How Ireland became a hub for technology-based companies through digital transformation

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In the last several years, different sectors shifted towards the digitization and digital improvements. With the rise of this trend, many countries started adopting various policies regarding this aspect.

Every year, European Commission publishes reports regarding progress in digital transformation for every EU member state. Ireland, one of the smallest states in the Union, has been ranked in the top 10 in the last three years.

According to DESI index ranking by European Commission, Ireland held 5th place in 2020 and 2021. Thanks to the success in digital transformation, Ireland became a hub for technological companies. But how did Ireland achieve this position?

Firstly, Ireland highly integrated digital transformation for purposes of different industries and has shown great scores in regards of e-commerce. The country introduced wider coverage of very high capacity network (VHCN), which increased from 35% to 83% in the last year. In addition to VHCN, Ireland made a perfect score of 100 in the sphere of digital public services, particularly in providing open data and public services to its citizens and businesses.

Shortly after the start of digital transformation, Irish government founded the Enterprise Ireland, the organization responsible for further implementation of development strategies laid out by government and EC. The primary goal is to form collaboration network with Irish enterprises and to form various export sales on global market with introduction of digital transformation programs.

This is being done through various programs organized by Enterprise Ireland. First such projects started when Brexit happened, since many Irish companies and enterprises were tightly connected with the British ones. There are regular seminars organized, with the aim of outlining practical steps in order to manage and decrease impact of this event on businesses. Furthermore, Enterprise Ireland started an online learning platform, called eiLearn, with the goal to reduce the costs and increase the efficiency of spreading digital transformation to all corners of the country. 

Since early December, Enterprise Ireland is staging one major project, with one more on the way. Project called “Spotlight on Skills” is done in partnership with Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. The main purpose of this project is to help businesses create necessary company skills plan, identify and address their critical and crucial skills, build higher capacity and capability and achieve strategic growth, with introduction of higher level of digital transformation.

The other previously mentioned project is Call for Expressions of Interest. This program focuses on forming three research performing organizations (RPO) or Higher Education Institutions (HEI). Privately owned companies that specialize in these two fields will need to send their applications in order to participate in establishing these new organizations. The successful applicants will then be called for a meeting, and all those who pass this stage will then be called to establish European Digital Innovation Hubs. These hubs will be financed jointly by European Commission and Enterprise Ireland. Further support will be given by Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The focus goal of these hubs will be to provide support for businesses and organizations in their digital transformation and outline latest advances in cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and High-Performance Computing (HPC).

Additionally, Government of Ireland issued the Industry 4.0 Strategy for period 2020-2025. The primary goal of this strategy is to outlay possible improvements and implementation of those improvements in manufacturing businesses, especially in digital technologies and transformation. This project will be primarily executed through joint work of government and Irish companies. As part of the program, government will make special conditions for all those willing to take part in this endeavor, in order to facilitate the development of new technologies. Moreover, the diffusion and absorption of these new technologies will play a crucial role in further digital transformation of the country and its economy.

All these previously mentioned projects, programs and strategies are the key for Ireland’s success in attraction various technology-based companies. With its innovative and supportive plans, Ireland poses as a unique and perfect candidate for such businesses to thrive and prosper, while also being supported by various funds and resources. (photo credit: ceo-review)