Full coverage: Innovation

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.