The world is a constantly changing place, faster now than ever before. The global race for innovation is well underway and if you're not fast to adopt you will be left behind. One country quick too keep up, proving pivotal in the quest to change the face of technology, sits 822km off the coast of mainland Europe.
Ireland is one of the largest global exporters of computer and IT services in the world, with all but a few of the industry heavy-weights calling Ireland home. Ireland plays host to multi-nationals like Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon. With unrivalled access to 500million consumers in the European market, that opens doors for some serious business to be done.
So your probably wondering by now, what makes Ireland such an attractive place to set up. Naturally, you might be thinking, well it's not the weather!! If you are, then you like so many others... are wrong! We’ll come back to that a bit later on.
Population
The population demographics of Ireland lend themselves very strongly in favour of the company looking to employ young, innovative minds. With 33% of the population being under the age of 25, and a further 50% of the population is under 35 it's not hard to see the attraction (Census 2016).
Education
Ireland has also the lowest college drop out rate in Europe, with more students staying in education and completing their studies with degrees. The education system in Ireland is highly regarded as one of the best, and as a result, Ireland is among the top 10 best-educated countries in the world.
Tax
Along with the highly educated, young workforce, Ireland has some pretty attractive tax incentives. A low corporation tax of 12.5% means that indigenous and multi-national companies can benefit from paying lower amounts of tax. There is also a host of other tax incentives in place such as generous tax rebates on R&D conducted in Ireland along with a hefty tax rebate on the cost associated with holding intellectual property in Ireland, to mention a few.
Time Zone
Geographically, Ireland is positioned perfectly between eastern and western time-zones meaning that most of the world's marketplace can be contacted during the course of a standard Irish working day. Along with this, Ireland is the only English speaking country in the Eurozone and soon to become the only English speaking country in the EU after the exit of the United Kingdom due to Brexit.
Weather
The Irish climate, as dull and gloomy as it can sometimes be, has proven perfect for the economical running and maintenance of data centres. The ability to operate these vast server farms in a climate that is typically a couple of degrees cooler than other European Countries saves multi-nationals millions every year.
As you can see there are quite a number of factors at play in drawing big tech business to Ireland. It is an industry that is only going to continue to grow stronger.