In a message dated 12/3/2007 12:06:04 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
The Irish have been the most prolific buyers in NYC.
Are we better off than we were 7 years ago? Ireland is.
Ireland's economic miracle demonstrates the adage "fortune favors the well
prepared." (James Burnham)
from _Midweek Perspectives: We can import the 'Irish Miracle'_
(http://www.post-gazette.com/forum/20010321edflor3.asp)
The Irish Miracle was powered by a new model of growth, premised upon the
"Three Ts" of economic development - technology, talent and tolerance from
which
we can learn.
Technology: Under the savvy leadership of the Industrial Development
Authority, the Irish worked aggressively to recruit leading high-tech
companies
through a policy of "industrialization by invitation."
Financial and tax-related incentives helped recruit the first wave of
companies such as IBM, Lotus, Intel, Microsoft, Dell, Gateway and Oracle, which
were also lured by the thick talent pool emerging from the country's
world-class
universities.
Not content to simply recruit high-tech from abroad, the Irish government
formed a body known as Enterprise Ireland, to support entrepreneurship and
venture capital and foster the indigenous high-tech industry. Today, top Irish
companies such as Baltimore Technologies, Iona Technologies and NUA are players
on the global stage.
The Irish software industry now consists of some 700 firms, employing over
18,000 people. Today, Ireland is the fifth-largest producer and second-largest
exporter of packaged software in the world - second only to the United
States.
Talent: By investing in its higher education system, Ireland simultaneously
bolstered is ability both to generate and to attract top talent. Since the
1960s, the Irish government has invested heavily in higher education and, in
particular, it has supported the formation of technical skills in electronics
and computer-related disciplines through a system of regional technical
colleges.
Today, 60 percent of Ireland's university students major in engineering,
science or business. And with a growing job market and exciting lifestyle
options, fewer and fewer have any reason to leave the country.
Tolerance and Lifestyle: But both of these more traditional economic
development efforts would not have worked if Ireland did not support and
reinforce
them with the third T. Long a conservative nation, Ireland built upon its
legacy of culture, art and music to become a center for bohemian energy and an
eclectic milieu of scenes, lifestyles and people.
Today the streets teem with a mixture of people - from buttoned-down
businessmen to "geeky" software developers, edgy black-garbed artists and
musicians.
In a remarkable fusion of history and progressiveness, Ireland has turned
cities like Dublin into lifestyle meccas for dynamic creative people and those
who want to be around such amenities.
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And we still do variations on "Boola, Boola!" Rah, Rah, Rah!
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