In 2011, while Ireland and the eurozone were still deep in crisis, Ireland’s European Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn was writing up some important plans for the EU’s innovation agenda. Geoghegan-Quinn was managing the research, innovation and science portfolio at the time and had the task of consolidating the EU’s various science and research funding programmes into one framework. With Europe in the throes of recession, heads of government and lawmakers were betting on tech and innovation to pave the way out of the doldrums. Years of budgetary haggling and deal-making followed and the result was Horizon 2020, a six-year €80 billion…