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Building the Knowledge Society Information Society Commission 41Government is clearly progressing a range of key initiatives in this area – including, for example,the broadband strategy; new levels of investment in R&D; the Technology Foresight Fund; theDigital Hub; the eGovernment process; ongoing work of the Expert Group on Future SkillsNeeds; the report of the Task Force on Lifelong Learning; and the ICT in schools programme.However, there is perhaps room for improved cohesion across Government in capturing thesense of conviction that these objectives are being driven forward in concert towards a sharedover-arching goal – the imperative of adjusting to the demands of a new phase of national socioeconomicdevelopment.In this context the Commission welcomes the re-establishment by Government of the CabinetCommittee on the Information Society, as well as the appointment of Ms Mary Hanafin TD asMinister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach with special responsibility for theInformation Society.The Commission is confident that a firm focus on policy implementation through the work of theCabinet Committee, complemented by strong political leadership through the role of the newMinister, can allay any concerns that are held about fragmentation of effort, and can driveforward progress with the necessary level of urgency.3.4\ The Broadband ChallengeWhereas economic progress in the 19th and 20th centuries was driven primarily by the discoveryand use of electric power to drive agricultural and industrial production, it is evident thateconomic productivity in the 21st century will depend on enhanced application of informationand knowledge to economic activity. Broadband is the enabling infrastructure through whichinformation and knowledge will be accessed, used and shared. Future economic development,including our sustained attractiveness to increasingly mobile foreign direct investment, istherefore critically dependent on it.The importance of broadband investment to the knowledge society will be no less significantthan that of electricity to 20th century industrial development. Broadband investment musttherefore be guided by a clear sense of its importance as a key 21st century infrastructure,and a key determinant of future socio-economic development, both nationally and regionally.3.5\ The Innovation ChallengeIn the globalised knowledge society, sources of sustainable competitive advantage increasinglydepend on knowledge-based innovation. R&D investment – and attractiveness as a location forR&D investment – has become crucial.Continuous market-driven innovation is the key to competitiveness, and thus to economicgrowth – accentuated by the erosion of our traditional cost advantages. This requires notonly a strong science and technology base, but equally important are the capacities to linkfundamental and applied research, to convert the results of that research to new products,services or processes, and to bring these innovations quickly to the market.
42 Building the Knowledge Society Information Society CommissionInnovation fundamentally means coming up with new ideas about how to do things better orfaster. It is about making a product or offering a service that no one had thought of before.And it is about putting new ideas to work and having a skilled work force that can use thosenew ideas.The key role of information and communication technologies in this context will be asfacilitators of innovation – including innovation in public sector organisational and servicedelivery arrangements. Success in the knowledge society means that innovation must becomeeveryone’s business.3.6\ The Skills ChallengeThe emergence of the knowledge society means an ever-increasing demand for a well-educatedand skilled workforce across the whole economy. The countries that succeed in the 21st centurywill be those with citizens who are creative, adaptive and skilled. Therefore our people – theirskills, talents, knowledge and creativity – are the key to future success.However, investment in people and skills is vital not only for children and young people. Theskills required for many conventional occupations are changing rapidly, and it is estimated that80 percent of people who will be in our workforce in 10 years time are in the workforce already.Lifelong learning must become a key public policy focus in this context, and highlights themutually reinforcing importance of the economic and social strands to knowledge societydevelopment.General familiarity with digital technologies throughout society, and ready availability of the newskills needed by high-tech and knowledge-based enterprises, is becoming critical to supportinginnovation and underpinning sustainable economic development. And the knowledge society inturn can deliver better jobs and higher standards of living to support enhanced social prosperity.In this context it is imperative that we foster a learning environment that facilitates the processof adapting to ongoing change.
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