A report on competitiveness published by the World Economic Forum has placed Ireland 30th in the world, the same position as last year.
Ireland ranked 24th in 2002 and 11th in 2001. The Global Competitiveness Report said the overall decline was related to the country's performance in innovation and technology.
'Despite substantial investment and improvement, other countries are progressing faster than Ireland,' it said, adding that the quality of competition among internet service providers was identified as a particular weakness.
Ireland's ranking on the complementary Business Competitiveness Index dropped by one place from last year to 22. This was blamed on a decline in the rating for the sophistication of company operations and strategy.
Specific weaknesses identified included marketing. Other competitive disadvantages cited in the report also include inadequate infrastructure, the centralisation of economic policymaking, and the extent of locally based competitors.
The rankings are drawn from the results of a survey of 8,700 business leaders in 104 economies. UCC's Department of Economics carries out the Irish part of the survey for the World Economic Forum.
Finland was ranked top in the main index for the third time in the last four years. The US stayed in second place.
