A report has found that the performance of research and development (R&D) in some important sectors of the Irish economy is low compared with other countries.
The report was prepared by an inter-departmental committee set up by Tanaiste Mary Harney in 2003.
It was charged with developing an R&D action plan in response to an EU call to increase spending in this area to 3% of GDP in 2010. Ireland's investment is currently 1.4%.
The plan calls for business investment in R&D to increase from €917m in 2001 to €2.5 billion in 2010. This would represent an increase from 0.9% of GNP to 1.7% of GNP.
It also sets targets for increasing the number of Irish and foreign companies involved in R&D.
