Europe’s “Silicon Valley” has embraced a high concentration of tech startups and mega multinationals
Dublin continues to attract tech multinationals into the country, allowing for the corporations to penetrate European markets efficiently. Over the years, the IDA has successfully attracted a record breaking amount of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The Information Communications Technology (ICT) sector alone employs 37,000 people in Ireland, and generates EUR 35 billion in exports annually. Richard Shakespeare, Assistant Chief Executive of Dublin City Council, stated, “Dublin has established itself as a key location within the global tech arena, and the Dublin Docklands, now nicknamed ‘Silicon Docks’ is probably the single biggest and most successful urban regeneration project that this country has ever seen.”
Dublin has quickly emerged as a leading European tech hub, continues to allure large firms, and has reignited an entrepreneurial spirit across the nation. The city is routinely named one of the best startup cities in the world. The ecosystem actively supports new ventures and financing is readily available. Dublin is one of the most prosperous areas of the country, and continues to grow by fostering startups and maximizing their global potential. Indigenous startups find flexible business support services and can scale quickly with on the ground expertise.
Martina Fitzgerald, CEO of Scale Ireland, the organization responsible for representing tech startup and scale-up companies in Ireland stated, “We support start-up founders by advocating for the best conditions to help them achieve their ambitions and thrive. Despite the pandemic, many Irish tech startup and scale-up companies were resilient and were recruiting staff at a time when jobs were lost in other sectors. As we emerge from the pandemic, we believe the tech start-up sector will have a greater role in Ireland’s economic future. So, there’s an opportunity to provide further training and educational programs to allow workers to avail of the increasing number of jobs in this sector.”
Tech giants are helping increase employment figures and GDP, particularly during the pandemic, but pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and the financial services sectors also have colossal operations in the nation. Although Ireland’s economy was hard hit by the global financial crisis, the economy recently flourished beyond reasonable expectations. This in part was thanks to FDI and foreign highly skilled workers continuing to relocate to Ireland even during the crisis.
According to Shakespeare, “Talent attracts talent, and success breeds success. The best place to innovative is where there are a lot of innovators. Innovation happens when there is a blend and mixture of all the right ingredients, and Dublin has all the right ingredients. There are over 500 companies within Dublin’s ecosystem, and there is plenty of room for more within our city. In a way, our Docklands are a testbed for innovators. For instance, entities are working on autonomous travel and pervasive 5G networks within the Docklands, and on a pilot basis are trying to see how they can scale their concepts and innovations.”
He continued, “Dublin is an excellent European location to learn, innovative, work, and explore. Dublin City Council strives to maximize the city’s high quality of life, tourism opportunities, and to create a thriving business ecosystem. As a council we have proven we are very capable at enabling businesses and always extend a warm welcome to new entrants into the market.”
However, with all of the success comes some challenges. The city’s ability to draw such a high level of international business has increased the cost of living for the residents of the capital and has made housing-for-all an urgent priority. Nonetheless, the Irish government is currently fast-track planning applications to meet the increasing housing and office demands of the city. This can be seen in Dublin’s record level of cranes working on new developments.
Shakespeare concluded, “We are currently focusing on creating innovative solutions to overcome our city’s challenges, and working to ensure Dublin will remain an exceptional city to visit, live, and work. When it comes to competitiveness, it is not always about the race to the bottom in terms of costs and tax rates. People like working in a nice environment. Not far from the Dublin Docklands you can be in the Wicklow Mountains, on beautiful beaches on the sea, and it’s this entire package that really makes the location exceptional. The city is moving in the right direction and will become even more of a global center in the future.”
