Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. I hope you are enjoying the conference and you’re finding the workshops informative and insightful.
I want to talk to you today about the Irish experiences of digital transformation from an economic and societal point of view.
I hope that you will gain useful insights from the lessons Ireland has learned as we’ve tried to manage the global processes shaping our society in the past thirty years.
I think it’s very appropriate that I speak to you here in this wonderful and vibrant city of Hong Kong. It symbolises so much to so many. This area has long been a focal point of human attention as a centre for trade.
All eyes will turn to Asia, as it becomes the engine of cultural, technological and economic progress globally.
Hong Kong represents how a society can consistently adapt to global changes successfully. In Ireland, we are constantly striving to do the same.
In Ireland we recognise that change happens. And it is never easy. But it must be embraced.
As the people fortunate enough to have the power to shape the digital transformation we must take the practical steps to ensure that the digital transformation of our societies is complete. By that I mean that it brings the maximum benefit to the maximum number of people.
In Ireland we have been very successful in using economic transformation to achieve this. We have gone from being called ‘Europe’s poor cousin’ to becoming the EU’s most successful economy. Our GDP growth has between 5 and 6 percent on average for over a decade. Our EU membership has been very important in that context.
However there is more to do. We see technology, particularly digital transformation, as a method of providing people with the chance to participate fully in the benefits of Ireland’s economic development.
Ireland’s economic success stemmed from our ability to adapt to the changes forced on us by global conditions.
However, and this is another important insight, some of the decisions that helped us adapt only become evident thirty years after they were made.
The decision to introduce free second level education in the mid 60’s and the introduction of third level technological education in the early 70’s were examples of such decisions. Our well-educated young people became a major pull factor for inward investment.
Ireland now has one of the highest education participation rates in the world. 81% of Irish students complete second level and approximately 60% go on to higher education. Ireland has the highest proportion of engineering and technology graduates in the world.
A well-educated workforce will help us maintain competitiveness in a global economy where people’s creativity and innovativeness are a nation’s competitive advantage.
Another important decision made towards the end of the 80s was the introduction of a very favourable corporate tax regime of 12.5%, the lowest corporate tax regime in Europe. This attracted large multinational companies to set up in Ireland. This was the beginning of pro-business policies initiated by the Irish Government, which continue to this day.
As a consequence:
- The ICT sector in Ireland today employs close to 100,000 people in over 1,300 companies;
- 7 of world’s top 10 leading ICT companies have a substantial base in Ireland;
- Today three in every ten personal computers sold in Europe are manufactured in Ireland;
- and the country is the world’s biggest software exporter.
Today’s digital transformation requires equally visionary decisions. We are all aware that ICT, and in particular the convergence of informatics, telecommunications and mass media technologies, continue to dramatically reshape and transform the ways we organise our lives.
The ‘Knowledge Economy’ represents a set of fundamental changes to the economy driven by these convergences. Most countries recognise that building a knowledge economy is central to competitiveness in the global economy.
However I dislike the phrase because I believe it limits our ambitions to purely economic success.
We must aim to build a knowledge society where technology provides people with the opportunity to realise their potential - economically, culturally and socially.
In building this knowledge society we must try not to replicate the mistakes of the past. Allowing a digital form of social exclusion and disadvantage to occur will hamper any knowledge economy.
Central to building the knowledge society is the provision of broadband to all citizens. I read a report recently on the effects of broadband on low-income families.
The survey showed that 75% of families, when given access to broadband, were more likely to exchange emails, check out health information, listen to the news, conduct research for school, take a course to improve their work performance and look for jobs. In other words, broadband enhanced peoples’ abilities to contribute to their communities and to the economy.
Because of these benefits our Government is committed to policies, programmes and investments that will cultivate an inclusive sustainable knowledge society.
Building research capacity is a foundation stone. The Government recently launched a major new Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation, announcing spending of €3.8 billion ($4.8 billion) until 2013.
€2.7 billion of this is to go directly on third-level university and private sector research before the end of 2008, aiming at doubling the numbers of PhD research graduates in Ireland.
In addition, Government initiatives such as the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI) and Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) are achieving great success in promoting Ireland as a centre of research, excellence, innovation and collaboration.
These investments and policies have brought a new vibrancy to Irish research and have led to many world-class institutes, scientists and firms now viewing Ireland as an appropriate base for R&D.
Again we are targeting multinationals to shape Ireland’s future economic and digital transformation.
As a consequence, the following industry leaders have located significant R&D operations in Ireland:
- CISCO has recently announced the establishment of a significant R&D facility in Ireland
- Nortel has a global centre for computer telephone integration
- Motorola has 500 people in GSM software and RF technology or semi-conductor design
- Ericsson employs 1000 engineers in strategic software systems and internet enabled networks
- Palm and Lucent and Bell Labs all have similar stories to tell
We have also worked hard to foster vibrant and innovative indigenous companies.
For example, some Irish software companies such as Fineos, Quram, and Qumas, have grown to a scale capable of competing internationally demonstrating that in the globally knowledge economy, population or geographical size isn’t the main competitive advantage.
As we all know an economy’s capacity to innovate is already its key competitive advantage. The Irish Government has pushed a number of very important initiatives to increase Ireland’s innovation, in particular, around the area of broadband penetration and IT literacy.
In promoting broadband we must allow for a lack of appreciation amongst some sectors that ICT can have an impact on their lives and businesses.
We must understand people’s hesitation to use ICT to its maximum benefit.
We must challenge the perceptions among a substantial number of managers in utilising digital solutions.
We must address the lack of appropriate internal IT resources, skills or independent external advice.
We also need to look at the perceived high costs associated with investment in ICT.
These perceptions are leading a large number of SMEs, particularly in Europe, to lag behind larger companies in terms of usage of ICT.
My Government pushes the message that ‘Broadband Opens up Whole New Worlds’, with extensive awareness campaigns. If the knowledge society is to flourish then technological apathy is not an option.
To increase confidence in the ICT we have rolled out the “Make IT Secure” campaign to educate people about safe and secure internet usage.
I believe that these measures will bolster the demand for more broadband and ICT and will fuel the digital transformation to a knowledge society that benefits all.
I hope that you have found the Irish experience of interest.
I would like to leave you with some of the words of our most famous poets, William Butler Yeats. I mention them here partially because his works have recently been digitised by our National Library, preserved for future generations of Irish people.
But also because it describes what I believe will help us shaping the knowledge society.
“Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.”
Thank you.
ENDS