The head of the Emmy award winning Irish software company Havok is warning that Ireland is not currently producing enough top level maths or computer science graduates.
Managing Director David O'Meara also said he was very disappointed at the Irish response to a competition run by Havok to promote the use of maths and physics in video game design among second and third level students.
A quarter of the $40,000 prize money was ring-fenced for an Irish winner, and yet many of the leading third level institutions failed to deliver an entry and even fewer secondary schools took part. The winners will be announced next month and will be flown to the Game Developers' Conference in San Francisco.
Last December Google confirmed that the company abandoned plans for 100 software engineering jobs intended for Dublin, as enough candidates of a suitable calibre could not be found.
Yesterday the Government's Chief Scientific Advisor Professor Patrick Cunningham said that, despite the fact that Ireland has doubled its science base in the last nine years, we were in only an average position compared with our European counterparts.
