With an output equivalent to nearly 16 per cent of the State's GDP in 2000 and exports valued at almost €31 billion, the tech sector is one whose health the Government will be anxious to protect. Tech leaders outline to Karlin Lillington the three key issues they believe are most critical for the next political leadership in the Republic
With an election looming, what better time for technology sector leaders to define the issues that they believe are most crucial for the next Government to address?
Certainly, there's no shortage of topical concerns from this economically critical sector, widely considered by financial analysts to be one of the most important drivers of our economic prosperity. With an output equivalent to nearly 16 per cent of the State's GDP in 2000, and exports valued at almost €31 billion - a third of all goods and services exports - the tech sector is one whose health the Government will be anxious to protect.
But as the internet, computers, wireless devices and phone networks converge, technology becomes more than an economic issue.
It pervades daily life, both raising and addressing social and cultural concerns. How we address this total picture in the near future will define both the wealth and the health of the State for many years to come.
The Irish Times asked a range of technology leaders for the three most urgent issues they'd like to raise with the Government. Here are their answers.
Mr Shay Garvey, general partner, venture capital firm Delta Partners
R&D: Research and development is the lifeblood of the indigenous Irish technology industry. As an island nation, we are "condemned to export". For this to succeed our product must be world-class.
However, a key weakness of the sector is the plethora of one-product companies, none of which has yet generated major revenues or proven they can scale on the world stage. While the Darwinian pool process will eliminate the weak and hopefully identify the strong, the Government could address this issue by helping create overseas sales offices and assisting Irish companies to execute overseas sales campaigns; identifying and fast-tracking the stronger companies; and promoting merger and acquisition of technology/products/companies nationally and internationally.
Broadband: The Government should improve the provision of broadband throughout the nation. No need to expand on the obvious here. How can you have world-class companies with less than world-class communication links with the outside world? Education: The Government should increase investment in primary and secondary-level education with the aim to get third-level participation increased from 55 per cent of school-leavers today to 75 per cent in the future.
Investment: The IDA should target foreign direct investment from high-tech companies who will situate at a minimum their product-development activities in Ireland. Many of the product-development leaders in the multinationals then leave to found their own technology companies.
Tax: The Government should make the tax structure share option scheme structure as user-friendly as possible. Share options are an expense, but private companies can use them as deferred compensation to attract and retain top people in lieu of paying high salaries.n
Mr Billy Huggard, chairman, Irish Software Association
A minister of state for e-business or for strategic development of the ICTsector: This would be someone who can co-ordinate the excellent work already under way within the Goverment departments but also put overall cross-sectoral programmes in place.
Greater attention is needed to attract foreign investment, raise literacy levels, encourage up-skilling and attract more highly skilled brains to our shores. It's happened in places like the UK and the US.
Broadband roll-out, nationally, especially for small businesses and to encourage enterprise, home e-working and stimulate investment.
Small businesses are the backbone of this country. They compete globally, even if they don't know it yet, and need the same technology advantages offered to companies from Singapore to Washington.
High-speed, always-on, low-cost access to the internet is imperative for businesses and individuals. The rewards will be immense and the digital divide will be a thing of the past.
Improved support for young start-ups: Start-up activity here has always been low; people are afraid to take risks. As a country, we need to encourage reward and praise the risk-takers. Go for IT.
Mr Brendan Butler, director, IBEC lobby group ICT Ireland
Infrastructure: Effective investment in infrastructure is required if Ireland is to remain a location for technology-oriented industry. Infrastructure development, which benefits all sections of the community, is one of the few autonomous development devices left available to Government. The incoming administration must make clear commitments to broadband telecommunications and effective transport networks. Regulatory incentives are needed to create an environment that sustains investment.
Taxation: To maintain international competitiveness and to offset rising costs, Ireland's corporate tax policy must be retained. However, our current VAT rate - the second highest in the EU - will deter any organisation involved in business-to-consumer e-commerce.
Ireland's isolated geography and highly educated population is best suited to knowledge-based activities. Specific inducements, e.g. "PRSI credits", should be used to offset the cost of strategic research and encourage investment further up the ICT value chain.
