Ireland is a world center for today's new industries. Yet as recently as 1998, the institutional, financial, and policy commitment to research was quite simply absent. How was this metamorphosis accomplished?

In the nine years following 1998, research funding tripled and, crucially, the agencies and programs required to achieve and sustain excellence were put in place. As a direct result, companies such as Lucent Technologies, Wyeth, and Guidant made major investments.

The turning point came in April 1999 with the publication of the Technology Foresight Report. In it the Irish Council for Science, Technology and Innovation highlighted the need to create a "fourth-level" Ireland (referring to the fourth level of education, i.e., postgraduate) if the country was to stay competitive in a fast-evolving global knowledge economy. Our future would be our people - well trained researchers in the scientific areas underpinning Biotechnology and Information and Communications Technology (ICT). The rationale was to accelerate the development of an internationally competitive research base and ensure a stock of highly trained PhDs and postdocs. Then, regardless of what the future held we could be robust, flexible, and opportunistic.

Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s Ireland had developed a strong manufacturing base, composed mainly of overseas firms, but there was a realization that competing for low-cost manufacturing investments could not continue indefinitely. We wanted global companies to locate crucial parts of their businesses in Ireland - their European headquarters, and their R&D facilities. To embed these multinational corporations, to attract new companies and to develop the indigenous base, a step change in investment in public research was required. These companies locate their business in a society where innovation and creativity flourish. The Foresight Fund investment and the establishment of Science Foundation Ireland to administer that fund ensure that Ireland can meet this need.

We know that we can never stand still; we must make sure that we are a world center for the new industries of tomorrow. The continuing commitment of the government to this trajectory is evidenced by the latest €3.8 billion Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation for the years 2006-2013, launched in June 2006. It sets out the following vision: "Ireland by 2013 will be internationally renowned for the excellence of its research, be at the forefront in generating and using new knowledge for economic and social progress, within an innovation-driven culture."

This displays the ongoing Government commitment to the research agenda and the importance of achieving the transition to a knowledge economy. The Strategy is based on the core principal that we will significantly grow our world-class research capabilities, specifically the number of researchers, level of spending, support for knowledge transfer, development of new sectoral programs, and a full range of other initiatives.

It's not enough just to carry out research; we also have to optimize the capture, protection, and commercialization of ideas and expertise. The Intellectual Property/Commercialization functions within higher education institutes are currently being strengthened and providing appropriate centralized expertise to those bodies that need it. Coupling these efforts will ensure that the knowledge-capture problem is comprehensively addressed for the first time.

A healthy research culture has to involve companies. The Strategy is clear about the types and levels of support that must be given to the most significant drivers of our economic well being, namely manufacturing and internationally traded services firms. The goal of the enterprise development agencies is to bring about a transformational change to company attitudes toward R&D, with a targeted business expenditure of €2.5 billion by 2013. In addition, infrastructural investment in Competence Centers will ensure that Ireland provides a highly attractive environment in which to conduct advanced industrial research.

From a standing start only a few years ago, major advances have been achieved - but now we want to accelerate further.

Helena Acheson is Head of the Division of Enterprise Policy, Surveys and Communications for Forfás, the national policy and advisory board for enterprise, trade, science, technology, and innovation.