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Sunday Tribune, late 2003
An Irish
academic has been delivering a controversial lecture in US
universities which blames the government for the economic
difficulties
facing the Irish software industry. Sean O Nuallain, a DCU lecturer who is
currently a visiting scholar
at Stanford in the US while a dispute with DCU
is being resolved, gave the talk at UC Berekeley two weeks ago and says
that
he has since been asked to give the same lecture at UC Irvine.
The lecture is called Requiem For the Irish
Software Industry; A Cautionary
Tale of Governmental Incompetenceı and reflects O Nuallainıs view that the
government,
rather than the economic downturn, is responsible for the job
losses and company closures experienced by the Irish software
industry in
the past three years.
³The rot started in 1997,² said O Nuallain. ³Before that civil servants had
taken the approach if it moves, fund it and if it doesnıt move, kick it till
it moves, then fund it. They operated
under the radar of politicians and
from that we got companies like Trintech, Iona and Riverdeep.²
O Nuallain argues
that it was the involvement of politicians that skewed
industrial development policy, diverting resources to projects
that he
believes have been failures. O Nuallain argues that MediaLab Europe and the
Digital Hub are the fruits of
politiciansı involvement, and that the
resources spent on those projects should go directly to startup software
companies
instead.
³There is enough money there to allow young, technically brilliant guys to
get through this with some dignity,²
said O Nuallain. ³What I think needs to
be done is for MediaLab to be shut down instantly and the resources made
available
to startups and let the Darwinian process kick in.²
O Nuallain does not believe that it is the sharp global downturn
in the
technology sector that has been responsible for the Irish sectorıs woes.
³There has been a downturn, but
the problem has been the misdirection of
government resources,² he said.
The lecture delivered by O Nuallain strongly
criticises the state agency
responsible for indigenous industrial development, Enterprise Ireland, and O
Nuallain
said that he believes the agency does not have sufficient expertise
in the software sector.
³It is just not true
that we have directed funds away from startups. We
funded more startups this year than last. In fact we are funding as
many
this year as are available and there is no scarcity of funds for startups,²
said Patricia McLister, Enterprise
Irelandıs divisional manager for software
and international services.
³World markets have been in recession globally.
Companies are now looking
for return on investment within 6-12 months and companies have to work hard
to secure
sales; thatıs just the world companies have to live in,² said
McLister, who said that the body does have technology expertise.
³When
people approach us we call in technologists to asses the proposal, just like
a venture capitalist would. We
focus on the business plan.²
Another plank of technology industrial development has been the
establishment of Science
Foundation Ireland (SFI), a body that funds basic
research. O Nuallain believes that the long term focus of SFI is not
appropriate, and that funding should go to struggling companies on a shorter
term basis.
³Experience has shown
that investing in the kind of research that is being
funded by SFI with proper couplings between academia and industry
generates
innovation, raises productivity and new wealth in successfully developed
economies,² said a statement
from SFI. ³Sun MicroSystems, Yahoo! and Google
were all spin outs from an academic research culture.²
³We still
have brilliant programmers and technologists,² said O Nuallain.
³But if something isnıt done for the industry in two
years, not 10, there
wonıt be a software industry any more.²
Wall street journal July 5 2001
By DAVID ARMSTRONG
| Staff Reporter of THE WALL
STREET JOURNAL
Media Lab Europe arrived in Ireland last year with a certain swagger. Irish Prime Minister Bertie
Ahern toasted the advanced-technology research center at a swank grand opening in Dublin. Hometown superstar Bono, of the
rock band U2, took a seat on the board of directors. The hoopla was understandable. The center was the first offshoot of
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's original Media Lab, one of the best-known research centers in the world. But today,
few in Ireland are lifting a glass to the newcomer. Mr. Ahern finds himself defending his government's sponsorship to critics
in Parliament, Irish academics accuse the lab of siphoning off national resources, while research has barely gotten off the
ground -- and Bono has yet to attend a board meeting.
The problems have significance well beyond the Irish border.
