What a shame, but predictable, that the winners of this ‘Smart Economy’ initiatives are both technology proposals, that are already growing within the sector.

Running your economy in a smart way does not mean jumping on every technology bandwagon that comes along. Yes, Ireland has technology, and an educated workforce to supply these things, but the current crop of government and business initiatives are leading us down the one horse solution that led to the property bubble. Have we not learned anything from the building boom, and the DELL fiasco?

Diversification is a vital part of a thriving economy. Technology yes, but its not the only solution. What about agriculture? Ireland is ideally placed to be a centre for organic production, what steps are the government taking for Ireland to be a leading force in this expanding industry?

In today’s ‘free trade’ world it is vitally important that governments encourage development in all sectors of the economy. It appears that Ireland’s political elite do nothing more than party late into the night and spout forth the latest buzz words in the hope that someone with intelligence and common sense will act.

Running to the Americans in the hope they will dig us out again with a nice inward investment is not going to happen. The time has come to concentrate on the small business models, these will produce the most sustainable growth prospects for Ireland.

Writing this from Edinburgh and have lived out of Ireland for the past 12 years. I had almost given up on any Government Smart approach until I read this Report. Not sure if you have read it or if you have boy are you slow on the uptake.

Take the Exemplar. I know this business . Intune is leading the world and the Government sees this as an opportunity. Propably high-risk but very smart approach. Industry and other countries are surprised at such a Government play. It allows the link of comms and electric grid interaction in a dynamic way. What a brilliant approach.

There are other really good initiatives which you dismiss.

Believe you me this is the most promosing development from Ireland in ICT strategy in the past 20 years. I guarantee that a number of MNI will line up to come on board.

Not sure what your speciality is if anything but its a shame that you sneer at this very refreshing report. Read it and lets blob.

The opportunity in FIlm & TV is that the contractual rights are often unclear or simply not being exploited. Some contracts preceded the internet and aren’t being exploited for various reasons e.g. RTE archive. Some broadcasters/content owners have the internet rights but are simply not exploiting them because they don’t perceive the opportunity or do not have a workable platform. Again, these are all opportunities for the proposed ICSC. Then going forward the ICSC could set the template for the exploitation of content rights across the internet globally in a fair and equitable way. As the web continues to do what it does best – cut out the middleman – the ICSC can bring the consumer and the content provider closer – ensuring quality of service and a sustainable financial model.

What would a clearing house for already contractually settled rights do?

Just in relation to your comments above re: the Smart Economy. I introduced the concept of the International Content Services Centre 6 months ago when I wrote the following article for Enterprise Ireland’s “Technology Ireland” magazine.

http://www.calico.ie/2008/10/it-was-definitely-ray-of-sunshine.html

The article was picked up by government and I’ve been involved with developing it ever since – right up to the announcement yesterday. The concept came about from the frustration I had in my own work introducing European TV and Film-makers to the opportunities of digital distribution. The problem was that none of them had the rights to sell their content on Video On Demand platforms because in order to finance their films (or TV programmes) they’d given up those rights on a territory by territory basis. Thus rendering digital distribution difficult or more often then not, impossible. So when there is a bottleneck in access for content, you get piracy. So these film-makers are losing every which way – no revenue from VOD on one hand and piracy on the other. The main thrust of the ICSC concept is to create a “Clearing House” for those rights to allow existing TV and Film-makers to clear those rights and allow for the free flow of their content and provide them with new revenue streams in a climate where broadcasters and film funds are being reduced and advertising is disappearing.

Your point about the RTE archive is well made – and that is one opportunity that was identified early on. But RTE’s archive is saddled with numerous rights issues that need to be cleared – so it may well be one of the first to benefit from the initiative – and yes, then we can have “outside companies to make something new with this material” . But the ICSC is first and foremost an international play and there is huge opportunity to interest large international content players to base their IP here.

This has been a brave move by government and there is still a lot of work to be done, which I won’t argue. But we need to be positive here as it is a huge opportunity. There was incredibly negative and skeptical reaction initially to the IFSC concept in 1988 – the model upon which I’m basing the ICSC. However, it is worth noting the following:

- By1994, the IFSC was contributing almost 20% of the corporation tax take in Ireland.
- The IFSC now has 20,000 + employees contributing €271 million value to the exchequer per annum
- Financial services by 2006 contributed 9.9% to Irish GDP
- Financial services makes up 28% of Ireland’s exports as of 2007.
- Globally, by 2007 the IFSC was responsible for 0.4% of total worldwide exports which is staggering.

We can replicate that success with the new currency of the 21st century – content. There is further detail on the ICSC concept on my blog at:

http://www.calico.ie/2009/01/vision-for-international-content.html
http://www.calico.ie/2009/02/manifesto-for-international-content.html