Research, Development & Innovation

Ireland’s spending on Research and Development (R&D) is significantly lower than the average across European Union countries. AmCham believes that this funding gap could place Ireland at a disadvantage in the race to attract new, high value, businesses into the country. AmCham believes that R&D investment should be increased, particularly in Ireland’s traditionally strong areas such as health care and agri-food.

AmCham also considers that Ireland should capitalise on its already significant manufacturing sector by investing in Industry 4.0 technologies to become a leader in next generation manufacturing. The Chamber recommends that Ireland should focus on technologies including, Industrial Sensor & Industrial Internet of Things, System Integration & Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Robotics and Cobotics which it believes are critical to the success of Industry 4.0.