MIT and the Indian government launched a one-year exploratory project under the name Media Lab Asia that will determine the
framework of a 10-year, $1 billion plan for a permanent Media Lab in India. A Latin American Media Lab site is also being
considered. But the Irish experience highlights the difficulty of exporting the concept. One holdup is that MIT's faculty
members have been decidedly cool to the idea of leaving the school's campus near Boston to work in Ireland. A couple of them
have rejected entreaties to lead the project, says U.S. Media Lab head Nicholas Negroponte. Added to that, corporate financial
backing, the core support for the U.S. Media Lab, has only recently begun to materialize in Europe.
Only six
research scientists, eight research associates and assistants, and 16 graduate students are now working, or will be in the
next few months, at the Media Lab in Dublin, a warehouse renovated by the Irish government to house 250 researchers and students.
"People are really nervous because it is growing slowly," says Glorianna Davenport, a researcher at the U.S. Media Lab who
helped start the Irish version. Ms. Davenport is enthusiastic about the prospects for the European lab, and says the process
of hiring the most-qualified researchers shouldn't be rushed. The idea for a European Media Lab seemed like a natural. The
first Media Lab has attracted $500 million in corporate funding from big outfits such as Motorola Inc., Intel Corp., and
United Technologies Corp. Media Lab research has helped develop sensors to prevent air bags from inflating dangerously on
children, toy robots for Lego AG, wearable computer devices and other new technologies. Before turning to Ireland, Media
Lab was spurned by the Swedish government, which decided to launch a similar facility using local universities. Prior to that,
plans to open a Media Lab in Germany collapsed. Although Ireland was willing, it took two years to negotiate terms. "The Irish
agreement took such a long time we lost some momentum," Mr. Negroponte says. "That has to be rebuilt."
The Irish
government is spending $48.8 million to start the lab, including a $9.5 million payment to MIT for the right to use
the Media Lab name and intellectual property, according to John Callinan, a former Irish government official who is now the
research center's chief operating officer. The amount astounded local academics, feeding longstanding complaints of inadequate
university funding. Some Irish researchers created a Web site lampooning U.S. Media Lab projects such as musical sneakers
-- footwear with a wireless sensor card that transmits a dancer's moves to a personal computer that produces musical streams
-- and Duncan the Highland Terrier, an effort to construct a virtual dog.
Many Irish academics resent the implication
the country needs MIT. "We are academics of much better standing than anything they will ever attract to Media Lab Europe,"
says Sean O Nuallain, a computer-applications lecturer at Dublin City University. " We have been doing very well on very limited
resources. Frankly, this is as horrendous a scam as I have actually seen."
Other critics question whether the
European lab will promote economic growth, as the government has promised. The U.S. lab "doesn't have a great record of spinning
off companies," says Kevin Ryan, the vice president of academics at Limerick University, who formerly headed another research
facility in Ireland.
Rejecting that criticism, Mr. Negroponte says the U.S. Media Lab's technology has spun off 50
companies. "MIT is real different and very entrepreneurial," he says. "Maybe this will be a kick in the pants for [Irish]
academics."
Connor Long, the director of research at Dublin City University, says the "colossal" sum granted to the
Media Lab was awarded outside the normal competitive process required of local universities. "It is simply strange that taxpayers'
money would be spent in this way for an institution with no history in society, that didn't contribute to society before it
arrived," he says, while Irish "institutions have contributed to a generation of graduate students and the overall society."
Mr. Ahern, responding to similar criticisms in Parliament, has defended the deal as a smart investment, saying the
country was "blessed to have an institution such as MIT coming here." He also noted that government funding for local research
is being increased significantly.
Mr. Negroponte acknowledges Media Lab Europe has not taken off as quickly as hoped
but adds that he is happy with the January hiring of Rudolph Burger, an expert in digital photography and a former Xerox Corp.
vice president, to direct the Dublin lab. In addition, the Irish facility has begun to attract corporate sponsors, including
Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson and Eircom PLC, who have promised a total of $3 million in annual support. The U.S. lab has 170
sponsors contributing $36 million a year.
Partly to placate critics, the Irish government has come up with $1.1
million more to start a dozen joint projects teaming Irish universities with Media Lab researchers. Mr. Negroponte says the
projects will provide the foundation for more ambitious work in the future.
Write to David Armstrong at david.armstrong@wsj.com
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