Extract from An Bord Snip Nua report
The report of An Bord Snip Nua was published by Government yesterday. The two volumes can be downloaded from the Department of Finance website.
The following is an extract from Volume I of the report (Section 2.4, pp 22-23) as it pertains to Science, Technology and Innovation (STI). It is provided verbatim, and with no commentary:
2.4 Science, technology & innovation (STI)
The Group observes that over the period 2000 to 2007, there was a threefold increase in ‘Government Budget Outlays & Appropriations for Research and Development’ (GBOARD). Analysis of trends in spending and policy in this area gives rise to a number of specific issues of concern to the Group, as outlined below.
- Real returns on investment
Although spending on STI is promoted as a key element of enterprise and education policy, the scale and nature of any ultimate economic impacts arising cannot be known with confidence at the outset. The Group considers that any further STI investment must yield clear economic returns. The evidence adduced to date for the impact of State STI investment on actual economic activity has not been compelling.
- Output of PhDs
In the absence of a clear business need for the doubling of PhDs currently being funded, the Group is concerned that graduates will be underemployed or forced to emigrate. Indeed some empirical evidence suggests that 20% of new doctorate holders find employment overseas, and of those who remain in Ireland, most find employment in the public rather than the private sector.
- Rationalisation of funding structures
Funding of STI is dispersed through a large proliferation of supports and many target the same or similar activities. The Group considers that there is significant scope for the rationalisation of supports and a reduction in the large administrative overheads in the system.
Regarding the multiplicity of bodies involved in the formulation and implementation of science policy, the Group considers that streamlining the policy framework for STI will improve coordination across research agendas, bring greater efficiency to STI expenditure and maximise the potential for the commercialisation of sectoral research output in particular.
- Reducing dependence on Exchequer funding
Exchequer funding (as distinct from business funding, philanthropy etc.) has grown as a proportion of gross expenditure on R&D in recent years. This suggests some displacement of private funding by public funding and this trend should be halted.
Taken together, these considerations have led the Group to the view that the policy and funding mechanisms for STI should be radically rationalised and streamlined into a single stream of funding, and that the level of Exchequer funding for STI activities can and should be better-focused and made less costly to achieve given goals. The Group proposes an initial reduction of just over €100m, or 15% of the 2009 allocation, in the overall level of spending on STI, and the incidence of these savings across particular spending areas, as set out in the table below, is reflected in each of the Detailed Papers.