Reporting in late September/early October 2008, this stakeholders' consultation will report to Government on five strategic questions relevant to Ireland's future digital competitiveness.
Dr Lawrence Sanger, co-Founder of Wikipedia, at the IIEA in October 2007
Context:
Today, the information and communication technology sector accounts for about one third of Irish exports and directly employs 93,000 people in more than 4,000 enterprises. The digital sector, which could be far more broadly defined to include sub-sectors of the financial services, medical research, foreign development initiatives etc., is far larger still.
As the Government's 1999 Action Plan noted, Ireland should take the opportunity to become “an early mover and a global player”. If Ireland is to maintain its competitive edge under the current circumstances, it will be essential to anticipate the pros and cons of the evolving digital environment in which it will operate. This means foreseeing not only the economic benefits of phenomena such as digital convergence and user-driven innovation, but also the vulnerabilities inherent in an increasing dependence on vulnerable – but indispensable – communications technologies.
IRELANDS DIGITAL FUTURE - 5 STRATEGIC QUESTIONS
What are the current policy (or other) opportunities & challenges that Ireland faces in the digital sector?
Which emerging trends are potentially dominant in the digital sector?
In which niches can Ireland become a world leader?
What is the most important strategic investment of relevance to the digital sector that Ireland could make at this point to enhance its competitiveness in the next 10 years?
What are the next three steps that Government could take?
ADD YOUR VOICE TO THE TECH VOX POP - DEADLINE IMMINENT - E-mail YOUR RESPONSE (any length - 20 words to 20,000) to
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Context: The Digital Competitiveness Stakeholder Consultation was launched on 1 May 2008, following the presentation of the IBM E-Readiness Report. See presentation on the policy context and the five strategic questions of the Consultation [PDF] [GoogleDoc slideshow] This consultation will deliver a report, which will be submitted to Government in late September/early October 2008. [read Terms of Reference].
Tiona Campbell discussed Sophia's Diary, the hugely popular cross platform 'reality' programme. Sophia's Diary is hosted on Bebo, and is the first Internet programme to be carried to UK television. At its launch on Bebo, Sophia's Diary gained five million hits in two weeks, and on average attracts 1,000 comments from users per day.
