An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, T.D., today (Friday, 1 March), launched the Centre for Innovation and Structural Change (CISC) at NUI, Galway. CISC has been awarded competitive funding of €2.8 million under the Irish Government's Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI).

Professor Roy Green has been leading NUI Galway's innovation policy work since he arrived from the University of Newcastle in Australia a few years ago. He has already fostered links with institutions of excellence abroad, including MIT in the US and the University of Cambridge in England. "Research in CISC will be undertaken in areas including spatial strategy, internationally-traded services and industry clustering", he said.

"Our research will help inform economic and structural policy in what I believe are three areas of "weakness" in the Irish economy: a dependence on foreign investment, low levels of research and development and a geographical imbalance in economic activity". Since innovation policy is not widely studied in Ireland at the moment, he believes that the data produced by the new centre will fill a void in international terms as well as in a regional or national sense.

"All of our research will produce publicly available results which we'll post on a website. Since there's no comprehensive source of data on the area at the moment, it will be especially useful in contributing to EU and OECD data collection," according to Professor Green.

A number of smaller-scale projects in the innovation area are already underway, including a survey which will map the innovation structure of the Galway/Limerick/Shannon region, or the "Atlantic Technology Corridor". This work involves the development of statistical categories designed specifically to identify trends such as levels of research work among companies in the region or connections between business and the local community.

Speaking at the launch of the new research centre, Dr. Iognáid Ó Muircheartaigh, President of NUI, Galway said, "The University is proud of its excellence in research and the contribution that its research activity makes to national and international policy-making. The Centre for Innovation and Structural Change is a significant and exciting development in an important area of business strategy".

Information from: Máire Mhic Uidhir, Press Officer, NUI, Galway. Tel. 091 750418