How Ireland Became the European Hub for US Tech Firms

Over the last thirty years, Ireland has slowly and steadily become a global centre for business. In the modern era, it is a technology hub where the biggest companies in the world have chosen to make a home. Dublin is the centre of this, but other major cities like Cork are also alive with innovation. In this article, we discuss how Ireland became a country of excellence and how it can stay that way. 

Business-Friendly Environment

Over a consecutive five years, Ireland has had the fastest-growing economy in the European Union. Direct foreign investment topped US$1tn in 2019 alone. Companies that have taken it up as home include Google, LinkedIn, OpenAI, and other major corporations.

One of the biggest factors to help Ireland has been its business-friendly environment. It has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in Europe, along with its own positive regulatory environment. Attracting companies like Apple and Amazon has also had a knock-on effect. Many of their employees have gone solo in Ireland and contributed to the 2,200 startups.

On top of the fintech companies and Silicon Valley social media firms, the digital entertainment sector is buzzing. Gaming companies such as Playrix and Warducks call Dublin home. Its online gambling sector is also alive, and online casinos have become extremely popular in Ireland while providing services to the global industry. The company has its own range of online casinos. You can find more about the online casinos in Ireland reviewed here, some of which have offerings from companies such as Flutter. These are one of the biggest operators of online casinos and sports books who have a base in Ireland. 

Easy Access to Europe  Being an English-speaking country with access to the European Union has also been a huge benefit to the country. Linguistic and cultural barriers are virtually non-existent to those coming from the US, making integration easier. It has great infrastructure, with major airlines serving the continent and with flights straight to the US.

It is also a fantastic place to live. The weather may be a little wet, and Dublin may have some expensive rents, but aside from this, the quality of life is superb. Dublin itself provides a great urban environment, easy to traverse by public transport or cycle lane. It is also surrounded by nature, near the coast and Wicklow Mountains.

How Can It Continue?

The global economy can change at any time, and it does not take long for these tech hubs to suddenly move elsewhere. Thus, Ireland must work to keep and attract the types of companies and individuals it has done in the past. Other countries are slowly starting to take their slice of the pie, such as Estonia. London is also working hard to attract back many of the larger companies it lost.

Much of Ireland's big tech comes from the realm of social media. There are theories that these companies have cycles of three phases, in which the third is where they become economically unviable due to all their members having already signed up. This stagnates growth. If this happens, then the tech companies could soon dry up and retreat back to their home in Silicon Valley. Ireland must safeguard against this by attracting different types of companies and investment. If it can succeed, Ireland will continue to be the hub of innovation and business it is today.



Photo by Adam Markon on Unsplash