Entrepreneurial environment: Cost escalation and the inevitable competition from more nimble economies pose a grave threat to foreign direct investment. This shadow over the technology sector needs to be balanced by a vibrant indigenous sector. We must begin to foster the next wave of companies. Initiatives through universities and development agencies must inform our technology specialists of commercial realities and the principles of innovation management.
Strategic R&D combined with accessible seed capital and cost-effective patenting will create an incubator for innovation. This supportive environment will allow the next generation of start-ups to convert knowledge streams into revenue streams.
Mr Raomal Perera: founder and chief executive, Network365
Infrastructure: make broadband access available. Eircom has been delaying the introduction of broadband services in Ireland. This has had the effect of positioning Ireland as the poorest country in Europe in terms of broadband infrastructure. Ireland has a long way to go to become the "digital hub" that the Government promised a few years ago. The Government must make broadband access available to home and business users at affordable costs. This includes access to internet content that expands upon text, graphics, audio and still-frame video, and interactive services delivered by wireless cable and satellite systems.
Award 3G licences free of charge: The 3G fees have been the subject of a row between the Department of Finance and the telecoms regulator for over a year, leaving Ireland as the last European Union country to issue 3G licences. The Government must revisit the process of awarding 3G licences, rethink its current strategy and consider the option of giving the licences to the operators free of charge. This would enable work to commence quickly on the roll-out of 3G services and would encourage competition, which will ultimately bring prices down.
Position Ireland as a centre of excellence for next-generation technology: The government should continue to create a society that attracts high-calibre engineers from different cultures and backgrounds.
Look at Silicon Valley - it is a melting pot of smart engineers from all over the world helping to create the world's best software. Ireland could be home to a centre of excellence for next-generation technology if the Government continues to promote and support a multicultural society and the influx of foreign expertise.
Mr Colm Reilly, chief executive, Irish Internet Association
Infrastructure: Many people believe this issue is resolved. Significant progress has been made and this needs to be acknowledged. But it is one thing to commence a nationwide infrastructure; it is another to deploy it successfully. The delivery of broadband infrastructure to nodes through the entire country must be planned, measured and monitored to ensure that this critical resource becomes an important component of Ireland's business, administrative and social fabrics.
Transformation of services: Technology can never be and must never be the driving force for change in any organisation or economy. It must exist only as a means of leverage and securing change. Transformation is different from automation. In automation, processes and procedures are made more efficient; in transformation a new perspective on a process or service is taken and this changes the intent of delivery.
The challenge is to create a vision of what the transformation can be; develop this vision to a set of measurements that allow for new perspectives on traditional problems; and then adopt a range of pilot projects. The challenge is that we must lead this process - there is no one to copy from.
Enterprise policy: The gains of recent years have changed the landscape of our traditional business environment. Given these changes and their consequences, Ireland must create a new enterprise policy that encompasses the future niche landscape of Irish business so that we can still continue to offer employment to all our citizens. The impact of enterprise policy applies in the entire supply chain, right through to the education system.
Ms Susan Spence, co-founder and executive chairman, Softco
Broadband infrastructure for all: For business to thrive, infrastructure is key. The availability of broadband communications means that large and small companies or home users can access services on the Web in a fast and cost-effective way. It is an issue of competitiveness as other European countries either have or are actively introducing this high-capacity communications infrastructure.
Appoint an IT envoy and reorganise the technology portfolio: As the IT industry is very important for our economy, there needs to be sufficient expertise within Government to assist us become a niche player in new emerging technologies and keep Ireland Inc competitive in this sector. The combining of science, technology and communications into one portfolio or the appointment of an IT envoy would ensure that we can identify and take the lead in new emerging technologies.
Programme for electronic business: The eCommerce Act 2000 is a positive framework to support electronic business as it legally validates the use of electronic transactions such as documents and signatures. However, there is a need for a programme directed at the business community to promote and educate on the scope of this Act. Companies are unsure on the legal admissibility of electronic documents and the retention of records in the every- day business environment. Clarity in this area would encourage more companies to do business electronically and this in turn would drive down administrative costs within organisations and between organisations.
Prof Mark Keane, computer science department, UCD
Adequate funding of software research: This government has wisely targeted the funding of the academic infrastructure and research with over €1 billion in the National Development Plan. However, for a variety of complex reasons, very little of this money has gone to research in software; my estimate is less than 10 per cent of the hundreds of millions spent to date. The physical, biological and medical sciences that have attracted most of the funding clearly need funding too, but I worry that an industry as central to Ireland's future as the software sector is not, to date, benefiting from this spend.
