Good Food Ireland (GFI) continues its excellent work in a new report highlighting the importance of food to Irish tourism. I absolutely agree that food is central to the visitor experience. For example, overseas visitors to Ireland spend more money on food and drink (36%) than on any other item. By comparison, visitors spend 28% of their money on bed & board, 17% on shopping, 11% on internal transport, 6% on sightseeing/entertainment and 3% on miscellaneous services.
This report makes a valuable contribution in highlighting the economic value of small producers and operators to the Irish economy. It estimates that GFI's members contribute €50 million through their purchases of Irish food.
However, one of the findings which really surprised me, was that 'there is simply not enough funding for long-term investment in R&D'. I think the real issue, is not that there isn't enough funding, it is that respondants don't know it's there. €641 million was allocated to the Agri-Food Research Programme within the Science, Technology and Innovation Fund 2007-2013. The good news, is that a further €80 billion has been allocated for research and innovation in the EU's next multi-annual finanical framework 2014-2020. Perhaps funding agencies need to find a better way to communicate what's on offer, particularly to SME's.
However, one of the findings which really surprised me, was that 'there is simply not enough funding for long-term investment in R&D'. I think the real issue, is not that there isn't enough funding, it is that respondants don't know it's there. €641 million was allocated to the Agri-Food Research Programme within the Science, Technology and Innovation Fund 2007-2013. The good news, is that a further €80 billion has been allocated for research and innovation in the EU's next multi-annual finanical framework 2014-2020. Perhaps funding agencies need to find a better way to communicate what's on offer, particularly to SME's.
No comments:
Post a Comment