I include in this essay references to several technical projects where there was a human, organisational or social dimension, in some cases being such as to block the implementation of the project, despite positive technical features.

During the period up to 1984 my motivation was to try to enhance the environment of applied-scientific consultancy in the private sector, given that TCD had backed off from the process, and my TCD contract was coming to an end.

1981-1983: The IPIB Technology Group

There was a meeting on April 11 1981 of the 'technical college section' of the IPIB, convened by McMillan. An important output from this was the Stokes-Walton Lecture, to rotate around the RTCs, and act as a shop window for physics an an important practical discipline, aimed at first-year RTC students. The minutes of this meeting were a lever to get the concept of a 'technology group' of IPIB accepted by the Committee thereof.

The writer, as Chairman of the group, wrote a letter dated April 29 1982 to several Institutes representing the interests of the various science disciplines, with a view top trying to gain professional recognition for '...a category of applied scientist that is distinct from the Engineer, but on whom the latter can call for specialist support when the problem is 'outside standard engineering practice'.

I don't seem to have much record of response to this enquiry from the other scientific disciplines, but the IPIB went ahead with the idea, and a document which I produced was discussed and accepted. This was during Dr McMillan's time as Secretary of IPIB. Being an innovative physicist, with a strong track record in instrumentation, and working in Carlow RTC, McMillan had a strong motivation to push the project forward.

Coincidentally in September 1982 Professor Walton in UCG had organised the first 'Microprocessor Engineering Workshop', which attracted engineers from industry. Five of the seven graduates of the Applied Physics courses in UCG had got jobs in industry in Ireland. As a consequence when McMillan circulated my 'Technology Group' document, Phil Walton responded positively, and became a strong supporter of the group.

Then on January 17 1983 I wrote around IPIB members with addresses in the Cork and Galway regions, promoting the idea of one-day applied-physics conferences and exhibitions. The vision was to set up some sort of regional structure which would be proactive, and would involve the regional groups of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland (IEI). The usual 'spring meeting' of the IPIB was scheduled for Bantry in April, and it was planned to bring in RGW Croney, who chaired the Physics in Industry Group of the IP as a whole, to make a presentation. p> On February 11 I wrote to IPIB Technology Group members with an outline of the then current position, calling for people to come along to the Bantry meeting with action-oriented ideas. I also undertook to go through the proceedings of the 1977 IUPAP international Physics in Industry conference, which had taken place in Dublin, as a quarry of ideas; this had had remarkably little impact on the Irish scene at the time.

On February 25 there was a meeting in Galway involving the University and RTC physics people, and the UCG Industry Officer Joe Watson, as well as myself as convener. Phil Walton unfortunately was not present for family reasons. A projected 'Physics at Work' event was discussed. Given the problems posed by moving equipment, it was proposed to 'bi-locate' between UCG (in the morning) and the RTC (in the afternoon). A fee-paying group would be targeted for the Thursday, and then a promotional event targeted as schools for the Friday would be added, and an open day for the public on the Saturday (this school pupils would, we hoped, send their parents).

A further meeting took place in Cork on March 4, involving Mike Mansfield (UCC Physics), Tony Weaver the UCC Industry Officer and Vincent Ruddy (Cork RTC). The minutes of the earlier Galway meeting were noted, and the possibilities listed; however in the Cork case the option was selected of focusing on the coming Blarney event, and to ensure it was well attended by physicists and, hopefully, engineers from the Cork region.

The Bantry event took place; Croney made his presentation; Dr Gerry Wardell demonstrated some instrumentation he had developed which was useful to architects and builders for detecting damp spots in walls etc; he subsequently went on the world market with this, and prospered for a time, but did not persist.

Regrettably the effect of all this effort was minimal, and the Irish physics community on the whole ceased to be pro-actively industry-oriented, in the Irish context, in an organised way. Some individual physicists have done, and continue to do, important basic work which is often taken up by high-tech industry, usually abroad. The problem of making the physics-engineering bridge in the specifically Irish context is still with us. We scratched briefly at its surface.

As a coda to this episode I have a copy of a letter I wrote to Phil Walton on June 25 1984, in which I reported to him, as the then convener of the Group, and my successor, what had happened at the Annual Conference of the Association of Principals of Technical Institutes. A policy paper had been presented by P Gallagher, the Letterkenny RTC Principal, in which the ideas of an Assistant Principal was promoted, not linked to any faculty, with the task of developing applied research consultancy services with local industry. Such a post might itself be supported by IDA or IIRS funding. This model has, one way or another, come to fruition, and such posts now exist as the norm.

I went on to stress the need to recruit physicists currently working in industry into the IPIB, in order to fuel the work of the Technology Group. As far as I know, this never happened, and the problem remains with us to this day, the IPIB in Ireland being primarily run by and for academic physicists, and physicists in industry being left in isolation, without professional voice, unless they make the bridge into engineering by actually joining the IEI.

The Techne Project

The Techne process was beginning to take shape, in the form of the possibility of some funding from the Youth Employment Agency for a 'seed-corn' project, to encourage fringe-college start-ups or businesses embodying the results of research:

Essentials of Techne/Seedcorn Scheme:

1. That there should exist an agency for managing the seed-funding of the third-level system to stimulate it towards job creation through the founding of new enterprises with the aid of venture-capital.

2. That the agency be funded initially by the State as a project within an existing body (eg the YEA) but with the option for private capital eventually to take an interest, and for those people or institutions who support it with marginal unpaid labour or effort or services to have this credited towards the equity of the enterprise when privatised.

3. That the role of the I(ndustrial) L(iaison) 0(ffices)s (where these exist) be in the promotion of the scheme, identification of suitable academic support-staff and local problems / markets / opportunities, and in the administration of the funding at institutional level.

4. That in the absence of effective ILO institutional contact-points (as in TCD and UCD and RTCs) the agency deal direct as best it can, eg through departmental or faculty part-time ILO-type contacts, or through appropriate business-school units; this would create a demand for the establishment of a designated ILO-type contact.

5. That the I(nstitute of) I(ndustrial) R(esearch and) S(tandards) new ventures unit, the NBST/IIRS graduate placement scheme and the IDA be cultivated as sources of embryonic marketable concepts.

6. That 3 phases be distinguished:

I. large numbers of low-cost undergraduate projects, selected on the basis that they show evidence of follow-through/market-oriented thinking, leading to:

II. smaller numbers of postgraduate or enterprise-centre projects, with augmented funding (possibly having AnCo support), and a developing complementary-skills team-structure, expressed as an appropriate business organisation (company, co-operative or whatever), leading to:

III. a fully-fledged business launched with the aid of capital from the market.

7. That the transitions between phases be increasingly a business decision between the people concerned; ie the seeding-source becomes relatively less weighty as the intensity increases. That the SFADCo/Marshall Fitzgerald experience be drawn upon appropriately.

8. That the scheme be piloted in the current academic year with the first cohort of Phase I (final-year undergraduate) projects within a £50K budget (net of management costs), and that the YEA pilot-fund the scheme and recruit appropriate staff to manage it and to develop the necessary cross-institutional support (from IDA, IIRS, NBST, AnCo etc) to enable the full scheme to be operable over a trial period of 5 years, with budget appropriate to fuel the level of opportunity suggested in the pilot-scheme.

I attended a meeting of ILOs on February 7 1984 in Limerick on this theme, which was however a disaster, as I explained in the following internal memo to Ron Cox on February 8 in TCD Engineering:

I went to this meeting in Limerick yesterday with the 4 IL0e for UCC, UCG and the 2 NIHEs, to discuss the Techne/Seedcorn proposal.

I regret to say that from my own point of view it was a diplomatic disaster, in that they were counter-posing the one to the other, standing over the 'Seedcorn' proposal and knocking Techne.

It emerged that the last thing they wanted was any sort of central co-ordination with knowhow; they simply want YEA to cough up a fund which they will administer themselves. This of course puts these four institutions at an advantage, being the ones which have IL0s, and leaves TCD, UCD, DIT and the regional colleges at a competitive disadvantage.

So in effect they are doing their best to block any way forward which would enable me to be personally involved in a productive developmental role. So much for the loyalty of people whom I once regarded as colleagues, and whose actual jobs I had a hand in helping to create.

In spite of all this, I think the seed-corn proposal should be supported, warts and all. I stand over the notes I made on it (which they reject), but I don't expect that there is any point in making any of these points on Thursday. Perhaps we can discuss further what I should be trying to do, seeing as this way forward now seems to be effectively blocked. I am open to suggestions; I can fill you in an what I have already tried.

I subsequently wrote to Joe Watson in UCG, on 13/02/84, in an attempt to mend fences:

Please accept my apology for my discourtesy after the meeting on Feb 7. I made the mistake of taking personally what for you was a commercial/political decision.

Having said that, so as to mend my fences and enable me to keep on dealing with the ILO system on a business-like basis, I feel I should re-state my opinion that you are wrong to be opposed to the concept of giving the scheme some sort of centre of knowhow having a national promotional role. The initial small funding available in the scheme should not be used to suggest that the scheme 'could not afford' a central promotional/developmental overhead.

Despite what I see as the schemes limitations, I want it to be on record with you that if the opportunity arises, whether in advising YEA, IDA or whatever, I hope to be able to give as much wholehearted support to the scheme, and any possible developments from it, as it is within my ability to do.

