REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE BIOLINK USA IRELAND LIFE SCIENCES AWARDS
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE BIOLINK USA IRELAND LIFE SCIENCES AWARDS, MOUNT SINAI MEDICAL CENTER, NEW YORK
It gives me great pleasure to be here today at Mount Sinai Medical Center for the fifth Annual Conference of BioLink USA Ireland.
This afternoon we recognise and honour members of our community for their accomplishments in science, education and research. We congratulate our eight award recipients whose passion and perseverance inspire and set new standards for us and whose outstanding work and achievements strive to improve the quality of our lives.
I am also delighted to meet with the visiting delegates who are attending today’s conference and would like to extend my warmest appreciation to you for taking the time to attend this important event.
I welcome also the fact that both Enterprise Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland are represented here today. These agencies are charged with the development of the economies on both parts of the island of Ireland. Enterprise Ireland is joined by seven Irish companies who are currently on a trade mission to the US and Invest Northern Ireland by two companies. All of these companies will be continuing on to Boston next week for the BIO 2007 event, and 2007 seems set to be a watershed year in the history of Ireland, North and South, so the omens are good for all those planning for a successful future.
In a few days time the Democratic Unionist Party’s Rev Ian Paisley and Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness will jointly lead a Government for all the people of Northern Ireland. It is only a few short weeks ago that it would have been impossible to find them in the same room never to mind the same government. At last the new beginning promised in the Good Friday Agreement is about to dawn and it is important to say that none of this could have been possible without our friends in the United States. The triumph of peace in Ireland is substantially part owned by the Government and people of America and so is an occasion of hope-filled pride on both sides of the sea that divides us.
After the work of building a political consensus sufficient to the day comes the work of building a successful future, focussing on jobs, education, health care - the things that give people peace of mind, the things that are at the heart of the mission of BioLink.
As an all-island organisation, BioLink is already well attuned to the coming future of collaboration and partnership which will transform Ireland’s fortunes North and South as the intrinsic common sense of an all-island economy begins to vindicate itself in the success stories it will surely generate. The Irish Government and British Government have launched a multi million euro intitiative to support collaborative cross-border research and development, and, of course, with R&D, especially in the biosciences, at the very heart of our economic development the Government has, allocated an unprecedented 1.3 billion dollars to R & D and $3.5 billion to innovation and technology investment to ensure that the legend of the Celtic Tiger is surpassed by that of the Celtic Einstein.
This is music to BioLink’s ears for BioLink USA Ireland began its life four years ago to facilitate the trans-Atlantic exchange of scientific expertise and innovation and to build a specific network for Irish and Irish-Americans working here in the life sciences sector which would plug them in to the rapid developments taking place in the industry in Ireland and the opportunities that were beginning to blossom. With over 900 members across 10 chapters in the US, we can see BioLink is an idea whose time had very definitely arrived.
Ireland’s main natural resource is, and has always been, the brainpower of our people. Your work ensures that we harvest and harness that resource as a worldwide phenomenon by facilitating collaborations that have already, in these few short years, generated considerable business and investment not to mention the cross-fertilisation of personnel and ideas, the seedcorn of tomorrow’s good news.
We belong to a very fortunate generation, the best educated and most successful our respective countries have ever known and, just as US investors helped drive the success story of the Celtic Tiger, today a new generation of Irish entrepreneurs, many of whom have worked with the US companies in Ireland, on staff or as suppliers, have moved across to the US to take advantage of the huge business opportunities in this country. Irish companies have invested some 22 billion dollars in America and now employ 74,600 people in the US. There are over 230 Irish companies located throughout the US in cities such as New York, Boston, Atlanta, Los Angeles and San José. Start-up business activity in Ireland is one of the strongest in Europe and many of these companies have been established by returning emigrants from the US where they acquired key technology and business skills. So the evidence is in, and growing, that we are very good for each other and good with each other.
Companies from Ireland such as Biotrin, Luxcel, Diabetica, Fusion Antibodies, Cellix, Sigmoid, Berand, Pharamtrin and Crème software are expanding their businesses both here in the US and in many other global locations. We are very proud of these companies and, through agencies such as Enterprise Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland, we will continue to invest in their development and expansion to help them grow to become significant world players.
Ireland is in the best position it has ever been in its history – we have the convergence of peace and prosperity, considerable influence in the European Union and considerable cultural and proven economic compatibility with the United States. Northern Ireland has the chance to widen the circle to be a third key player in that geometry of success. The three of us together combine dollar, euro and sterling in a unique way. BioLink has a tantalising role to play in our shared future. I would like to take this opportunity to thank its members, its dedicated committee especially Dr. Denis Headon and Dr. Deirdre McDonnell, and I thank you all for putting your shoulders to this great work of making Ireland and the United States the best they can be.
We are here today to present a number of important and well-deserved awards and I would like to ask Denis to announce the recipients.