Ireland is promoting itself as a destination for inward investments from India, according to Mr Feilim McLaughlin, Ambassador to India.
Mr McLaughlin is leading an Irish trade and investment promotion team on a familiarisation trip to Kerala.
GATEWAY TO EU
Taking time off to visit the Hindu Group of publications, he told host journalists that this was part of a tour to create awareness about opportunities in the republic.
“In many ways, Ireland acts as the gateway for Indian businesses into European Union,” Mr McLaughlin said. “Both countries have a lot in common, not least in terms of the focus on high technology.”
He was also appreciative of the proactive manner in which the government here is promoting technology parks and related facilities. That's very similar to what is obtaining in Ireland, Mr McLaughlin said.
DRAWING A PARALLEL
“Consider the common language that we are able to speak…or the legal system or the shared focus on technology and life sciences. So it's a natural thing for us to be here,” the ambassador said.
He was also quick to draw a parallel between the cluster-based growth model in Ireland with the one, for instance, in Bangalore.
Clusters have developed in particular sectors in Ireland. They tend to be based around universities or the institutes of higher learning. The educational system itself is linked into this multinationals in the technology sector.
Mr Brian Conroy, director of Asia Pacific, IDA (Investment and Development Agency), Ireland, said there's a big commonality that linked India and Ireland in this context.
VALUE CHAIN
“Both have seen successful in dealing with the US market and investments. Microsoft came into Ireland in the early 80s. It was followed by leading players Dell, IBM, HP and Oracle in technology, internet space and digital media,” Mr Conroy said.
This, he said, has happened over a long period of time. “But along the way, we have taken care to move up along the value chain too.”
In the last 18 months, Ireland has witnessed 12 very significant investments being committed in the cloud computing space, he added.