Excuse my comment ‘leave Govt out’. What I mean is that we need to initiate plans and collaborative behaviour to show some kind of substance – and invite them in. What I suppose I really mean is that everyone should understand they are just one part – not the sum of. We see them getting 90% of it all wrong, yet put absolute faith in so-called ‘expert departments’ to carry industries. Commerce, pure and simple will be the changing of the tide – state backed or not.

I also agree that requirement of better education with practical involvement should be high on the agenda.

Great discussion James. Thanks for the views.

There is a genuine pessimism it seems, in some quarters, that we really cannot do cutting edge anything. I think it is because of things like what you said about the roadside charging facilities. The instinct is still to go abroad to get these things done. The instinct is to get Intel/DELL into Ireland and spend billions on this, while spending only tens of millions on domestic technology development.

I just don’t think it is understood at the level where the decisions are made – i.e. government. I would slightly disagree with you about leaving government out. They still have deep pockets to provide lead funding on this kind of thing.

Last point: One of the consequences of not really buying into or understanding the technology thing is the lack of serious efforts to improve mathematics and science teaching/understanding in primary and secondary schools.

In this new industry (soon to be worth billions Worldwide) we are already positioning ourselves as a ‘testing ground’ doormat. When the US firms have exhausted our resources/opps they’ll move on out while leaving an infrastructure that THEY profit from.

If we are an IDEAL TESTING GROUND, let’s get on it ourselves and we’ll export the IP/Solution/Case Study and IRELAND CAN CONTINUE to profit from a knowledge-based authorative position.

Short sighted and selling our shores for a quick trick and personal (PERSONAL TO THE INDIVIDUALS SIGNING THE CONTRACT!) gain alone. Shocking.

It’s shocking. One of the main concerns we should have is that the electorate have unfounded comitment to specific parties with a personal connection or history as opposed to contemporary issues.

The only way we’re going to step up is as a community – we simply can’t wait for Government – there will just be more ‘Shannon Stop Overs’ and other short-sighted opportunities. If only the wider public would reflect on the past 20 years and realise that we are positioning ourselves as an attractive short-term solution. NOTHING else. We need to command our own industries and start bloody exporting (IP at least)!

There are moves being made. We need to come together as a collective. New collectives and opportunities such as hubdublin.com and collab.ie are starting to gain pace.

Bottom line – I’m at the back teeth with pitching to Government partners to add real value. They don’t know what they are talking about. Only by getting EXPERTS on board in a collective fashion with keen views on how Ireland will evolve will we make progress.

Waiting for the Government (whichever party) to change will just cause the same negative affect – time and again.

In Ireland we are too concerned with Government involvement. We need to consider they are just one part of what makes a society. If they are a shambles, leave them out of the equation. We can allow them in to support and take advantage of them later in the game. Let’s change the tide!

Mary Harney (I don’t and have never voted PD, btw) was clearly the only politician from this side of the pond to know anything whatsoever about any kind of technology. A leading Sinn Fein politician asked me “What exactly is biotechnology?”. Why did he come to the meeting if he didn’t know this? Maybe he was trying to learn, so that is something at least.

So, yeah, while this blog post is about information tech, it is even more true that our politicians know almost nothing about BioTech. I try to educate them, but there is a real gap in their knowledge. Let’s face it, not a single person in Leinster House campaigned on a high-tech ticket and the Irish people don’t vote on the basis of a person knowing anything about high tech.

It needs to change.

Would it be too much to ask that we create new industries based on IP and knowledge that create jobs across ALL sectors? One market I’ve been researching is the Electric Vehicle market where the Irish Government has seemingly already done a deal with US Firm ‘A Better Place’ to put in the infrastructure!!

Another bloody Shannon Stop-Over and an over-eagerness to appear ‘with it’ within the West. “Get over it already”.

Furthermore, we’re helping sign the deal for big-tax business and Government opportunity (as opposed to true social opportunity) by jumping on the US bandwagon and agreeing that we need road-side EV charge sites. There are other options that would benefit the World, commerce, the environment et al (albeit harder for the Government to skim the top off). All they need is another ‘growth country’ to jump on and we’re in full support.

Have the Government looked internally? Obviously not. Have they looked at India? Doubtful. God bless being ‘neutral’ eh.

What gives me hope about this outlook is the size of our country. For every leader there needs to be more than one follower/tribe member/employee. Normally this might limit the size of any potential “knowledge industy” in a country, but the fact that we’re a tiny, open economy should work to our advantage here.

We’re not all drones, but neither is the whole work force skilled and intelligent enough to be knowledge workers. Perhaps largely due to our Dickensian education system more than anything else.

If we’re to have more creative and talented kids, the education system needs a sharp, short, radical shakeup that starts to encourage and reward creativity and imagination, fosters entrepreneurial, critical and analytical thinking, and is based more on coursework or project assessment, rather than memory and rote learning.