Also I appreciate you feeling that any such scheme should be implemented with priority in those colleges which support the ILO principle, thereby acting as leverage to encourage others to decide in favour of the latter. The scheme as I had conceived it certainly would have had, from practical reasons, a bias in this direction.

One has to try and strike a balance between the competitive and co-operative approaches to getting money from the State and the private sector. The national tendency among the Irish colleges, regrettably, is to adopt the former rather then the latter attitude. This is no doubt appropriate to the level of development of the Irish economy and social system, and I have sometimes been inclined to overlook this fact.

I sent a further memo to Ron Cox on 16/02/84, which must have arisen from some positive signals which I had received from the Youth Employment Agency:

In spite of my disastrous meeting in Limerick with the ILO group, I gather in the end that a pilot-version of 'Techne' is going forward and I am likely to have some sort of a role with it, and in the development of other such schemes, in the Youth Employment Agency. This is not yet signed and sealed, so no premature rejoicings.

In the meantime, as a help to the College in considering what it should be doing, let me offer one or two suggestions:

1. The concept of a 'contracts Officer' is good it should have been built into the old ILO terms of reference (which were never properly defined), and is so built in, in the case of most of the UK ILOS. It is most important to have a continuing automatic updating view of who is actively doing what. I had this, but only by continuous work an the grapevine.

2. The type of person involved should be someone who is a 'problem-recogniser' and 'problem-structurer': ie he/she could act as the first contact-point with a firm and talk to technical and R&D management in their own language; also to talk to management in a firm without R&D and give a view that would help sell the idea that an R&D function is needed, employing our graduates. There is thus a natural link with the developmental aspect of the Appointments Office, and this is the case with Joe Watson.

3. It should also be a function of the Officer (however designated) to facilitate the 'small high-tech firm spin-off' process (as envisaged in my Techne paper), so that a linkage into venture-capital sources would be useful: this could be a role for George Clarke.

4. Thus I see the need for a sort of team approach, involving GC, DM and ANOther as the College developmental unit, cultivating the university-industry interface, generating a flow of project funding, and stimulating the take-up of graduates into existing firms, and the flow of new graduate-employing firms.

The above vision was in my mind when activity being ILO, but it never crystallised sufficiently. Perhaps the College might consider if the time is now ripe to begin along these lines. If so, a job should be specified and advertised. I might consider applying for it, if the Techne project does not (in the end) deliver. If the Techne project does work out, then it would be useful for me as its instigator to be able to deal directly with one person whose job it was to know the College enterprise-generators.

I enclose a copy of Tony Weaver's newsletter; the production of an analogue could be a function of the new job, if created.

The foregoing did not lead to the generation of a new full-time employment, but it did lead to some consultancy on behalf of the YEA, analysing the enterprise development potential of the Regional Colleges, as outlined below. As a step towards this I produced the following paper 'Innovation, Enterprise Development and the 3rd-level Colleges' in October 1984, and it helped lay the basis for the subsequent work with Limerick and the RTCs.

Background

The role of college-based industrial consultancy, fortified in the cases of the NIHEs (ie National Institutes of Higher Education, being prototype Universities of Technology in Limerick and Dublin) by the intelligence of industrial problems gathered by students in the course of their co-operative stages, is given explicit recognition and encouragement through the Industrial Liaison Offices.

Opportunities for serviced business start-ups exist in various innovation/enterprise incubator centres in proximity to college campuses.

There is stated to be no shortage of finance for taking marketable concepts to full-scale production, once they are market-researched, prototyped, production-engineered etc to the extent that risk is minimal.

Despite this the flow of actual viable venture-opportunities remains a trickle. There is a bottleneck in the system.

The Problem

For example, it seems that where the enterprise centre depends primarily on the College (as with Dublin Institute of Technology and Prussia St) it operates well below capacity; also that where the centre is working at or near capacity (as at Limerick) the flow from the College is minimal.

A factor contributing to the low flow from NIHE (Limerick) is the matching problem (of conflict) between student projects (identified during the co-operative stage) and the interests of the academic supervisor.

A factor influencing both cases is the pull of the best students into existing jobs, to fill an already-defined role.

An additional factor, which favours the student's decision to opt for the 'easy' road if it presents itself, is the fact that most if not all student projects are within-discipline and individual (and thus a long way below the enterprise-threshold). Despite the clear message of the Deans' Conference$ there is no trend yet into team projects involving complementary skills from science, engineering and business.

We are clearly dealing with a high-entropy situation, where the lubrication-process needs to involve putting resources into the organisation of structured networks linking resources, needs and knowhow.

Outline Solution

The prime function of this interface would be to become familiar with the regional resources and needs, translating these into problems and opportunities, linking the latter with identified knowhow-sources in the College, thus setting up an 'enterprise network' around each problem/opportunity.

In some cases, the 'chemistry' of the network will 'work', and a project will specify itself, around which a group of students will gather, possibly under the leadership of a member of the 'network group' in the role of external supervisor. In such cases, the project will make the transition from the College to the Enterprise Centre with a forward momentum and a creative team structure.

This process will require seed-funding, supplementing the 'sweat-equity' of the participants, who will mostly have no actual cash to put in. The seed-funding will constitute an equity-stake in favour of the agency.

Thus we are talking of a hands-on managed venture-seeding processor catalysed by an active agency located in the innovation/enterprise centre, distinct from the College, but charged primarily with the conscious development of the College as a resource.

Immediate next step

April and November 1985: Local Enterprise and the RTCs

The key concept was the need to encourage small-firm innovative entrepreneurship, with a technological flavour, using the types of skills which were beginning to emerge from the third-level system.

The Brittany Project: Cross-Linkage between EEC Regions as a Factor in Innovative Enterprise Development -

In the case of the electronics sector, a preliminary directory survey of the Irish scene suggests that there are about 47 Irish firms satisfying the required criteria, of which about 15 (on the basis of information available on their product-range) appear to have priority status. It is proposed to circulate outlines of selected projects or concepts to this priority list, and to poll the 47 in general terms for feedback on the utility of the 'technology transfer network' concept outlined below, and seeking proposals for the reverse process (ie from Ireland to Brittany).

The response to this exercise in inter-regional linkage and two-way licence promotion between small high-technology firms in Brittany and Ireland will determine whether the inter-regional network concept, as outlined below, is viable.

Inter-Regional Technology Transfer Network

The network is tentatively specified in terms of objectives, methods of work, membership definition and financial arrangements:

1. Objectives:

(a) to facilitate mutually advantageous exchange of knowhow and market intelligence between members,
(b) to maximise the take-up of State and Community aids to peripheral regions
(c) to encourage a co-operative regional approach to job-generation
(d) to maximise the take-up of knowhow from State and University research centres by small innovative enterprises within the regions
(e) to maximise accessibility to the world market by members, with particular reference to overcoming language barriers.....

2. Methods:

(a) to keep members informed of events, opportunities and relevant innovations by means of periodical bulletins in the languages of the regions
(b) to organise where appropriate the participation by members in conferences and exhibitions
(c) to encourage twinning between research centres (with the aid of the EEC Stimulation Plan) and two-way licences between associated enterprises
(d) to organise specialist conferences and seminars as necessary
(e) to provide a linguistic support-system
(f) to make full use of the opportunities presented by advance information-technology, databases, networks etc.....

3. Membership:

(a) research centres committed to service the needs of innovatory enterprise in the region;
(b) enterprises with primary roots within the regions (by 'regions' we mean the regions organised in the inter-regional network, in this pilot-case Ireland and Brittany).

4. Finance:

(a) subscriptions from members (i) x per head in the affiliated research centre (ii) y% of affiliated enterprise turnover;
(b) a % levy on business generated as a result of network activity, whether by agency, licence or joint venture agreement;
(c) initial funding from appropriate development agencies in Ireland and Brittany.

5. Structure: high-profile contact-points in Dublin and Rennes; co-operative ownership; annual meetings within regions electing a small executive committee meeting alternately in the two centres; executive officers in Dublin and Rennes; sectoral structure to be allowed to develop as necessary.....

NOTES

2. Agence National pour le Valorisation et l'Application de Recherche: this agency has come into existence because because the State senses that although they are spending generously on research, by international comparisons it could be more cost-effective. It is organised on a regional basis (but see Note 4 below).

3. Direction Regional de l'Industrie et Recherche en Bretagne.

4. The present French region called Bretagne is not the same as the historic Bretagne which was party in 1532 to the agreement which united the French monarchy with the hitherto independent duchy: the Loire-Atlantique Department, which includes Nantes (once the capital of Brittany), remains outside. The present restricted region was first defined under the Vichy Government, and was accepted, presumably by bureaucratic inertia, as the basis for the recent moves towards decentralised regional government under Mitterand. This is currently a matter for political dispute; it is in some ways analogous to the partition of Ireland. Voluntary Breton organisations tend to be based on a 5-department definition of Brittany, which includes Nantes, as indeed does the Guide Michelin. The present study, however, does not include Nantes; to have included it would have involved dealing with 2 sets of regional and State agencies, complexifying the problem. It includes research centres in Rennes, Lorient, Brest, Quimper and Lannion.

Ireland and Brittany: the 'Quad-Linkage' Concept

1. Introduction

1. to report an the S&T based approach to regional development as operated in Brittany, with recommendations for Ireland;

2. to assess the Potential for trans-border research-centre(l) / industry co-operation(1a) for giving rise to EEC contracts in R&D programmes, and in COMETT;

3. to examine the feasibility of a contract proposal to the ERDF for a new approach to regional development in the Community.

