LEADERSHIP
Ireland must set itself the goal of becoming the most efficient, most highly innovative food and drink country in the world, says Harvard’s Mary Shelman, co-author of the Bord Bia ‘Pathways for Growth’ report. She spoke to Jim Aughney (BComm 76)
Innovation food sector I
key for Irish
RELAND should adopt a strategy of developing a world-class agricultural industry by 2016 and set itself the goal of becoming the most efficient, most highly innovative food and drink coun- try in the world. That is according to a new report entitled
‘Pathways for Growth’ prepared for Bord Bia by Professor David Bell and Mary Shelman of Harvard Business School. Ireland is at an enviable starting point when it comes to the race to produce exactly the type of food that a growing number of consumers are demanding, Shelman tells me, although she does not underesti- mate the challenges we face. The report she co-authored this year with her colleague Bell rec- ommends the setting of specific goals to be achieved by 2016: the creation of an umbrella brand for food and drink and the fostering of a climate of entrepreneurship. The three major challenges the indus- try faces, she says, are: fragmentation and a lack of scale; limited consumer orientation in export markets; and low investment in the future of the sector. “Innovation can be very expensive, especially if you are looking at research and development projects based on science in the lab,” says
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