Unlocking Ireland's Innovation Potential: Insights from Progress Ireland

Ireland has undergone a remarkable economic transformation in recent decades, evolving from a peripheral European nation to one with one of the highest per capita incomes in the Eurozone. However, the country now faces new challenges in areas like housing, infrastructure, and innovation. Progress Ireland, an independent think tank, is working to address these issues and unlock Ireland's full potential.

The Rise of Ireland's Economy

Ireland's economic success story is rooted in its ability to attract large volumes of foreign direct investment, particularly from American tech and pharmaceutical companies. This was achieved through two key factors:

1. A transparent corporate tax regime
2. Strong investment in human capital, particularly in secondary and tertiary education

These strategies allowed Ireland to skip some traditional steps in economic development, moving rapidly from an agriculture-based economy to a services-oriented one. The result has been a dramatic increase in GDP per capita and overall living standards.

The Role of Progress Ireland

Despite Ireland's economic achievements, there are still significant challenges to overcome. This is where Progress Ireland comes in. The think tank was founded to fill a gap in policy ideation within the Irish political system.

Luke Beely, Director of Innovation at Progress Ireland, explains: "The vacant niche that we identified was in policy ideation in Ireland. We don't have think tanks, we don't have people whose job it is generally to sit about and think about good solutions to certain problems."

Progress Ireland aims to connect Ireland to proven policy solutions from around the world, focusing on three key areas:

1. Housing
2. Infrastructure
3. Innovation

Overcoming Bureaucratic Hurdles

One of the unique aspects of Progress Ireland's approach is its strategy for bypassing bureaucratic constraints and turf wars. Rather than trying to change the entire system, they act as an external module, working with effective actors within the government to clear blockages and implement solutions more quickly.

Beely describes their approach: "We have some great colleagues in the Civil Service, and we work in so far as we can to clear blockages for them. We can sometimes, from an external perspective, achieve that much more quickly or without the same constraint and then feed that research or that outcome back to them."

This method allows Progress Ireland to support civil servants who may be subject to certain constraints due to a risk-averse atmosphere or political pressures.

Addressing Housing Challenges

One of the most pressing issues facing Ireland is the need for more housing. Progress Ireland has proposed a project to build 150,000 new homes. However, this ambitious plan faces several challenges:

1. Irish exceptionalism: There's a tendency to believe that solutions that work elsewhere won't work in Ireland due to its unique characteristics.
2. Concerns about changing the character of Irish cities and towns
3. NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard)

To overcome these obstacles, Progress Ireland is focusing on creating win-win situations. For example, their "Street Plans" proposal aims to coordinate all property owners along a street to redevelop their homes together. This approach aligns incentives and makes people more likely to support development.

Beely explains: "You need to give people a motivation to agree with you. If you want somebody to do something, you have to give them a reason that's better than 'because I want you to.'"

Infrastructure and the Metro Challenge

Infrastructure development, particularly in public transportation, is another area where Ireland faces significant challenges. The proposed Dublin Metro project, for instance, has been in discussion since 2002 but has yet to break ground.

One of the main issues is the projected high cost of the project, estimated to be between four and eight times higher than similar projects in countries like Spain. Beely attributes this to a lack of in-house expertise in managing large infrastructure projects.

To address this, Progress Ireland recommends:

1. Setting up commercial entities with significant in-house expertise for managing large projects
2. Hiring highly skilled individuals to lead these projects
3. Giving these experts the autonomy to make decisions without micromanagement

Innovation and Metascience

In the realm of innovation, Progress Ireland is advocating for a metascience approach. Metascience involves applying the scientific method to the process of funding and conducting science itself.

Beely defines metascience as "turning the scientific method of experimentation and testing and making a change and evaluating that change back on the process of funding and conducting science."

Some key aspects of the metascience approach include:

1. Rigorously testing different methods of funding science
2. Evaluating outcomes based on metrics like high-impact papers, patents, and successful spin-out companies
3. Applying flexibility in funding to support young, ambitious researchers
4. Creating a national research database to allow for retrospective analysis of scientific output

Challenges in Startup Formation

Despite having one of the highest patent per capita rates in Europe, Ireland has a relatively low rate of startup formation. This paradox can be attributed to several factors:

1. Brain drain: Many Irish entrepreneurs move to places like Silicon Valley to start their companies
2. Limited availability of capital due to high taxes on capital gains
3. Risk-averse banks that are reluctant to invest in startups
4. Decentralization policies that prevent the formation of strong innovation clusters

To address these issues, Progress Ireland is working on strategies to increase the availability of venture capital in Ireland and promote the centralization of startup activity to create a critical mass of innovation.

The Power of Simple Ideas

When asked what two ideas he would like to incept into the minds of everyone on the planet, Beely offered surprisingly simple suggestions:

1. Go for a walk
2. Create something short, preferably something other than just a piece of work

These simple actions, he believes, can unlock significant value in every other endeavor.

Conclusion

Progress Ireland is taking an innovative approach to addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing the country. By focusing on housing, infrastructure, and innovation, and employing strategies like metascience and bureaucratic workarounds, they aim to unlock Ireland's full potential.

As Ireland continues to evolve and grow, the work of organizations like Progress Ireland will be crucial in ensuring that the country can build on its economic success and create a prosperous future for all its citizens. By learning from global best practices and adapting them to the Irish context, Progress Ireland is helping to shape a more innovative, efficient, and forward-thinking nation.

Article created from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q1Xmd4JTwQ