This report touches on 3 aspects of the process: (a) support systems (h) research centres (c) firms. In the latter case, they are not named, but details would be available from the writer in the context of any follow-up project initiated as a consequence of this report.

Broadly speaking, contact with key people in the support system constituted a method of identifying the 'significant' research centres; subsequent contact with key people in research centres enabled innovative small and medium firms to be identified.

The 'significance' of a research centre was assessed on the basis of Irish need as seen by the writer; the field was narrowed down to three priority areas: electronics, food and marine. Some significant contacts in the biomedical field were also made in passing.

The French region selected, Brittany, was chosen because of (a) the existence of traditional cultural links with Ireland (b) its strength in the food and marine sectors, where Ireland has resources needing 'added value' development (c) its comparable possession of an expanding electronics industry based on enterprising small firms in the undergrowth of a sector dominated by remote multinationals.

2. Support Systems

The primary contacts of significance are in the public sector. The private-sector and individual-membership networks can be taken up as secondary information sources, it being understood that they usually have axes to grind.

2.1 Public Sector

ANVAR works closely with the 'Direction Regionale de I'Industrie et de la Recherche en Bretagne' (DRIRB)(3) which is the responsible arm of the central Civil Service. ANVAR could be said to be the action-generator looking primarily towards industry, responsible to DRIRB. There is also an action-generator looking towards the university research system: Bretagne Technologies (4); this is a loosely-organised network, not so readily accessible as ANVAR. An aspect of its activity is touched upon in Section 3.4, constituting an example of the development of what has become known as a 'Technopole' (an interactive high-technology industrial development complex rooted in advanced research). There is a 'Club International des Technopoles' dedicated to exchanging this type of experience(4a).

In the background of this high-profile regional activity is the CNRS, which has felt the need to appoint a regional officer, who is however located in Brest(5) and has evolved into this administrative position from a previous career in research. The CNRS people are dispersed throughout the university system; some are seeking to develop an interface role for themselves on a voluntary basis via the 'boutiques de science' (see below). The ANVAR/CNRS interface however seems to be poorly developed, suggesting a weakness of the science/technology links at the regional level.

There are central specialist agencies such as Agence Francaise pour la Maitrise de l'Energie, relating to regional R&D centres such as the Centre National de l'Energie Eolienne at Lannion (See below). With this type of structure there appear to be communications problems(6).

There is an Institut Culturel de Bretagne (ICB) which regards 'culture' as a growth industry and is business-minded, organising visits abroad by groups of small Breton firms. The ICB relates politically to the Regional Council, which in turn relates to an international 'Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of the EEC'(7).

The ICB aspires to include technology in its ambit, and was at pains to point out the existence of an emergent electronics industry in Nantes, which is part of historic Brittany and regards itself as such, although in the Paris-structured regional system it is lumped in with the Vendee to constitute a Loire region, having an ill-defined identity, and with its status a matter for political dispute.

At the municipal level in Rennes there is an industrial development agency AUDIAR (Agence Urbain..... Rennes) and a promotional body Rennes Atalante; together they constitute an IDA/SFADCO analogue for the city, running a high-technology enterprise centre an the fringe of the university.

There is a twinning arrangement between Rennes and Cork; this is recent. Earlier twinnings are Limerick/Quimper, Galway/Lorient, Sligo/Crozon etc. These twinnings are at a municipal level and no consideration appears to have gone into any possible S&T dimension. There could conceivably be a Cork analogue of AUDIAR if anything comes out of the NBST/UCC seminar on regional development which took place in Sept 1984.

There is an Association Bretagne-lrlande involving some twinned towns, mostly small, generating activity at the craft level.

2.2 Private Sector Networks

GRANIT and MEITO exist as regional federations of information-technology and electronics firms respectively; these would correspond to CII divisions in the Irish context. There is a more general-purpose 'Societe de Participation pour la Developpement Industriel de la Bretagne' which is a Paris-based regionalist lobby. The food sector is serviced by the Association Bretagne Biotechnologie Alimentaire, which is a levy-funded research association of members of the Association Regional des Industries Agroalimentaires. The former defines the research programmes but does not carry them out itself.

2.3 Individual-membership Bodies

There is a body called Promotec which seeks to generate local enterprise, with local group support, mainly in the Tregor (ie Lannion region). This is fuelled to some extent by the presence of CNET as a major national telecommunications centre; some small firms have 'spun off' as a result.

There is a body called 'Interet Breton', based on Chambers of Commerce, which attempts to include Loire-Atlantique the definition of the Brittany Region.

NOTES

la. The term 'quad-linkage' as used in the title has been introduced to describe a system of linkages between 4 entities, typically, two research centres and two associated firms. The centres are linked by regular changes of personnel; each centre is linked to each firm by the provision of research and consultancy services; the firms may then become linked by two-way technology transfer or licensing agreements, thus completing the quadrilateral. The 'quad-linkage' concept is developed further in Section 5.2.

2. (contact for M Douguet)

3. (contact for M Amarcs)

4. (contact for Alain Segui)

4a. Pierre Laffitte was the keynote speaker on this theme at an ANVAR conference on June 28. The writer enquired if there was an Irish contact-point for the CIT network: it seems that there is none as yet, despite an unsuccessful attempt to interest NIHE (Limerick), of which Laffitte was aware as a possible candidate.

5. (contact for Mme Chevelot)

6. The latter evaluates wind-generating systems (and ancillary interfacing equipment etc), but is not prepared to give out information relevant to possible licencing agreements. It refers enquiries to the former, which however appears to be slow to answer letters.

7. Irish participation in CPMR consists of Western Regional Development Officers; thus Ireland as a (centralist) State itself claiming EEC regional status is not represented. CPMR has arranged exchanges of young workers in the fishing industry.

3. Centres of Research

3.1 Electronics/Energy

3.1.1 Basic Research

Yves Colin: stabilisation mechanisms for semi-conductor surfaces; GaAs; thin film transistors in polycrystalline Si ....

Eugene Riaux: image processing (including peat-bog recognition with Landsat); pattern recognition ....

Marcel Poulain: optical fibres from fluoride glass.

Colin is funded by CNET; Poulain is consultant to a spin-off firm in Rennes: 'Verre Fluore'.

In Lannion the Director of the IUT, Jacques Wolf, has a research interest in numerical analysis applied to images.

3.1.2 Electronic Applications

All the major research centres, universities and specialist colleges have recently been endowed by ANVAR with 'Correspondants PMI': contact-points in a support-network aimed at making the results of research available to small and medium industry (PMI: petite et moyenne industrie'; we will use this acronym from now on). This is perhaps an analogue of the 'industrial liaison offices".

The major Institutes are CNET (Centre National d'Etudes de Telecommunications) at Lannion, CCETT (Centre Commun d'Etudes de Telecommunications et de Telediffusion) and SUPELEC; the latter two are at Rennes. Supelec is the research centre for the electricity industry. There being no Irish analogue of any of these (a matter perhaps to be locked into?) the only contact made was (in 2 cases) a courtesy call to the 'Correspondant PMI'. There is some contact between Ireland and CNET, at the level of the latter accepting Irish postgraduate 'stagiares'; also Art O'Hare in Kevin St has spent research leave there doing laser work.

Consider now the specialist Colleges: there is INSA (Institut National des Sciences Appliquees) which is an the Rennes campus and has 'Groupe B Grandes Ecoles' status; although surrounded by a university science faculty environment(8) it is basically self-contained; some teaching is shared, with staff members bi-locating. The 'Correspondant PMI', M Aubel, produced a list of innovative small firms with which INSA was in contact, and ranked them in the order he judged them ready for 'quad' linkages. Banatre (see below 3.1.3) is a teacher in INSA and a researcher at IRISA. Aubel would like to be put in touch with a comparable Irish centre so as to draw on EEC linkage funding; he had no prior contact with Ireland; a suitable twin would be an NIHE. Most current INSA links are large-firm or multinational; PMI concern is a new departure.

The Ecole National d'Ingenieurie a Brest (ENIB) is a small engineering school embedded in the Brest university campus; there are 25 teaching staff of which 2 to 5 might at any time have industry contacts. Student projects tend to be oriented towards producing teaching equipment The 'Correspondant PMI', M le Marie, was able to produce a list of 17 small firms with which the college was in contact; of these 6 were considered and one was visited. A suitable twin here would be an RTC.

The Ecole National Superieur de Telecommunications a Brest (ENSTB) trains the telecommunications engineers; it is only beginning in research; theses start to emerge next year. Industry projects include: thick-film hybrids, adaptive filters (numerical analysis) for marine use (there is here an Ifremer link), teaching devices, VLSI circuits with pre-doped matrices; commercialisation is usually via Paris-based firms. The PMI contact produced a list of 5 local firms 2 of which were subsequently visited.

The two contacts in the University of Rennes are Andre le Traon and Michel Levasseur. The first had developed an automatic inspection system for capacitors or dielectric materials in production. This is ANVAR-funded and put cut for trial with a firm in Quimper(9). Le Traon is also advising a firm specialising in auto-test equipment near Vannes(10). Levasseur has been involved in the design of a robot arm for a small firm near Rennes which the writer visited.

