For the first time in many years, companies supported by Enterprise Ireland lost more jobs than they created in 2020. Beyond the pandemic effect, it is time for the state agency to reassess its priorities away from traditional food production and into riskier innovation areas – as well as the domestic economy.
To really become a global hub, we need a new pre-fabricated, modular off-shore port system connected by bridge added to coastal towns around the island to facilitate short range electric, autonomous ferry services.
Ross Hunt argues that Ireland should redirect €50 billion towards additional education funding over the next 20 years. Here is how he would spend it.
The Irish education system has remained stuck in a paper-based world and failed to grasp the challenge life-long learning. Yet we have the resources to transform it into the best in the world, argues Ross Hunt.
Sustainable building materials, carbon-neutral homes and quality housing represent one sector where Ireland could set the global pace for the implementation of new technologies. All we need is a designated experimental town.
Irish companies are making their mark on the software-as-a-service industry – despite emerging concerns that the sector’s breakneck growth rate could hide the risk of a bubble.
Becoming a hub for electric aviation is an example of the innovation policies the country should embrace to establish itself as a global centre for the commercialisation of new technologies.
In this, the first of a new series of innovation, Ross Hunt argues that Ireland merely assists multinationals to solve problems, rather than solving them ourselves. Overtime, he believes this will reduce our wealth rather than increasing it.
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