Speech by Dr. Jimmy Devins T.D., Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation at the Intellectual Property Ireland 2009 Conference

18 February 2009

I am very pleased to be here today to open the Intellectual Property Ireland 2009 Conference. It provides us with a timely opportunity to look at the importance of IP protection and commercialisation.

All of us - but particularly those of you in management positions in business, education, research and administration - need to be clear about the need to protect Ireland’s intellectual property.

As the Controller of Patents has just pointed out, Government is in the business both of promoting innovation, Research and Development and seeking action on protecting and commercialising intellectual property.

Government assists in the protection of IP, above all, through providing a suitable and responsive legislative or regulatory framework. Our laws are designed to promote the production and development of creative industries and to strongly discourage infringing activity. The objective of Ireland’s IP legislative framework is to help inventors and creators in Ireland to protect and use their intellectual property assets, more effectively.

The need for an effective protection of intellectual property is real and it is, I am sorry to say, a growing need. Those who do not act on good advice to protect their inventions or creations though patents, trade marks or copyright are seriously exposed in this era of globalised trade.

Indeed, even where people take the right steps to protect their work, there is growing evidence of the threats from piracy and counterfeiting. The OECD has estimated that in 2007, for example, global trade in fake goods was worth around $200 billion.

To put that in perspective - it is more than the GDP of 150 countries and indeed that figure does not include goods produced and consumed within countries.

The world’s piracy and counterfeiting problem is growing quickly. The European Union customs services seized about 75 million fake articles in 2005 and by 2007 that number had almost doubled. Some countries have a bigger piracy and counterfeiting problems than others, but - make no mistake about it – this is now a problem virtually everywhere. The 2007 OECD Report that I just quoted, highlights infringing products being intercepted in 150 source countries. But, there are real efforts being made to fight back.

There are various EU and global initiatives on the blocks to improve the regulatory environment for Intellectual Property. OHIM – the EU trade mark agency - has proposed a major fee reduction. Negotiations at EU Council level are taking place about the creation of a single EU patent and a single patent jurisdiction in Europe, for legal purposes. A new EU Observatory is being set up to monitor and analyse these problems and an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is also proposed between the EU, US, Japan and other developed countries.

Last year the Tánaiste and I together launched a Policy Statement on “Innovation in Ireland” and one of the key issues in it was revolved around the management and use of Intellectual Property.

The potential to commericallly exploit the valuable intellectual property arising from publicly funded research was highlighted as an immediate imperative. Future competitiveness depends on delivering demand-driven innovative products and services.

In that regard, the Government is fully committed to creating the conditions in this country in which innovation can flourish.The recently launched Government Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal - Building the Smart Economy – identifies the measures that will help to promote economic stabilisation and restructure the economy over the next few years.

This Framework has, at its core, support of research, innovation and commercialisation system as the means to build the future. In this context a progressive Intellectual Property framework is a fundamental requirement. 

The Government, funding agencies, regulatory authorities, academia and industry must continue to work together to create a fast-growing, dynamic economic environment.

The overall focus of the development agencies in their ongoing work is to help develop and support research capacity and capability in companies; to build collaborative networks between firms, colleges and institutes; and to support work to commercialise the results of publicly funded research

The IDA strategy for promoting R&D and the commercialisation of the resulting intellectual property aims to encourage overseas companies to undertake research in Ireland. This strategy has been highly successful.

Many of these projects were from leading international companies that have invested significant amounts of R&D money and human capital into their Irish operations creating IP for use in Ireland. That helps to sustain and grow their Irish presence.

Similarly, Enterprise Ireland through a number of its programmes supports Irish industry to rapidly and effectively develop and commercialising new processes, products and services; to acquire, develop and integrate the technologies and supporting knowledge required; and in developing the leadership skills and capability of company management necessary to drive these new ventures.

Science Foundation Ireland has also been making real headway in the effort to build a high quality research environment and a location renowned for the excellence of its scientific research in Ireland.

A favourable tax environment can act as a powerful incentive to encourage more research and development and the commercialisation of its results. There is evidence that our tax laws are favourable for venture capital.

The European Venture Capital Association’s 2008 Benchmarking Study found that the gap between Europe’s most and least favourable tax and legal environments for private equity has widened considerably but ranked Ireland as second in the EU in this regard.

The enhancements to the tax credit scheme for Research and Development announced in the budget, increasing from 20% to 25%. This is one more tool in the Government’s armoury to promoting Research & Development in Ireland.

As the source of competitive advantage changes and knowledge becomes increasingly pivotal, national competitiveness will depend on ensuring that industry can influence and access the valuable research that is underway in the academic community throughout the country.

The growing partnership between the universities and business and their increased levels of joint working has already underlined changes in the role of the university in society. Universities are now becoming more closely involved in the manufacturing of commodities resulting from their inventions.

Their teaching and knowledge creation roles are being supplemented by the application of the outputs of research – often in partnership with industry - in innovation, production and commercialisation projects.

The results of investments in academic institutions, through the Programme for Research to Third Level Institutions by the various agencies, is impressive. From the beginning of 2005 to mid 2008, the third level sector disclosed 448 inventions, created 29 start-up companies, filed 250 patents and licensed 118 technologies out to companies. Behind these figures are the success stories that have had a real impact on society, producing discoveries in areas as diverse as biotechnology, waste management, energy creation and storage, manufacturing, ICT, packaging and transportation.

The industry- academic partnerships will need to be nurtured and developed. I want to see our third-level institutes as engines of innovation, with our scientists and engineers at the core of economic development.

The scale of the challenge facing us over the next few years means industry, third-level institutions and Government agencies will need to play their parts to turn around the economy. Government will ensure that the mix of incentives, direct supports, advice and IP regulations are equal to the need for the development of a thriving research, innovation and commercialisation culture.

Ireland faces challenging economic circumstances now, it is true, but, equally, there are opportunities on the horizon – we have to find and grasp them! If Ireland is to create and keep comparative advantage we will need to successfully convert the fruits of our research into saleable products, processes and services – and protecting our IP is a fundamental part of this endeavour.

Finally, before I finish, I would like to complement the conference promoter Dan Morrissey and his sponsors on this initiative. I know that you will benefit from the new information and the new contacts made here to-day.

I hope you will carry away the message that the protection and commercialisation of intellectual property is all-important to this country’s future and that you all have an important role to play in building that prosperous future.

Thank you.

ENDS/IP87a