South-west digital plan to mirror Australian strategy

A leading digital expert has plans to develop the south-west into a digital hub that could help transform business in the area and attract considerable investment, having done likewise in one of Australia’s biggest cities.

The establishment of a regional digital economy programme could act as a catalyst for economic growth in the area and help businesses improve their e-commerce capabilities, according to Cork native Kieran O’Hea.

Such a programme could also provide a common framework for smaller towns in the area to work from in developing their individual digital economies within the wider strategy while also serving as a template for other regions across the country to replicate.

“What I see there is a bunch of different digital strategies popping up in different regions across the country but I think the country is too small to sustain too many individual strategies.

"There needs to be some common framework that people can relate to, so that’s where the regional digital economy idea comes in,” said Mr O’Hea.

“It would create a template that cities and towns can dip into when they need it — they’d still have their own digital strategy in their own local context but there’ d be one common framework there so it makes it easier to pull the whole thing together and promote Ireland’s digital capability and promote the reputation of the country.”

Mr O’Hea, who previously worked as an advisor to the European Commission, Tourism Ireland and Concern Worldwide, recently returned from Australia where he worked as Brisbane’s chief digital officer.

In that role, Mr O’Hea carried out an audit of SMEs in the region to determine their digital readiness which included engaging with 30,000 businesses.

The programme had a number of five-year objectives including:

• Doubling the number of Brisbane businesses selling online from 30% to 60%
• Creating 250 new digital startups in the Brisbane area
• Improving online public services

Despite obvious differences in scale — Brisbane metropolitan area is home to 2.3m people — the goals of an Irish equivalent in Cork and Kerry would be similar.

The Ludgate@Skibbereen rural digital hub could help underpin the framework while an urban focus on Cork City would also be included.

It could also be linked to the existing south-west Action Plan for Jobs to ensure a coherent strategy that could help increase employment in the region.

Mr O’Hea will next week outline his proposal at DigiCon — a major digital conference for SMEs — at Cork City Hall.

His address will focus on practical ways SMEs can improve and develop their online presence.

According to Mr O’Hea, the regional digital economy proposal has the potential to deliver tangible benefits to the region with research from the University of Queensland showing businesses with a presence online are more profitable, 2.5 times more likely to innovate, and almost five times more likely to export.

Research has suggested the value of Ireland’s digital economy could rise to €21bn by 2020.

Irish businesses are lagging behind in terms of digital adoption, however, with 90% of SMEs unable to process sales online, according to recent estimates.

More information on DigiCon is available at https://www.digicon.ie/

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