector -- six lectureships and three professorships -- through awards totalling €5.85m.
The Discover Science and Engineering (DSE) Programme -- overseen by Forfás on behalf of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment -- is of course a key ingredient in our overall approach to the importance of science, technology, engineering and maths in a modern knowledge-based economy.
This enjoys a very successful relationship with the "STEPS to Engineering" programme of Engineers Ireland. The wide range of promotional events supported by the STEPS initiative includes:
a construction toy competition with participation of around 1,000 primary schools each year;
seminars, school visits and summer camps for second-level students; and
the "Are You Up For IT?" campaign which Engineers Ireland operates in partnership with a number of other bodies.
The availability of highly qualified engineers is clearly of growing importance as we seek to commercialise the results of research investment and maximise its economic impact.
This is one of the issues currently being examined by the Innovation Taskforce -- of which the President of Engineers' Ireland, Chris Horn, is a member.
The Taskforce is looking for ways to achieve a step-change in the number of people employed in innovative, export-focused companies.
That is a major challenge -- but one we need to tackle if we are to return to sustainable export-led growth. I look forward to receiving their report.
One encouraging development is that the number of people accepting third level places on engineering courses in the 2009/10 academic year is up over 20% on the previous intake.
While we have made major progress in developing a base from which to develop an innovation-intensive economy, one area of particular concern to me is the performance of Irish children in mathematics and science. While Ireland's performance in mathematics is average in an OECD context, I do not believe that is enough.
Enhancing the mathematical ability of our population is a challenge faced by most developed countries. I do not want Ireland to have to rely on imported talent to become our engineers of the future.
We must all work together to impress on students and parents the importance of mathematics education for the jobs of the future and we must work together to find ways to improve mathematical attainment. I believe that Engineers Ireland has a key role to play in that regard and I personally am committed to that agenda.
On a positive note, it is particularly welcome that the calibre of those engineering researchers based in Irish higher education institutions has been recognized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).
As many here today are well aware, the IEEE is the world's leading professional association for the advancement of technology. In particular, it is an authoritative global voice on areas such as telecommunications, biomedical engineering, electric power and consumer electronics, and its scientific journals and conferences are the most prestigious in its domain.
I was delighted to learn recently that Professor Orla Feely from UCD was elected a Fellow of the IEEE -- which is a tremendous accolade in the field of electronic engineering globally. Prof. Feely also has the distinction of being the first Irish female recipient of this Fellowship.
It is in the context of success stories like this that I see the full potential of Engineers Week in opening the eyes of a younger generation to the types of rewarding and fulfilling careers that await them.
A packed week of events lies ahead, and I wish Engineers' Week -- and Engineers' Ireland -- every success.
ENDS