3.1.3 Informatics

3.1.4 Energy

The electronics of interfacing wind energy systems is one aspect of the testing and evaluation work done at CNEEL (Centre National de I'Energie Eolienne a Lannion); this is basically a test centre to put discipline an a multitude of anarchic constructors. There is demand for 300-500W for lighting, 5kW for heating and 100kW for islands. A firm at Brest is not far from viability with a 5kw unit. They appear to defer to the remote AFME. Eamonn Kinsella visited in 1984.

Other work in the energy field is more basic, and from various angles. In Rennes university there is work by Barron and Fouche from the conservationist angle of heating and cooling glazed buildings; by August Brault on liquid combustibles from wood; and by E-A Decamps on environmental physics, including diffuse solar energy.

At the ENSCR (Ecole National Superieur de Chimie a Rennes) the PMI contact is Guy Martin; he is not enthused by the PMI network; it is too 'top-down'; he might get one enquiry a week. His research interests include peat, which he gets from Holland at a high price; he does not appear to be aware of the world peat research network which had its congress in Dublin last year; he had been approaching it via the environmental road. Other work involves eutrophication, digestion of farm wastes (primarily to increase the nitrogen concentration, CH4 as a by-product, strip the NH3 and use it for chemistry... ).

NOTES

9. In a subsequent visit the impression was picked up that the firm was obliging ANVAR by taking this on; there seemed to be a cultural gap. Mass-production people don't like their production-lines being used as test-beds by academics.

10. The rapport here is much better.

11. On contacting this firm it emerged that they were not yet ready to commercialise. There would appear to be an opportunity for this type of system at the fishing ports; see Section 3.3 below.

12. The firm employs about 140 people and is into the US market via Canada. The UK market however it finds opaque and they would consider a window via Ireland if a partner could be found.

3.2 Agro-Alimentaire

Perhaps the most interesting contact is ADRIA, which is an industry-sponsored food research centre associated with the IUT in Quimper (municipal twin of Limerick), interested primarily in meat and fish, and extending towards fermentation processes. There is a staff of 30, some bi-locating with the IUT. They are working on (a) lactic acid as a preservative in meat (eg sausage) (b) upgrading blood towards non-coloured high-protein additives (c) cider yeasts (complementing the work of Drilleau at le Rheu: see below) (d) quality control of meat products (by destructive testing: the writer was able to put them on to an electronic firm with relevant NDT real-time instrumentation technology for fat content in paté) (e) fish quality along the marketing chain (eg vacuum-packed fresh fish at the port etc).

The Director M Bourgeois had a specific project in mind with a Cork linkage, going out of his way to track down the writer and facilitate transport, with an EEC deadline in mind. In the end however they decided to slip the coming deadline and try next time. This project must be becoming urgent again at the time of writing. The results of this work, as at present structured, would benefit a specialist sponsoring firm in Paris which makes lactic ferments +or the French food industry. Thus there are 3 corners of the 'quad': missing is a benefiting firm in Ireland.

A list of food firms in the region was produced and those considered likely candidates for a 'quad' arrangement were noted, and contacts named.

The Institut National de Recherche Agricole (INRA) is strong in milk technology; the key man is M Maubois (this emerged first via the Favier network from the University of Rennes). A direct approach via the PMI contact M Broussolle yielded a short-list of 4 co-operatives and 2 private firms. Work on ultra-filtration and value-added processes for lactose is going on. There was little or no awareness of Irish links, although checking subsequently with Paddy Cunningham in AFT revealed that people were sent over there regularly, though mostly on short trips of about a week, and possibly 20% of those who went had good French. The value of short trips in inter-institutional links is possibly therefore open to question, unless project-based with roots in earlier longer periods, leading to common project experience.

On the same campus is ENSAR (Ecole National Superieur Agricole a Rennes) which is the leading 3rd-level agricultural college; Broussolle also services this as 'Correspandant PMI'.

The writer visited another agricultural research centre at le Rheu (near Rennes) where there is a cider unit headed by M Drilleau. This was prompted by the high quality of the artisanal cider in Brittany, in comparison with the bland industrial product produced in Ireland. (There is a parallel with the 'real ale' campaign in England: 'real cider' for Ireland?)

Research at le Rheu is concentrated on apple quality and species selection. An artisanal cider enterprise might process annually in a converted byre some 100 tonnes of apples from farm orchards in a radius of 10km, and generate a revenue of the order of 500,000FF, of which 20% would go to the suppliers, giving the basis for a good family business. Drilleau had encountered Gormley of AFT at a conference. A list of progressive small-scale cider producers was supplied, one of which was subsequently visited; he had a system and an environment which could plausibly be reproduced in Wexford.

At the university of Brest the 'Correspandant PMI' M Paugam facilitated a series of meetings; the most significant was with Mme Moreau who heads an applied microbiology lab in the agro-alimentaire Faculty. She is widely regarded (by Favier in Rennes as well as locally) as being one of the primary architects of the remarkable development of Brittany over the past 15 years from subsistence farming to its present dominant position in the French food industry, the key mechanism being the injection of technically competent enterprising graduates into leading positions in the co-ops. She is held in higher regard than ADRIA by Favier, though this could be because ADRIA has not been around long enough to establish a track record, and/or the existence of a freemasonry among universities. She is a prime source of contact for the key people in all significant food research centres in Brittany: the writer was unable to take up any of her contacts but has them on record should the need arise. She would appear formidable to a research student, who would have to be good to survive.

The writer also met Sturtz who is an organophosphorics specialist; his group is being cut back by the CNRS (no doubt as a result of declining demand due to environmental pressure on the pesticide market?) and he is responding positively by attempting to develop a service supplying small batches of fine chemicals to order, with the aid of a pilot-scale production unit. He has no local industry links, is attempting to cultivate links with some US firms but not very successfully. One gets an impression of frustration. Paugam is clearly trying to generate business for him and should a possible Irish link help this he would be pleased.

3.3 Marine

The IFREMER centres are regional components of a powerful national marine research network. Each specialises in a manner appropriate to regional resources and needs.

The Lorient centre is totally dedicated to every aspect of artisanal (as distinct from industrial) fishing. They supply a design service (including CAD) to small boatyards, and have a sophisticated system for designing and testing tackle (the marine equivalent of a wind-tunnel). They keep an eye on the catch statistics by species (with a paid official in every port whose job it is to do this reliably). There is a project team working on developing a total computer model of the industry, including marine biology, fishing technology and the market.

On the market side they have recognised that the trump card of artisanal fishing is the high value of the species mix if sold fresh and well presented. They have established a Breton market image, with a label etc. The central problem is continuity of supply; this should be soluble by the application of advanced information technology (this is a possible target for the Banatre system referred to above, or some other system specified by the users).

A list of advanced artisanal boatyards is available, having experience of the use of IFREMER design and development services.

Regrettably the writer was unable to spend more than half a day at the Brest centre, and is therefore unable to do it justice. Nevertheless, thanks to the 'Correspondant PMI' M Deloof several meetings were set up, and the following partial picture has emerged.

They are keen to develop contacts under the EEC stimulation plan, and orders have come down from Paris to this effect. On enquiry it emerged that 'le responsable' in Paris had contacted all other EEC countries but not Ireland; they undertook to see that this was done(14). A priority problem is the acoustic design of fishing boats(15). The writer left on record with them the Cork RTC marine group, as specified in the NBST Directory.

There is much work going on rehabilitating the Breton shellfish industry after the oil spill crisis. An attempt has been made to develop Irish sources for the supply of young shellfish for finishing locally, and for re-establishing the local breeding stock. This has not worked; there are problems for a French research centre in dealing directly with artisanal fishermen in Ireland(16).

There is work an 'salmon ranching' with magnetic markers and a code system.

Attempts are being made to mechanise mussel harvesting, grading and weighing: also to extend mussel cultivation to the open sea.

The CAD work delivered via Lorient is actually done in Brest.

There is a family of small firms supplying instrumentation and software, including teaching software ('didacticiels') for use in training fishermen in new technologies. Two of these were subsequently visited.

Previous to the IFREMER visit the writer had met le Tannec in the University of Brest (by courtesy of Paugam). A marine biologist, he has contacts with Carna, of which he is critical to the extent that contacts which had taken place at the level of a days discussions were held to be quite inadequate for proper scientific collaboration; there was a need to exchange stagiares. He was also incidentally critical of IFREMER, which had been funded to reintroduce the oyster, but had set up the project in the wrong place due to political pressure over-ruling scientific knowledge.

The writer's interest in seaweed was triggered by the thesis of Mare de la Ville Fromoit, an the home ground (Rennes IUT, the Humbert group, to which the writer was nominally attached). This was a techno-economic analysis of the seaweed industry, viewed as a Breton resource. The author had had access, incidentally, to the work of the West Cork Development Team, done in 1967. This was an academic thesis; the author had not followed it up and was currently looking elsewhere. However it led the present writer to visit the CERAA research centre at Pleubian, an the north coast, west of St Malo.

The centre had been in existence since 1982. The Director M Brault is also the 'PMI Correspondant'. It is supported by research contracts with the Department, the Region, the State and the EEC, as well as (15%) by private firms.

The private sector turns over 117MF annually (~£12M) and employs 600 people, 200 harvesting and 400 processing; it exports to other EEC countries, to Canada and Japan. The research centre has 12 staff plus 3 stagiares, with budget 3MF. Price paid per wet tonne (15-20% dry matter) is 170FF for 'laminaire' and 400FF for 'fucus'. Harvesting is by boat, with hydraulic gear, working May to September, producing 3000 wet tonnes value 500,000FF.

