Craig Barrett, the man who made the decision to bring Intel to Ireland, is back in Ireland leading a delegation of US firms who are keen to invest in the next wave of Irish tech companies.
The Irish Technology Leadership group, with partners NUI Galway, the University of Limerick and Shannon Development, are holding a three day event to strengthen the ties between Silicon Valley and Ireland.
The programme of events has been designed to bring promising Irish technology start-ups into close contact with some of Silicon Valley's most successful business leaders, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and financiers.
'Ireland needs to focus on enlarging its indigenous high-tech sector to drive economic recovery, there is significant opportunity for growth driven by these firms,' commented Craig Barrett today.
'Ireland and the US are in similar circumstances, if we don't take advantage of our skilled workforces and entrepreneurial spirit we will lose out to emerging economies. We are in Ireland this week to support Irish tech companies who have the ambition to grow and succeed,' he added.
The former chairman of Intel has warned that Ireland must prioritise investment in education, research and development if it is to succeed in the 21st century. Mr Barrett said that if that meant raising university fees to keep a stream of investment in education at universities, he would hold that among his topmost priorities.
He said that it would be a real challenge to persuade Intel to locate here today, compared to 20 years ago when the company first set up here.
He said that at that time, Ireland was a very attractive place, with a very good education system education many engineers. It had also lowered its corporation tax rate to incentivise companies to come here.
However, he said that today Ireland was still somewhat attractive, but not nearly as attractive as it was 20 years ago.
He said the attractiveness of the low corporation tax rate had diminished somewhat, because some countries were now offering tax holidays, or even 0% corporation tax rates.
He also warned that Ireland's educational advantage had diminished, because countries like India and China are educating hundreds of thousands of engineers.
He highlighted the increased cost of doing business in Ireland. He said the future for Ireland lay not in attracting wealth through foreign direct investment, but by creating its wealth through utilising its education, research and people to create new businesses and products.
He said the focus had to be on education, research and development, as well as creating a positive environment for doing business. This would mean addressing issues like tax and intellectual property protection.
He said the 21st century was the innovation century - and unless the whole society has an understanding of maths and science, it can not be successful.
Mr Barrett said that the key thing potential investors would look at is continuity and stability basic infrastructure investments in education and research - as these are the keys to the 21st century.
He said Ireland needed to prioritise a number of key areas to target for its business agenda, and highlighted the possibilities of specialising in research on technologies for assisted living for older people.
