ICT Ireland, the IBEC body which represents the technology sector, says the future of the industry depends on moves to make Ireland a top location for research and development.
In a report launched today, the chairman of ICT Ireland's research and technology group, Joe Cunningham of Logica, notes Ireland's poor ranking when compared with competitor countries in a number of R&D related areas.
He points out that figures from the OECD on Government spending on R&D as a proportion of GDP put Ireland 22nd of 24 countries. On business spending on R&D, Ireland ranks 13th of 27 countries.
The ICT Ireland report calls for a National Policy on Research and Development to be implemented by a national coordinating body.
It also says more incentives are needed if strategic research is to be carried out in Ireland, and proposes a 35% tax credit for qualifying R&D activities. The report also calls for measures to improve the national R&D infrastructure.
Eoin O'Driscoll, vice chairman of the Research and Technology Special Interest Group, told RTE News that Ireland lagged behind the US, Japan and in government spending in relation to R&D.
'I think we need to have industry, the third level sector and government look at how they can co-operate more effectively. There needs to be some co-ordination at a national level around ICT and the areas we should focus on and there needs to be some incentives to industry to enable them to spend on R&D in these tough times,' he said.