They have international research links with Senegal, Switzerland, Sweden: within France their research links are with Brest, Marseilles, Lille and Paris. There is no link with Ireland, despite the Irish pioneering role reflected in the technical terminology ('carriginanes'); this apparently must have lacked the follow-through momentum necessary for retaining a place in the international network.

Ongoing research includes a search for possible optimal 'farming' conditions, fermentation of liquid extracts etc.

Associated firms (list of contacts available) produce animal food additives (eg to make good yellow eggs), cosmetics and human food (for Japan).

3.4 Medico-Biological

The Favier strategy is to bring together an inter-regional applications team around a problem area, and to feed them with industrial partners. The opportunity arose for doing this in the context of a 'medical imaging network' (eg brain tumours in 3 dimensions). The network includes Rennes, Brest, Nantes, Tours, Angers; it also includes hospitals. The team leader is Scarabin in Rennes. Links have developed with Grenoble, where there is an electronic 'technopole' developing; this now links with Rennes for imaging work. There is now a daily flight between Rennes and Grenoble, and some electronics firms are located in both places.

This is an example of the Technopole process as described by Lafitte (see above).

A subsequent meeting with Alain Segui and others gave a hint as to the influence of this network in the general field of medical instrumentation, with linkages to local firms (eg the Brun collaboration) which are prepared to put innovative instrumentation on the market (eg a blood sedimentation measurement system).

This medical area remains to be explored in depth; the contacts exist making it easy to do so, but the writer would need additional briefing on the Irish scene before taking this up. This indeed holds for all sectors.

NOTES

14. Would such a contacting procedure involve the existence of a 'scientific attache' at the Paris embassy, who could recognise opportunities and knew the channels?

15. At the IACHEI conference in Ennis (Sept 11-13) the writer encountered a Breton applied-research consultant, working from Lyons, who was aware of this problem, and wanted Irish contacts. He introduced him to the Cork RTC.

16. It seems that there was no appropriate Irish research-centre contact who could be relied an to keep the local contacts warm.

4. General Comments

The subsequent Rennes seminar illustrated the strength of Paris 'top-down' thinking. It provided, for what appeared to be a mixed academic and industrial audience of several hundreds in a large theatre, a sequence of star-performers on the key themes. The contributions were excellent; the writer was reminded of an IMI conference. However, despite advance booking no participants list was provided; this appeared to be unheard of. Nor were there any coffee-breaks at which cross-linkages could begin to develop, based on points raised in the discussions. The only opportunity for cross-linking was the lunch, but this was sit-down, with lengthy speeches, so the the interaction process was restricted effectively to a handful of immediate neighbours.

Thus it is clear that the French, if they can bring themselves to admit it, have much to learn about regional development and research-industry interaction, as well as much to contribute. The learning process on the French side is more likely to take place in a close-knit creative provincial context, such as is presented by Brittany, than in the heights of metropolitan Ile de France.

Developments at the municipal or regional level are interesting and positive, once they escape the dead hand of centralist bureaucracy. For example, a monthly journal Mediator de l'Ouest, aimed at the purchasing officers, provides a sourcing service within the region, as well as a means of dissemination of innovative technological ideas (this might twin with Technology Ireland ?). Also, the Rennes-Cork twinning has initiated some opportunities for examining the potential role of Irish municipalities along the lines of AUDIAR. Despite the structural mismatch between Rennes and Cork urban authorities (lack of an executive Mayor in Cork with continuity of experience and 'clout', lack of a 'foreign affairs' unit or even a twinning budget) the minutes of a Cork-Rennes meeting(17),held on June 29 at Cork show a positive intention on both sides to try to develop the contact.

The question arises whether the linkage opportunities between major centres of innovative expertise should not play a leading role in determining municipal twinning arrangements, giving them some depth. It would perhaps make more sense to twin Dublin with Rennes and Cork with Brest, thus balancing more equally the intellectual resources.

NOTE

5. Conclusions and Recommendations

5.1 Regional Development: Lessons for Ireland

The following specific recommendations suggest themselves in this context:

(a) NBST attention could usefully shift its centre of gravity away from the centralist CNRS and towards the ANVAR regional centres as sources of dynamic regional development experience.

(h) Some attention should be given at Governmental level to strengthening the influence of the CPMR and increasing its S&T content, as a means of influencing Community policy both in the Irish direction and towards and effective regional development dynamic based on innovative enterprise.

(c) The concept of a major sectoral applied research centre, with an accessible high-profile contact for small and medium industry, could usefully be explored further in the Irish context.

(d) French research centres are in a position to pick up Irish research contacts so as to qualify for EEC cross-border funding; there is however no guarantee that such contacts will benefit Irish industry unless there is a research-industry linkage on the Irish side. Without such linkages, cross-border EEC contracts constitute exploitation of Irish research by Community industry, with subsequent danger of brain-drain as student placements depend increasingly an industrial contacts abroad.

(e) There appears however to be little consciousness of Irish research centres as possible cross-border collaborators, on the part of the research centres in Brittany. Insofar as visits by Irish researchers have taken place, these tend to be short-stay, and to have little influence an the development of real collaboration. Visits should be long enough to enable researchers to find their way around the network of industrial contacts abroad, and the needs of industry contacts on the home ground should be borne in mind. Short-stay contacts make sense only where good working relations have been established, on a reciprocal basis, by previous long-stay visits. (f) There is scope for attempting to evaluate the relevance of the international 'Technopole' network as an aid to identifying opportunities of this type in the Irish context.

(9) The experience of the journal Mediator de l'Ouest may be relevant to the needs of Irish Goods Council etc in its attempts to encourage sourcing within Ireland.

(h) The Rennes-Cork twinning provides an opportunity for enhancing the role of Irish municipal government in innovative enterprise generation, by a process analogous to AUDIAR. Future municipal twinnings should perhaps be built around research-centre contacts with 'quad' potential as the primary motivator.

5.2 Potential +or Cross-Border Research/Industry Co-operation.

1. There exist research centres in both places working on similar or related problems;

2. There exist innovative firms dependent on interaction with the research centres for new product and/or process development;

3. Areas of potential synergy exist between firms.

Given the above background conditions, the following developmental model is suggested:

(a) Exchange of research personnel takes place between the two centres (in sequence; not simultaneously), for periods long enough to enable the language barrier to be overcome and a genuine rapport to be developed.

(b) Personnel selected for the exchanges should be strongly-linked industrial consultants, fully familiar with the problems, opportunities and policies of client firms.

(c) When abroad they make it their business to identify firms having potential for synergy with one or more of their client firms at home. (d) Researchers involved in the exchange collaborate in both locations, becoming jointly a window for all their client firms into the total research potential of both research centres.

(e) As a result of this synergy, participating firms, though based in peripheral regions, become better placed to compete in the major central EEC markets and in the world market.

(f) An important aspect of this 'quad' process would be the close-up identification by academic supervisors of student placement opportunities in firms associated with the quad process abroad. This is at the core of the COMETT proposal.

There are at least three centres in Rennes University that could link in the above mode with both TCD and UCC; INSA could perhaps link with an NIHE; there are several possible RTC links for ENIB; there is no State centre to match CNET but a linkage via ENST could perhaps be built with DIT, especially in the light of the contact already established by Kevin St. An IRISA link with TCD may be feasible. In food, the ADRIA-Cork link has already begun to exist, while a link between UCD agriculture faculty and UBO would perhaps make sense. The AFT-INRA linkages insofar as they exist could perhaps be examined as to their 'quad' potential on the above model. The cider contact is worth a lock in the context of the need for value added in agriculture. BIM could usefully look at IFREMER and there may be a link for CERAA in Galway.

The above tentative linkages require further investigations, which the writer hopes to do on a personal basis, in the coming months.

The matchmaking role should be professional rather than administrative or bureaucratic. It would be aided by informatics projects such as databases of the ECIRN(18) type. The investigation of this list should take into account possible responses by Irish firms to a preliminary approach based on the selection of firms in Brittany already identified. There are some 14 firms positively identified as prospects for quad linkage development, on the above model, to the extent that specific products and/or technologies have been discussed. Should partners be found for these, it would make sense to complete the 'quad' by involving their related Irish research centres.

It should also take into account existing academic research where these exist on the international research network, and the industrial spin-off potential of these links should be explored.

5.3 Community Regional Development

If peripheral regions are to develop a dynamic such as to enable them to generate a growing network of innovative PMI, it must be recognised that this process will need external support.

A network of complementary PMI in peripheral regions, supported by a close-knit network of dynamic research centres, could begin to become comparable to a transnational corporation, by a process of conscious development of co-operative marketing strategies and utilisation of available regional resources.

The key to this process is positive discrimination by the Community in favour of the development of inter-regional consortia of research centres, to act as catalysts for the development of inter-regional consortia of mutually reinforcing PMI. The NBST should find means of influencing the ERDF in this direction.

NOTE

The Rennes trip, which took place in 1985, had a sequel in 1986 sponsored by Shannon Development. The trip in 1986 involved a period helping to man a stand at the 'Foire de Rennes' which was promoting the Cork link, and some visits to firms targeted as possible 'quad-linkage' partners with firms in the Shannon area, and the NIHE Limerick. This however did not bear fruit; it would have required ongoing proactive work by development agencies on both sides, and this did not take place. There was however an exchange of visits between the Rennes and Limerick innovation centres, and this may have had a sequel, but I was not involved.

