Ireland could be Silicon Valley of Europe, say execs

Ireland tops the list of countries perceived by European technology executives to have the most potential to be the Silicon Valley/Technology capital of Europe according to a new survey.

The survey was carried out by specialist technology group, Eurocom PR Network in association with its Irish partner, Simpson Financial & Technology PR.

The survey, which was conducted in the first quarter this year, covered 147 senior executives in technology companies in 12 countries in Europe including Ireland. Almost one in five (19%) backed Ireland followed by Germany (14%) and UK (8%).

"The results are significant as respondents were not allowed to vote for their own country," commented Ronnie Simpson (Simpson Financial & Technology PR).

"This suggests that the Government's policy of positioning Ireland as a major European high tech centre is working."

IT security, CRM and Wireless Telecommunications are the technologies most likely to drive growth in the technology market according to the Eurocom survey.

IT security heads the list of technologies with the most growth potential according to one in five European respondents.

This is closely followed by CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and wireless telecommunications (both 17%).

Other technologies featuring include IT outsourcing (11%), web services and e-commerce (both 6%) and storage (5%).