Adequate funding of ICT education: Again, the Government has spent huge amounts of money expanding third-level education in ICT and computer science. There is now talk that, with falling student numbers, this funding should be cut back or frozen. However, ICT education is seriously under-funded; staff:student ratios in competing UK departments are often a third of most Irish departments and the UK spends 40 per cent more per student on its computing graduates. The Government should use the fall in student numbers to improve the educational supports available to students by increasing real funding, with the added bonus of freeing up more lecturers' time for valuable research.
Resolution of the intellectual property (IP) issue: It is not enough to fund and do research. This research needs to enrich the industrial base through technology transfer and the spinning-off of campus companies. At present, the research ideas produced by academics are the focus of an intellectual property tussle between Government funding agencies, the universities and industry.
This is perhaps the biggest single block to more collaboration between the universities and industry. The Government should create a nationwide IP policy that resolves this tussle in a fashion that protects and encourages the fundamental source of the ideas, the academic researcher.
Ms Vivienne Jupp, managing partner Global eGovernment Services, Accenture, former chair of the Information Society Commission
Citizen focused and business centric services: Government services must be delivered through several complementary channels, both online and traditional, in a citizen-focused and business-centric manner.
This means delivering services using a variety of media, including telephone, digital TV, face-to-face, public kiosk, and the PCs. Integrated online services must attract citizens, be easy to use and citizens must feel motivated to use them routinely.
Authentication and security: The challenge for governments is to find the balance between the need for identification and personalisation on the one hand, and the counter-requirement for privacy and security on the other - in effect creating a sense of confidence and trust. Services need to be delivered by secure IT systems that offer privacy for users.
All types of systems are vulnerable to unauthorised access, fraud and other forms of interference. Nonetheless, a level of pragmatism is required - the level of security needs to be appropriate to the transaction or the service.
More than technology: E-commerce technologies enable Government to do more with less and serve citizens better. E-government is not just about technology, but about harnessing technology as just one of the tools to transform the way governments operate. Transformation comes not from moving services online but from redesigning organisations and processes to put the citizen at the centre, integrating across agencies to simplify interaction, reduce cost, and improve service - thus creating a single point of contact for citizens.
Mr Iarla Flynn, chairman, telecoms lobby group ALTO
Establishment of a new legislative framework for regulation: The development of competition in Ireland has not proceeded at a rate that allows consumers have a large choice of quality services. To change this, the role of the telecoms regulator must be reviewed and new legislation be enacted to set out clear objectives, functions, and powers - with an overall mission of promoting competition.
Promote competition in the mobile sector: Further competition is the only way to tackle the high charges that consumers pay for services in the mobile sector. ALTO proposes the Government make market entry easier by licensing new operators and obliging existing operators to support access to their networks. The Government should also empower the regulator to investigate the charges levied by dominant mobile operators for access to their networks and set these rates at reasonable levels based on the cost of providing services.
Availability of broadband services in Ireland: Consumers in Ireland are being denied the choice and quality of broadband services that are now widely available internationally. ALTO proposes that Government policy should support the regulator in accelerating local loop unbundling services. Grant aid should be provided to support the development of co-location facilities near Eircom exchanges so that new entrant operators can provide the full range of broadband services to all consumers. Government should provide focused grant-aid support at 60 per cent to accelerate private sector investment.
Dr Chris Horn, co-founder and chairman, Iona Technologies
Every national Government department, every local government office, every utility and service funded by the taxpayer - everyone serving the public - should fervently ask, how can we use the internet at our workplace to provide a better service to the general public? And how can we use the internet to improve our own working conditions and efficiency?
How can we avoid the public having to queue for services, or having to wait interminably on the telephone to get a satisfactory answer? How we can get the public to serve themselves, and find the information and services they want, and pay any bills they owe, and obtain any refund or claims that they are entitled to, using the internet?
Can we offer further incentives: if low-cost airlines offer cheaper seats through their websites, what incentives can we offer the public to use our services electronically?
And how can we ensure that every single citizen can access our services efficiently and very cheaply (or even free) and easily without substantial training, no matter what their location, or social status ?
