Edel Flynn, CEO of the Digital Hub Development Agency
We have much of the ecosystem in place or underway to ensure Ireland is a great location from which to do international digital business, says Edel Flynn, CEO of the Digital Hub Development Agency, but we can do much more.
“From the outside, you could look at Ireland and say ‘we’re doing really good’. But are we doing great? That is really the question we need to look at,” says Flynn, who adds that infrastructure is about a lot more than Broadband. “It’s also about the right office space, the right transport links, the right environment for companies, education and learning, and the right skills.” And the list goes on.
“Digital workers are transient now,” she says. “They can work anywhere. So for us to remain competitive, we need to create a reason as to why companies and individuals will stay in Ireland, but also more importantly how we attract them from overseas to come here and work.”
She points to our close competitors like Tech City in the UK, and to Silicon Valley and New York, and reminds us they are all trying to build that same attractive ecosystem for digital enterprise and individuals. “So we need to do something quite important and quite vibrant here in Dublin,” she says, pointing to the high number of individuals from overseas that have set up successful digital companies in Silicon Valley.
Flynn also discusses the aims and vision of the Digital Hub, its merger with Dublin City Council, Dublin City as a cluster, and its focus on scaling the best companies and helping them to grow to be successful international companies.
You can watch the full interview with Edel Flynn below:
Edel Flynn is a panelist at Silicon Republic’s sixth Digital Ireland Forum on Friday, September 20.
