Mr. Martin Shanahan:

A number of cross-cutting technological developments are having a profound impact on all sectors. These are areas such as the Internet of things, big data, cloud, social, mobile and security.

IDA Ireland's perspective is to identify and connect with what these new opportunities might look like and target companies that will use these technologies in the future. That is where Science Foundation Ireland and Enterprise Ireland come in and we work together to develop technology centres. We have some really good centres in a number of areas - insight is important in data analytics - which because they are developing talent and, in some instances, also IP, they can act as anchors to attract particular companies with needs in these areas. Part of our remit is to follow the technological development and ensure true dialogue with Science Foundation Ireland and our sister agency Enterprise Ireland with which we work on technology to ensure we keep pace with what is happening in the various sectors. Apart from the two mentioned, new areas in manufacturing include additive manufacturing and industry 4.0 - the Internet of things. These will have a significant impact. We must try to keep pace and develop solutions in Ireland as anchors to attract companies.