Originally Published October 2000
Ireland on My Mind
In
May, I spent a few days visiting companies in Ireland as part
of my research for the Regional Focus section in this issue. I picked up some interesting insights during my conversations
with industry suppliers, some of which were not included in the
article, others which were only briefly mentioned. I thought that
I would share a few of these observations with you here.
Putting to rest the American wake
The Irish have a reverence for tradition, but you won't find anyone mourning the passing of the "American wake." The expression was coined during the lean years, when Ireland's young people routinely fled to the United States to find meaningful work. "Our youth were leaving in droves out of economic necessity, many of them never to be seen again," explains Eamonn Sheehy, business development manager, healthcare, at the Industrial Development Agency (IDA).
As the Irish economy barrelled ahead—gross domestic product has grown an average 9% between 1995 and 1999—the country has seen immigration skyrocket. Returning Irish nationals account for as many as 50% of the people establishing residency in Ireland, according to the IDA. And that has Irish eyes smiling.
Devices contribute to economic healing
A healthy respect for madness
Ireland's ambition to be a world-class player in IT was boosted by the recent announcement that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) had chosen Dublin as the site for MediaLabEurope. Modelled after the world-renowned MIT Media Lab research and education centre, MediaLabEurope will initially focus on Internet-related technologies and applications. Hands-on interdisciplinary collaboration between industry and academe will be the modus operandi, according to a press release issued by MIT. Ireland was selected as the site partly because of "its great respect for madness," according to MIT MediaLab director Nicholas Negroponte. He figures that a touch of lunacy is needed in an endeavour that Negroponte describes as "seamless, antiestablishment, and chaotic." As our industry becomes increasingly wired, from the development and manufacture of devices to healthcare delivery, this manic creativity may well have a salutary effect on the next generation of medical products.
Narrow roads, wide lorries
Ireland has the fifth most competitive economy in the world, according to a recent report from the World Economic Forum (WEC). But the report also points out some of the country's deficiencies, one of which I became painfully familiar with during my travels: the road network.
In terms of the quality of its road infrastructure, only Greece fares worse than Ireland among EU member states, according to the WEC. Motorways are few and far between, and the nominal highways are a battleground where passenger cars are in fierce competition with lorries for precious plots of asphalt. If you are planning a business trip that involves driving in Ireland, take my advice: always double the amount of time that you think it will take to get from one place to the next. With that buffer and a bit of luck, you just might get to your meeting on time.
