Ireland improves IT competitiveness

Ireland has moved up the ranks in global IT industry competitiveness, according to an annual survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The IT Industry Competitiveness Index of 66 countries assesses and compares the quality of the local technology infrastructure, the availability and quality of IT talent, the innovation environment, the legal regime, the business environment, and government technology policies,

Ireland is currently 11th in the table, rising from last year's 15th place.

Director of Global Technology Research with the Economist Intelligence Unit Denis McAuley said the country performed well in terms of human capital, ranking in the top 10 due to the number of IT

“Ireland has some strengths in that area relative to other countries,” he said.

Ireland also performed well in two areas of research and development, the most important of which is IT-related patents.

“In essence this is the patents generated by organisiation or individuals in the country that are related to IT,” said Mr McAuley.

“Ireland appears to be a fairly prolific source of IT-related patents.”

The country also performs well in the generation of royalty and licence fees, and is within the top 15 in terms of its legal environment, such as in protection of intellectual property.

However, the country also needs to improve in some areas, including in IT infrastructure, where Ireland was ranked 18th.

"Broadband penetration is not quite as high in Ireland as some other OECD countries," said Mr McAuley.
Investment in IT is also lagging behind other countries.

The rankings were decided based on the environment at the end of 2008.

The United States still leads the global IT industry competitiveness ranking, followed by Finland, Sweden and Canada. The Netherlands, previously ranked 10th, completes the top five.

Britain fell from third place last year to sixth in the updated list.

The survey said the prominence of Finland, Sweden, Canada and the Netherlands in the index's top tier was helped most by their robust IT infrastructure and strong support for technology research and development.

Additional reporting - Reuters