For the past decade when things were going well, the government provided support to Science Foundation Ireland, who dispense research grant funding to Irish third-level institutes.  This has resulted in an increase in the numbers of PhD graduates and has provided for the training of post-doctoral research scientists and has provided places in third-level institutes for more senior researchers.

The result is that the rate of publication of scientific papers has increased a lot, the kinds of research papers has changed from relatively low-impact (on average) to relatively high-impact (impact is measured in much the same way that Google ranks websites - by how many other websites refer to the one being considered - the impact of a publication is measured by how many other publications refer to the one being considered).

The number of patent applications, while not increasing massively are much better in terms of quality.  The number of spin-out companies has increased and these are genuine high tech (see, for instance http://communications.nuim.ie/080709.shtml).

This morning, I went to a photocall with the Tánaiste (deputy prime-minister of Ireland) to announce the awarding of 11 million Euro (a relatively small amount) for 68 research projects.  These are the “Research Frontiers Programme” grants for 2009. A total of seven of these were awarded to Maynooth investigators (http://www.rte.ie/business/2009/0713/sfi.html) and I was one of the recipients.

In an era when there are very few progressive moves to stimulate the economy, this is one. A PhD student will receive about 16,000 Euro per year (less than you might get on the dole), thereby leaving a space in the rest of the economy.  They will get a PhD and hopefully will contribute to the high-tech future of the country.  It is a lot of work to produce one of these graduates, but they are an important part of getting the country moving again.

Israel and South Korea are now probably the biggest investors per capita in scientific research.   They have identified what they wish to do and they are going for it.  They see their future as being on the top of the pile - they will innovate, they will develop the new technologies and they will develop them first.  They will power their countries in this way.  The state of Israel owes its existence to scientific research (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaim_Weizmann). South Korea is investing heavily in English language proficiency and scientific research.  Ireland has a future in this area too, if it commits to it.

I was very worried last week when a commentator on Vincent Browne’s programme onTV3 said that the future for Ireland was no longer in high-tech, it was in tourism.  Now, of course tourism is a big income generator, but it is fickle and entirely dependent on air travel and low fuel prices.  I think our future is in the development of technologies that harness the free energy of the sun, sea and air. I think our future is in the understanding of biological systems and the develpment of technologies that can use this knowledge for health and the production of new compounds. I think our future is in making innovative communications systems, providing computing services internationally and developing the world’s very best IT infrastructure in Ireland.

2009 is not the right time to have aspirations of mediocrity. 2009 is not the right time to roll back the clock to overly depend on construction or tourism or agriculture (although they have their part to play, of course).  2009 is the right time to innovate and to encourage one another to innovate.  This is a philosophy that will provide a future that is sustainable.

Mary Coughlan said today in her speech to about a dozen of us that “the time has come”.  We are now needed to roll out the technologies for the nation’s economic reconstruction.

She is right.