Despite this relatively negative outcome, I was asked by Dr Stan Nielsen to contribute to a Report which the National Board for Science and Technology were doing for the European Commission on a generalisation of the theme:

October 1986: 'RTD Linkages between LFRs'

I produced a short paper which introduced the 'technopole' and 'technet' concepts, foreshadowing the role of information technology which was to develop so strongly at the end of the century with the Internet. An important role was assigned to a pro-active 'linkage development unit' attached to a technopole. There was strong interaction at this time between the writer in the NIHE in Limerick, and later with Shannon Development.

This paper is worthy of reproduction in full in its own right. Many of the ideas were taken on board in one way or another in Dr Neilsen's Report, though without specific attribution. What follows is an overview.

Introduction

We attempt here to identify a sub-set of regional activities or initiatives where the ERDF-enhanced (European Research and Development Fund) autonomous growth process may be further enhanced by deliberately fostered inter-regional synergistic linkages.

Typically one might expect such linkages to develop between:

(a) an LFR engaged in initiating an integrated regional development plan, and another LFR (possibly having a cultural empathy) which had initiated such a plan some years previously and had gained some experience in surmounting cultural barriers etc;

(b) two or more LFRs having common access to a natural resource; for example, it is possible to envisage an RTD programme co-ordinated between Atlantic coastal regions aimed at upgrading the quality and market image of the produce of artisanal fisheries, and improving inshore fishing technology; likewise forestry management, adding value to forest products etc.

(c) several LFRs developing a common approach to a common problem such as to make it worthwhile to share a research and training facility. For example, the development of an acceptable standard of road and telephonic communications in areas with dispersed populations; inter-island ferry services, local air services etc; use of appropriate accessible information technology (as with Minitel in France).

Background

Despite this relatively unpromising environment, and without having had the opportunity of surveying systematically all existing inter-LFR linkages, we are however aware of several examples of initiatives, which may be used for pilot experience.

(a) An enterprise development programme in electronics. aimed at young postgraduates, organised between the Limerick and Belfast 'technopoles' (we define this term below), involving planned sharing of experience (cf Prof Noel Mulcahy, NIHE (Limerick); this project has European Social Fund (ESF) support.

(b) A pilot-project between Galway and Groeningen, in which an attempt was made to identify SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) in each region interested in licensing, joint ventures or commercial agreements (cf Dr J Watson, University College Galway; this project has Community support under the technology transfer programme.

(c) A somewhat similar pilot-project between the Irish mid-west region and Brittany, which attempted to identify not only SME partners but also partners in the research centres with which innovative SMEs were locally interacting; this was funded by SFADCo. See my earlier report Inter-Regional Technology Transfer Linkages, RHW Johnston, 1986; SFADCO; cf T Callanan.

(d) An IDA-funded project has initiated exchange visits between innovative SMEs in Ireland and Bavaria (cf Frank Murray, Irish Industrial Development Authority).

(e) Experience relating to transport and communications between islands and remote communities has been exchanged between development agencies and co-operatives in the north of Scotland and the west of Ireland (cf Keith Sellar, Aberdeen; see also proceedings of Limerick seminar, NIHE, 4/7/86, 'Growth at the Periphery' convened by Prof David Coombes).

(f) Udaras na Gaeltachta has been sending management trainees to pick up fish processing technology and marketing experience in Brittany; cf Aongus Mac Donnell in Udaras na Gaeltachta; there is also ANCO and CII participation in this process, again with ESF support. So far the emphasis has been on marketing, but there is no reason why it should not extend to RTD.

(g) Regional development experience has been shared between Scotland and Scandinavia; cf Lawrence West, UK UDIL network (Bradford).

There is some negative experience, in that where major non-teaching centres of research (national or Community) have been implanted in an LFR (usually for political reasons), the spin-off in the form of linkages with regional SME, and related inter-regional linkages, is usually slight. Interaction via the 3rd-level postgraduate teaching system would appear to be crucial. The present writer on his recent Brittany trip was able to compare qualitatively the somewhat weak regional SME linkages of CNET with the active regional SME dynamic of the Ifremer/UBO technet in the marine field. Also, it would seem that linkages between the Belgian nuclear centre at Mol and regional SME are regarded as somewhat weak (cf Guido Declerq, Investco, Brussels).

Problems in Inter-LFR Linkage Development

Where the RTD role of the staff of a regional research centre or college of technology is well developed, providing a support-system for innovative regional SME, one might envisage the task of providing servicing for inter-regional linkages to fall within their scope. In LFRs however this function is limited by time and resources.

As an illustration of this constraint, opportunities under the SPRINT programme for travel abroad have not been taken up significantly by LFR personnel. There are also language and cultural barriers (cf Owen MacBreen, IIRS).

In contrast, in actively developing and developed regions RTD linkages are set up with relative ease, there being people active in the technopoles (like the TNC planners) whose task it is to seek linkage opportunities, and who are capable of recognising them. For example, in Western France there is a 'medical imaging technet' between Rennes, Tours, Angers, Nantes and Brest, involving universities, hospitals and instrumentation firms; this was set up as a consciously planned development; it has subsequently picked up a linkage with Grenoble. cf Raphael Favier, Directeur des Relations Exterieures, Universite de Rennes 1.

Proposed Operating Principles for Linkage Development

We define a 'Technet' as a specialist sectoral network, involving one or more technopoles, possibly inter-regional, having access to postgraduate research and enterprise incubation facilities appropriate to a particular sector or technology.

An important stepping-stone towards the technopole/technet concept is the 'Business Innovation Centre' (BIC) concept currently being piloted with ERDF support in Dublin, Cork and Derry; this initiative is based on experience derived from Liege, Limerick and elsewhere.

It is proposed that the basic policy for the development of LFRs should involve the identification and enhancement of appropriate 'technopoles' and 'technets', bringing together knowhow and resources so as to generate autonomous enterprise and economic growth. It is further proposed to provide in the 'technopole' specification a functional unit whose task it would be to identify and support the development of inter-regional linkages (both with other LFRs and with the developed central regions).

Given that a technopole, as so defined, has within it an outward-looking functional unit, such a unit in its own interest would need to develop what could become the node of a distributed inter-regional database of regional innovative enterprises, RTD projects, applied-research consultants etc. Such a regional database, which would be up to date and factually correct if the regional technopole management was doing its job, could be abstracted and the abstract integrated into a European database specific to developing regions. This could be accessed by any LFR technopole or technet, or by innovative SMEs through their technopole contacts: it could in turn be abstracted and embedded in mainstream European databases. Such a database might for example be of specific relevance in 3rd-world development project piloting, where LFR experience is singularly appropriate.

A regional database of this type could form the basis for publishing a Directory of Innovative SMES, or an SME Guide to New Product and Process Development. A network of such regional database nodes, with their associated directories, would constitute a low-cost information-source for use in prospecting synergistic inter-regional linkages by pro-active regional development planning teams located at the technopoles. The regional ANVAR directories in Prance are a step in this direction, although they require some filtration to isolate the active centres. A directory originated by a pro-active technopole development unit would tend to concentrate on the active SMEs and their active research-centre contacts.

A useful resource for a technopole linkage development unit would be a teleconferencing facility, for use in joint meetings between prospective LFR partners, and with Government and Community decision-makers, or between common-interest groups in several LFRs (eg Research Associations; see below).

To summarise, if the development of inter-regional linkages is to take place, it is essential that within each LFR there should be at least one pro-active unit, with adequate resources, knowledge and initiative, in a position to promote and maintain them.

Possible LFR Linkage Actions

(a) Research Associations: a grouping of firms in several LFRs using a particular technology, with support from local research centres, developing where necessary specialist facilities at an appropriate location. We are envisaging the transfer of the old-established RA principle as pioneered in Britain into a mode appropriate to LFR development. For example, problems of metal-forming in small-scale manufacturing, rather than large-scale metal production (as in the Iron and Steel RA); flexible robotics of use in manufacturing SME etc.

(b) Demonstration Projects: one might envisage the establishment of projects, with an appropriate innovative technology implanted in an LFR environment, enabling hands-on experience to be gained in a variety of LFR environments. A demonstration project, or network of projects, might result from a Research Association lobbying; alternatively, an implanted demonstration project might create a demand for an RA to support the diffusion of the experience.

(c) Licencing and technology transfer between an SME and an appropriate partner SME in a developed region, or an innovative SME in a developing LFR. The 'TII network' has begun to service this process, though primarily in the 'structural' LFRs (ie mature regions needing re-development). The French have developed a corresponding network (ARIST) which extends throughout all Regions, interfacing with the TII network at selected points. All this constitutes experience relevant to LFR linkages needing to be picked up and appropriately utilised.

(d) Development of a rationale for the implantation of an appropriate JRC (joint research centre) into a particular LFR environment, for use by several LFRs sharing a problem, or having access to a common type of resource. A more appropriate concept might be for a joint research 'network' rather than 'centre', with co-ordinated facilities in several LFRS. An appropriate problem-area for such a network might be the environment; under this label might emerge a scientific re-discovery of the traditional ecological approach to agriculture ('agriculture biologique'), in the search for alternatives to the CAP.

