Creativity - IDA Ireland

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‘This is a real coup
for Ireland, to be
awarded the honour
of hosting European
City of Science in
2012, which is a
hugely competitive
award process’
The first turning point was the 1996–
1998 period, according to O’Neill. He had
only foreseen himself staying in Ireland
for a few years, but then the tide turned,
thanks largely to European Union
grants.
“You have to raise money to fund the
research, and in those days there was no
money coming from the Government.
So, while accessing European money
was very bureaucratic and onerous, we
managed to obtain a few large grants,
and that made all the difference. I said to
myself, ‘hang on a minute, I’m going to
stay now because I can really make a go
of it here’.
With no shortage of international job
offers, O’Neill admits it was somewhat of
a gamble and, indeed, he did consider
leaving Ireland again in 1999. He had
gone to the US on a sabbatical to a large
company called Millenium, and it
wanted him to stay on.
“In the late Nineties it was the real
flash company in biotechnology, one of
the really prominent players.”
GAME CHANGER
After much soul-searching, O’Neill opted
to stay in Ireland, and then came the big
game changer, he says. “The big event, of
course, was the establishment of Science
Foundation Ireland (SFI) in 2000.”
The Irish Government had realised by
the late Nineties that it was time to fund
scientific research, and commissioned a
major study into the sector. The result
was the establishment of the Technology
Foresight Fund, with an allocated budget
at the time of €646m. SFI was established
in 2000 to administer the fund.
“It made all the difference. Suddenly
there was money and the country began
to invest in science,” says O’Neill. “And
you need only look at the metrics. In certain
areas we’re now competitive internationally,
and immunology is the big
one that we’re involved in. It is staggering
what we have achieved there. In the
space of 10 years we went from nothing
to third in the world.
“The key metric in our game is what’s
called citations. So if you make a discovery,
how do you know it’s important?
Someone mentions it, someone cites you
in their work. Our average citation per
paper in the 10-year period went up
hugely and in 2009 we were ranked third
behind the US and Switzerland, so that
was a great achievement.
“Itwentfromaverylowbasetoareally
big, competitive one – and that
means things like discoveries. I’ve always
said the job of the scientist is really
twofold, it’s to make new discoveries and
the kind of discoveries you want are the
ones that are going to shake the world.
Out of Ireland in the past 10 years you
would have had several of those. The second
thing you want is some kind of commercial
aspect that will promote
commercial development.”
He recalls speaking at an SFI event
several years into its establishment.
“I was asked to say a few words on
how we would know if SFI had been successful.
I said I hoped that within a 10–15
year period there would have been
earthshaking discoveries made in Ireland,
and secondly there would be an indigenous
biotech sector. They were the
two things that I proposed as evidence of
success, and I’m delighted to say both
are happening.”
Not that it’s not a challenge, admits
O’Neill. “This is a long-game sector.
When you look at the financial side of it,
a lot of people don’t like funding science
because it’s too long, there’s no immediate
reward. Plus, it’s risky because you’re
trying to discover brand new things.
You’re trying to create brand new knowledge,
so it’s difficult, people have to have
a lot of patience. One of the challenges
we will face now is sustaining this
progress in an economic downturn.”
This is why the SFI and the continuing
support of government is so vital,
stresses O’Neill. “I believe the job of government
is to fund the risky basic research,
because venture capital won’t.
However, then you must have a system
through which that can be commercialised
and that’s not the job for government.
That’s a job for the private sector
to take on and that’s the way it should
flow really. If you don’t have the latter,
then that key part of the chain is missing
and that government investment is not
fully realised.
“I know there are economic challenges,
but this is the one time they need
to be brave, given the level of investment
to date. Science is a long game and you
need perseverance, you need commitment
and you need doggedness, both day
to day in your experiments – because
they’re always failing – and then with
regard to the long-term output.
THE IRISH SCIENTIST
O’Neill believes there is something in the
Irish character that is particularly suited
to scientific pursuits. “It is interesting
that Ireland internationally is more
known for the arts, but the truth is Irish
science has always been strong right
through the 19th century. One of the reasons
we don’t hear about these scientific
Irish heroes is partly because someone
else wrote the history, we didn’t write it!
Once you chip into it, you see there’s
always been a great interest in science in
Ireland.
“Another trait the Irish would have is
to do with networking, we’re very good
at that and science is a hugely collaborative
business,” continues O’Neill. “All of
my successes, whatever they have been,
have been very collaborative. Our major
paper on diabetes last year, for example,
had seven labs involved, collaborating
from all over the world. So, networking
is something we’re very good at.”
He also points to the creativity of the
Irish, something not always associated
with science, but vital too, according to
O’Neill. “That creative trait the Irish
have lends itself to scientific activity as
well, because where does an idea come
from? It’s no different from the arts. New
ideas crop up and it can be a subconscious
process.”
16 INNOVATION IRELAND REVIEW Issue 2 Spring/Summer 2011