The Republic stands out as an up-and-coming knowledge economy, when measured by growth in "creative" employees and research activity, according to a new report, writes Cliff Taylor, Economics Editor
The study, published today by Demos, the UK think-tank, rates the Republic as the most rapidly improving economy in Europe under these headings, but warns that a lack of "tolerance" - openness to new people and ideas - could damage the Republic's prospects.
The report, published by Demos in association with US author Mr Richard Florida and his team, examines the creative performance of European economies and the US using a range of measures. A key conclusion is that while the US remains highly ranked as a creative economy, it is losing ground to a "crescent" of Northern European economies.
The authors warn it could lose out as it is seen to become more intolerant to immigrants - threatening its traditional attraction to scientists and technologists worldwide - and limits research in key areas such as stem cells.
Countries such as Finland, Denmark and Sweden show up strongly, while the Republic has shown "extraordinary growth" in its creativity capacity.
The State shows up strongly on two of the three criteria examined by the research, which was developed by Carnegie Mellon University's software industry centre. The first measures the number of "creative" employees, defined as scientists, engineers, artists, musicians, architects, managers, professionals and others whose jobs involve creative or conceptual tasks.
The US has the highest percentage of creative employees - roughly 30 per cent of its workforce - followed by Belgium, the Netherlands and Finland.
The Republic has 26 per cent of its workforce in "creative" occupations, but has seen "far and away" the greatest growth in these occupations, experiencing a 7.6 per cent average annual growth since 1995.
However, when data for the number of university graduates and scientists are added in, the Republic ranks in the middle of an overall "euro-talent" index included in the report.
However, the Republic is also improving its ranking in these areas and the researcher puts the State at the top of an index which measures talent and technology growth since 1995.
The researchers also looked at technological activity, as measured by research and development spending as a percentage of GDP and a range of patent applications.
Here the Republic ranks 11th out of the 15 countries measured - which include 14 European countries and the US. This accords with the findings of the National Competitiveness Council, which examined similar data in reports over the past couple of years.
However, while the Republic ranks towards the bottom of the ranking, the research does indicate that it is improving quickly.
The authors of the report also identify "tolerance" as a key factor, meaning an economy is open to new ideas and people. Its index here is based on a range of diverse surveys drawn from the European Monitoring Centre for Racism and Xenophobia and a World Values Survey undertaken by a University of Michigan professor in 2000.
The State ranks 13th out of the 15 countries on this measure.