(c) Organising trips abroad, or periods of study and work-experience, with identified personnel appropriate to identified regional problems. NB: this process should not be dependent on an exchange process, as stipulated in (eg) the COMETT scheme; people in LFRs on balance need to spend more time abroad gaining experience than people in developed regions. It will be necessary for periods abroad by researchers on the academic specialist networks to be appropriately linked as far as possible to regional development programmes, inter-SME collaborations etc.

(f) Development of a positive structured approach, involving the postgraduate RTD personnel and SME management, to language and cultural barriers.

It is essential that decisions relating to ERDF funding applied to any of the above actions be made rapidly and with minimal bureaucracy, by an accessible agency within the LFR technopole, according to guidelines laid down centrally in the Community interest. It should not be necessary for an SME manager or an RTD activist in an LFR to have to submit extensive paperwork for remote sanction. It should be possible to come to an arrangement whereby technopole management provided central Community policy development people with appropriate annual reports on linkage development activity, and were subject to appropriate auditing procedures.

December 1986: Community Enterprise and the 3rd-level Colleges

It was based on a series of seminars at which a discussion paper, circulated in advance to the participating bodies, was analysed and feedback recorded. The content of the paper was adapted to the various college situations. The manual included a page or two on each of the Colleges of the total Irish third-level system, with named contact-points of people in a position to interface actively with community enterprise activists.

We give here the introduction and the epilogue, and in indication of the philosophy of the project; the contact data is of course by now dated.

Community Enterprise Needs; the Colleges as Resources.

A business feasibility study usually requires expertise in design, production, marketing, quality control etc: an interdisciplinary team approach, involving people who might end up as the management team, if the business concept Is implemented. ...

A community enterprise business concept is no different in principle; the first step is to identify one or more energetic and talented people who will supply leadership, identify the required complementary skills, and run with the project. This is true whether the business concept is co-operative or individualistic. Once the leader or leadership group is identified, the role of the community enterprise committee is to be supportive, advisory, helpful with contacts and linkages, but leaving the leadership role to the project management.

The first task of the project management Is to develop a business plan, evaluating the feasibility of all its aspects, at the least possible cost. For this purpose, the 3rd-level Colleges are resources to be drawn upon, supplementing the generalist services available in the 'one-stop shop' from the IDA, CTT, IIRS, ANCO etc with a range of specialist consultancy services, ensuring that the feasibility of the concept can be evaluated in some depth.

The best way of contacting a College to obtain this service varies. Increasingly there is a defined referral procedure via the 'one-stop shop'; this is likely to become the norm. Pending Its generalisation, a direct approach to the College can be made In the manner suggested below for each particular case.

A community enterprise group should expect to pay for specialist services from the College at an appropriate consultancy rate; this is in part usually recoverable from the IDA. Arrangements can sometimes be made, where cash is short, for specialist staff consultancy inputs to a project to be regarded as 'sweat-equity', giving them an ongoing interest in the success of the project, so that in the short run no money changes hands; payment is contingent on success.

Where the feasibility study can he allowed to extend over a convenient time, it is sometimes possible for aspects of it to be adapted to the needs of one or more final-year diploma, degree or post-graduate student projects. In this case the community entrepreneur will have the option of recruiting the student(s) concerned in support of the start-up.

The services of AnCO are of course available for the training of the workforce In the various standard production techniques. It is up to the project management to ensure that College staff providing specialist expertise, AnCO staff providing practical training and the young people concerned (future technicians and operatives) all have well-defined roles In the development of the enterprise.

Epilogue

The foregoing represents an attempt to ease the process of accessing modern technology for those engaged in the community enterprise development process. It is not suggested that there are any magic solutions; just that local expertise may often be available in support of local innovative enterprise. There are sometimes opportunities for observing and assessing student project work, in College Open Days etc; these constitute useful starting-points.

There is broad agreement that the ingredients needed (for the smooth working of the community enterprise development process with College support) are:

(a) a research and consultancy system, involving academic staff, giving insight into problems and opportunities in industry and the marketplace, and contacts with potential entrepreneurs;

(b) development laboratory workspace where the priority is not teaching;

(c) serviced enterprise incubation space close enough to make contact easy between entrepreneurs and their technical consultancy support system;

(d) a positive academic attitude to the 'business plan' aspect of postgraduate work;

(e) the development of team-work, with interactive design, production, marketing, quality control and financial ingredients;

(f) a source of venture-seeding funds.

Not all of these ingredients exist at any given location; however as a result of pressure of demand for service from community enterprise groups, the case can be made and the service can be provided, Initially on an ad-hoe basis, eventually in an organised way.

The community enterprise movement can therefore play a part in helping to integrate the Colleges into the regional enterprise development process. Once a dynamic system exists, having all the above ingredients, there can be said to exist a 'Technology and Enterprise Network', or 'Technopole', which acts as a self-sustaining engine of regional growth. There is no reason why this process should not be initiated as a result of the work of community enterprise groups, using existing Colleges as regional technological resources.

The generation of large numbers of new innovative enterprises, based on accessible regional expertise, is an Important factor in future job-generation. Large firms tend to improve their technology in order to shed jobs; small firms however create them. Community enterprise workers have an important part to play in this process.

This project was in fact an attempt to extend and deepen the TCD experience. The main features of the TCD Applied Research Consultancy Group were:

(a) a single contact-point for problem-solving and/or enterprise development services at the college-industry interface;

(b) some dedicated members of academic staff who agreed to make their research time available in this mode;

(c) some 'project officers', who had evolved through practical-oriented postgraduate projects, to constitute a dedicated service delivery system, without academic teaching load.

July 1987: The NIHE (Limerick) as an Innovative Enterprise Resource

The Innovation Centre was a SFADCO initiative, aimed at fostering native high-tech innovative enterprise. Initially however it was perceived as being parasitic on the educational resources of NIHE, and the interface activity was negligible. The writer was engaged by SFADCO on the following terms of reference to look into this situation:

Terms of Reference

1. To assess the NIHE postgraduate system as a potential source of innovative enterprise concepts;

2. To identify, and where possible quantify, the interactions between teaching, research and industrial consultancy in all relevant faculties, insofar as they relate to the process of generation and support of innovative enterprise concepts;

3. To assess the potential for active support by NIHE for the development of business strategy and marketing (whether innovative or otherwise) among existing SME and small mid-west industry / enterprise.

Inputs needed from NIHE include, primarily, interviews with:

(a) heads of departments having significant postgraduate activity;

(b) postgraduate-supervising staff, particularly those actively engaged in industrial consultancy;

(c) staff engaged in research and / or consultancy who are considering developing their postgraduate supervisory activity.

Inputs needed from management and R&D personnel in firms include:

(d) insight into product and development thinking, particularly into sourcing of innovatory concepts, at an appropriate level of confidentiality;

(e) experience to date of utility of interaction with NIHE, both as regards staff consultancy and postgraduate research;

(i) constraints (if any) affecting the development of postgraduate research sponsorship.

Introduction

This report is one of a series produced by the writer for various State agencies, addressing the general area of the existing and potential role of the third-level Colleges in the process of generation of innovative enterprise. The State bodies concerned were the Youth Employment Agency, the National Enterprise Agency, the National Board for Science and Technology and Shannon Development.

The first two tasks listed dealt primarily with the Regional Colleges and proposed models for interfacing staff consultancy and student project work with local innovative industry and local enterprise development. The roles of the NIHEs and Universities were touched upon peripherally. The second two projects dealt with the potential for effective technology transfer linkage development between "technopoles" in "less-favoured regions". The NBST report attempted to produce a generalised developmental model for "less-favoured regions', with the experience of the Limerick 'technopole' in mind, while the Shannon Development project attempted to identify some potential technology transfer linkage-points in Brittany, taken as a pilot-region on the EEC mainland, of interest to firms in the mid-west region and to NIHE researchers.

(The term "Technopole" is in use in France, also "Technopoles" in Japan, to label a developmental model in which a key role is played by a third-level College, appropriately linked with enterprise development support services, as a dynamic engine for regional economic development, particularly in regions not hitherto touched by the traditional process of economic development rooted in a more affluent central core-region. The concept would appear to have been independently discovered in several locations, one of these, arguably, being Shannon. It is necessary however to strengthen this claim, and to put it on the world technopole map on a credible basis).

In the course of the Brittany project (in the experience of the present writer), and independently from the experience of Shannon Development, mid-west industry and NIHE itself, it emerged that there was a need for significant strengthening of the NIHE interface system, if the linkage opportunities recognised were effectively to be taken up. This aspect is addressed in the present work.

In what follows, we examine first the situation as it exists in the NIHE itself, in Mid-West industry and in the various supportive agencies. Note that we are not providing analysis of the totality of the action in all bodies concerned, but only as much partial analysis as relates the terms of reference.

We then go on to attempt to 'define the problem' as seen from the angle of the NIHE, and from the various firms and agencies concerned, and to relate the disparate problems to a single integrated problem, defined in terms of the absence of an effective integrated interface structure between the NIHE and developing regional industry.

Subsequently we identify some elements of a partial solution arising from already existing activity, both in NIHE and elsewhere; we go on to suggest some further 'modules of partial solution' which might be implemented without significant additional resources.

We go on, in Chapter 6, to outline how the "partial solution" modules as identified might be integrated into an organised, dynamic interface organisation. In Chapter 7 we suggest how the budget of the interface organisation might be topped up from Community funds, identifying it with the development model as projected by the NBST for the Community in its policy development work, on "S&T in LFRs".

