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Senator Marc MacSharry

Today’s  publication  ‘Innovation  Ireland’ by the Innovation Taskforce has been broadly welcomed by Sligo Senator Mac Sharry.

‘On  the whole the report contains some very positive recommendations which will  guide  us  into  the future as a leading innovative hub’.

Some of thereports recommendations included;
     transform the seed, angel and venture capital environment in Ireland
     Introduce  a  European  Accelerator Programme to attract the European
     HQ’s of fast-growing private US companies
     Encourage overseas entrepreneurs to come to Ireland to start and grow
     their companies
     Transform  our  Intellectual  Property  (IP)  arrangements  and  make
     Ireland an International Innovation Services Centre
     Use Flagship projects, where public procurement will grow clusters of
     companies, addressing global needs, with innovative products/services
     for export
     The  education  system  needs  to be better connected to the needs of
     innovative enterprises, including bonus points for high level maths

‘Whilst  the  heart  of  the  report  is to develop an Innovation Ecosystem
through  entrepreneurs  and  enterprise,  it unfortunately fails to develop
upon the idea of an Entrepreneurship Education Strategy for Ireland’.

‘The report notes that “entrepreneurship skills must be fostered at second,
third,  and  fourth levels of our education system” regrettably it fails to
outline how this should be done’ said the Senator.

As  former  CEO  of  Intel,  Craig Barrett said today, “Sowing the seeds of
entrepreneurship  culture  in  Ireland must begin early in life in terms of
education…..schools  must embrace entrepreneurship as a vital ingredient in
the curriculum.”

Senator  Mac  Sharry  and  his  Entrepreneurship Education Strategy working
group  have  been  advocating  Barrett’s sentiments for the past year. They
presented  their proposals to the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Sean
Haughey T.D recommending;
  introducing field research projects as an element of Business / Business
  Studies Subjects
  introducing Multiple Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence Theory into
  SPHE
  Launching a Young Entrepreneur of the Year Competition
  Establishing a School Awards programme
  The development of an Entrepreneurship Education Online Resource
  The  appointment  of  a  ‘Champion’ and an Advisory Panel to oversee the
  implementation of the entrepreneurship education strategy.

If  the  Innovation  Taskforce’s  vision  ‘that by 2020 Ireland will have a
significant number of large, world-leading, innovation-intensive companies,
each  having  a global footprint, many of which are Irish headquartered and
owned”,  we  must  without  doubt  introduce  an Entrepreneurship Education
strategy for Ireland’, concluded the Senator.