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Report is set to call for drastic improvements to restart growth
07 March 2010 By Pat Leahy Political Editor
The economy will not return to growth simply by improving competitiveness and waiting for the global economy to pick up, the government has been warned by its expert group on innovation.
The report of the Innovation Taskforce, set up last year to advise the government on turning its ‘‘smart economy’’ objective into reality, is to be published this week.
It found that, without drastic improvements in Ireland’s culture of innovation, restarting economic growth would be difficult.
Political sources expect Taoiseach Brian Cowen to strongly reinforce the message of the taskforce this week. He is likely to emphasise that reductions in public spending and rescuing the banking sector will not, on their own, restart economic growth.
The taskforce is understood to have made recommendations across a wide range of areas.
They include transforming the venture capital environment in Ireland, plans to attract the European headquarters of fast-growing private US companies, attracting overseas entrepreneurs to bring their companies to Ireland and changes to the intellectual property regime.
If these and other reforms are undertaken successfully, the taskforce estimates that 120,000 new jobs could be created by 2020.
The group will also underline the advantages that Ireland enjoys, including a greatly-expanded research base, a young and increasingly well-educated population, and an English-speaking, business friendly location.
However, it will say that all parts of the ‘‘innovation ecosystem’’ need to be refocused around the needs of the entrepreneur and enterprise.
The innovation taskforce is one of the most heavyweight committees ever assembled by an Irish government. It is chaired by secretary general to the government Dermot McCarthy and its members include senior representatives of the universities, industry and the public service.
Insiders say that it is virtually certain that its recommendations will form part of future government policy.
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