In Chapter 8 we conclude by summarising the foregoing chapters in relation to the terms of reference, and finally in Chapter 9 give a number of recommendations in order of priority.

The full text of this (perhaps seminal?) report may be found in the Shannon Development archives, and perhaps in the NIHE archives.

During 1987 and 1988 I tried to build on the foregoing regional and inter-regional contacts with various concepts based on the idea of the need for fringe regions to interact directly, without reference to their metropolitan cores. I had in mind Cork, Plymouth and Roscoff as transport contact-points, supportive of various potential quad-linkage relationships between innovative small firms, colleges and development agencies in the SW of Ireland and Britain, and in Brittany. This initiative came to nothing; it did however underline the general weakness of regional government not only in Ireland but also in Britain and France, consequent on the imperial top-down cultures typical of central government in London and Paris.

March 1988: The Mentec Customer Analysis System

It was an attempt to combine relational database technology with the then fashionable 'expert system' approach, in an approach to building an accessible record of in-house sales and maintenance experience with regard to customers and products in several distinct business sectors. The 'expert system' aspect involved combining qualitative judgments of sales people with hard data, and it was somewhat naively assumed that these judgments would be forthcoming from the sales people who were seen as the end-users.

While a working version was built, the project stalled, and Mike Pierce, though the Chief, found himself unable to push it through against the resistance of the sales people, who had not been in at the initial basic conceptual design stage; this had evolved interactively between Mike and myself.

A salutary lesson was learned, on both sides, which was later developed in the 1990s, with IMS and the IT-USE project. It is also an illustration of the 'expertise elicitation problem' on which many 'expert systems' foundered.

I reproduce an overview document. The editing may be problematic, due to the original having been right-justified, though this I think has been taken care of in a later revision.

Abstract

Background

The basic idea of the system emerged in the course of a generalised approach to finding out about 'expert systems' in the context of the specific marketing needs of the firm. It rapidly emerged that any venture into ES would be a waste of time unless a structured database existed, reflecting in-house knowledge of the marketing process, such as to encourage the use (and where possible explicit formulation) of expertise in its analysis.

We began therefore by setting up a customer-file, in which the emphasis was on the status of the customer with regard to each product: installed, potential, 'not-on', considered but rejected, planned etc. We added in some qualitative parameters for firm status, sector, sector status, contact, contact status, hardware, cumulative sales effort to date on each product, status of the firm as a 'good payer'. With this we were able to produce lists of potential candidates for products among existing customers for other products; this had not been done before, and was of interest.

Potential customers for product X, who were known to be 'good payers', in buoyant sectors, where the contact is good, obviously could be attributed priority status.

When the project began, the qualitative parameters were available as estimates from the experience of the Managing Director. The firm was in a rapid expansionist phase, and the feeling was that this situation was not likely to last long; it would be necessary to formalise the process and get others involved in it, in some consistent manner.

The 'Mark I' system was useful as far as it went, but then the question arose 'how do you deal with the prospects?'. It rapidly emerged that it was not simply a matter of tagging on some prospect logic, but somehow embedding the customer system as the culmination of a structure rooted in the publicly available data on firms in each sector of the economy.

Prospects into Customers

Thus we can define the A-file in terms of 'status, with regard to all products, of customers and A-prospects', and the C-file as an appropriately defined sub-set of the Eolas file. The B-file makes the bridge between the two.

Why is it appropriate to have this 'bridge'? The answer to this question is not easy, but it seems to be a feasible way to handle a transitional process, if the marketing logic proceeds along the following steps:

1. A mail-shot to a selected sub-set of the C-file (the system enables this to be done, by sector, area, size etc) generates a response from a proportion of targets. Respondents automatically qualify for a place in the B-file, which has space for contact, market, technology and other relevant information.

2. A record in the B-file is set up by entering the name of the prospect, exactly as it is on record in the C-file, together with a 6- character abbreviation, as required by the A-file. (This requirement follows from the fact that many of the displays from the A-file are information-rich, requiring the names to be abbreviated if they are to fit the screen at one line per firm.)

3. Infill of B-level information may initially be sparse; there are required visits by representatives, insights from consultants known to the firm who also know the prospect, or insights from other people in-house who have encountered the prospect. There are two related files provided, as aids to this infill process: these are (a) an 'experts' file, listing consultant experts known to the firm, their areas of expertise, and an indication of the (prospect?) firms they consult with, and (b) a 'sales lead' file, which permits staff members of the firm to enter potentially interesting pieces of sales intelligence, possibly relating to an innovation, involving an expert, in the context of a prospect (eg 'firm X has bought a Vax and is using it for Y').

4. The B-file cross-references with the 'experts' file and the 'sales lead' file, in the sense that a scan of sales leads which names firms and experts will show up if the firms and experts named are on the B-file. A scan of the B-file will show if there is an expert on tap.

5. (This cross-referencing aspect of the supplementary files at the B-level should be regarded as an experimental development area, in which we are feeling our way.)

The A-file

Priority listings for sales work on the A-file can be made from time to time, on the basis of logical attributes: eg 'list all potential targets for product x having hardware y (required for x) where the contact status is good, and where the sector is expanding rapidly'.

Sector status is a time-variable, and currently is on record as a qualitative judgment parameter. Monthly update information is however available from the CSO, but this is 'noisy'. (A specific sector growth-rate could range from +20% to -20% in successive months.) An appropriate indicator would be available from an 'exponentially smoothed' analysis of the past 6 to 12 months of the CSO time series, with the smoothing parameter adjusted to match an estimated 'real' volatility of each sector. There is on the agenda to develop a programme in Basic to do this, fed directly by a monthly floppy from the CSO, and putting out each month a revised set of smoothed sector priorities into the system sector-file.

Prospect status is initially estimated, with a qualitative measure put in at B-file time. When the prospect becomes a customer, and develops a payment record, this status becomes objectivised. At present, the customer 'payment status' is a judgment variable, fed in from the experience of the Managing Director. The possibility exists of deriving this estimate objectively from the credit control records, with an interface into the accounting system. This is also on the agenda.

Updating

The B-file can be updated by whoever is responsible for analysing mailshot responses and taking on board warm prospects. The associated 'experts' file could be the responsibility of whoever in the firm specialises in seeking outside knowhow for specific purposes. The 'sales lead' file should be open for additions from anyone with a nose for opportunities; it could be browsed and filtered from time to time by top sales management.

The A-file should be updated not only by sales management at sale-time, but also by maintenance people who have ongoing contact with customers, and may observe changing levels of opportunity.

The present level of updating of all files is uneven; to get the system operational will require significant effort, by those who will become the eventual routine users, at eliminating the backlog.

Language

Development Agenda

In the medium term, the interface with the CSO sectoral data could be developed, so as to enable a marketing programme dependent on sector performance to be planned on the basis of up-to-date information. We are talking here of a time-scale of the order of a month or two, at the present rate of development.

In the longer term, the question has to be faced whether this is an ad-hoc system or whether it has the makings of a customisable product. If the latter is the case, it needs to be structured as a funded development project, so as to attract IDA support. It would also be appropriate to interface it with some of the ES work going on in TCD. The best time to pick a good postgraduate student, for a project commencing in September, is the month of March.

If the present prototype is Mark II, it should be feasible to develop Mark III as an engineered version of Mark II, possibly in Powerhouse, in-house between now and September, for pilot testing with selected customers.

The system developed in TCD would thus be Mark IV, and perhaps can draw on the experience of the DIFEAD system for managing a multiplicity of knowledge- and data-bases which has been developed in TCD for medical diagnostic ES applications. If it works, it would be a natural successor to Mark III, and in the meantime Mark III should be recovering some of the investment in the development costs.

The definition of these steps in terms of IDA project funding is a task which the present writer can take on board, given an appropriate contract and niche in the team.

In 1989 there emerged two opportunities, one being the makings of a deal with the Irish firm IMS, which was into building itself up with the aid of EU-funded R&D projects, and the other being a technology transfer network which had some EU support, known as TII. The first was a winner, and dominated action for the next decade. The second was a loser, and I treat it briefly first. For a time both ran together.

The TII Network in 1989

Together we identified what looked like contacts with potential, and we explored what was on offer with EU support. I had in 1988 invested in my first PC, and was interfaced with the Internet, using an acoustic coupler, at a relatively slow speed. I spent some time getting a feel for the network, and there was much talk of new and improved software. When this arrived, however, it turned out that the thinking was totally bureaucratic and print-oriented. The opportunities, which then existed, for intelligent structured searching of a content-rich relational database, by people who knew what they wanted, had not been taken up. In other words, the people who designed the software had not consulted what the end-users might have needed. They took on board the current procedures of existing regional government development offices, and exchanged bits of paper. For us it was unusable. It was good that I had the IMS contract to fall back on.

Introducing Irish Medical Systems

One thing led to another, and there was a sequence of development projects relating to knowledge-intensive systems of one kind or another, in association with a network of collaborators all over Europe, from which much was learned. To go into this in full would be a major work; keywords might include 'human-computer interface', usability, case-based reasoning, fuzzy profile matching, parametric indexing, etc.

The firm when I joined it in 1988 had about 10 people working, and by the end of the century there were 100. I found the work experience enjoyable and stimulating, and I stayed with this organisation for longer than any in my earlier existence. The overall positive career experience suggests the value of an original formation in physics research, as an introduction to the problem-solving process at an abstracted level.

Some navigational notes:

Copyright Dr Roy Johnston 1999