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Technology

Why Ireland for technology investment

  • See why the world’s leading names in technology choose Ireland as a strategic base of operations

  • Scale rapidly with easy access to talent and skills that evolve to meet industry needs

Source the skills you need to make your investment in Ireland a success

Connect with us

Source the skills you need to make your investment in Ireland a success

Connect with us
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Global Leaders Already Call Ireland Home

Globally recognised names such as Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, and Tencent, among many others, have established significant European operations in Ireland.

  • 16 of the top 20 global tech companies and the top 3 enterprise software providers
  • 106,000+ people are employed in the ICT industry.
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Strategic Location and Infrastructure

Thanks to its strategic location, setting up in Ireland means becoming part of the global hub of choice for the strategic activities of world-leading tech companies in Ireland. This encompasses crucial functions like software development, shared services, advanced manufacturing, cloud services, EMEA inside sales, and hardware and software R&D.

  • 70+ years record in attracting and retaining top-tier foreign direct investment
  • 50% of tech companies have been here for 10+ years; 33% for over two decades
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A Skilled, Multilingual Tech Workforce

Ireland boasts one of Europe's most robust talent pipelines in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). The nation's technology sector thrives on significant government backing and investment in skills programs, ensuring a continuously developing and highly capable multilingual tech workforce.

  • Third-level STEM graduates highest in Europe per 1,000 of population
  • High level of software developers in EU per one million inhabitants
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Ready for the Future

Technology never stands still; neither do we. Ireland is constantly developing educational programmes and skills initiatives to further increase the talent pool across the entire spectrum of tech roles for new and emerging areas.

  • 40+ companies in Ireland using or developing AI technologies
  • Education in blockchain, cloud, cybersecurity, analytics, software engineering and more
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Tailored Support for Foreign Tech Companies

Publicly funded Irish research centres actively support and enhance the R&D activities undertaken by tech companies in Ireland. Furthermore, Ireland's Knowledge Development Box (often called a patent box) is fully compliant with OECD standards, offering an attractive intellectual property regime.

  • Highly competitive financial incentives for investors carrying out R&D in Ireland
  • Active industry clusters support collaboration between corporations and researchers

Dublin is such a hub for big tech companies that you might think ‘if we come to Dublin, we’re going to be competing with all of them, we won't be able to get good staff’. But I think the opposite is true. Because we’ve got such a base of well recognised brands in Dublin, that actually brings qualified people from all over Europe here.

See similar companies in Ireland

Twilio
Slack
IBM
Analog Devices
Salesforce
Apple
Dell
Microsoft
Infosys
PayPal
Huawei
Workday
SAP
Dropbox
Oracle
TikTok
Autodesk
Intel
PublicRelay
NetApp
AMD

Success Stories: Hear from leaders calling Ireland home

A proven path

See all Success Stories
Blackrock
Mediolanum
Qualtrics
Analog Devices
Cadence
Northern Trust
$1.5 trillion of assets under management in its Irish-domiciled funds

$1.5 trillion of assets under management in its Irish-domiciled funds

We find the various government departments very approachable and always open to engaging with the industry, with the IDA a particularly strong partner. The ecosystem is excellent, and by that, I mean not only asset managers but who they interact with, professional services firms, fund service providers and industry associations. They’re arguably the best I know.

The European asset management HQ for the group set up in Dublin in 1997

The European asset management HQ for the group set up in Dublin in 1997

What makes the Irish ecosystem unique from other financial services centres in Europe is the breadth of different types of companies and businesses in the financial services industry, paired with the presence of a massive technology cohort. The location has helped a lot of cross-pollination and access to talent with the mindset of the tech companies. Today, financial services companies must become tech companies; you need these cultures blending together if you want to stay relevant.

Qualtrics Chooses Ireland for its Skills Base

Qualtrics Chooses Ireland for its Skills Base

Ultimately, what you want is a geography where you can build an office that has broad market coverage. For a company going into Europe, Ireland has the lowest cost to set up a business, with a broad pool of talent from across the EU

2,000 employees across three sites in Ireland (Limerick, Cork and Dublin)

2,000 employees across three sites in Ireland (Limerick, Cork and Dublin)

Since 1976, Ireland has been a critical innovation centre for ADI, thanks to its strong academic and research organisations, business ecosystem, and progressive government leadership. This next-generation semiconductor manufacturing facility and expanded R&D team will further extend ADI Limerick’s global influence.

Cork facility designated as European R&D Centre of Excellence

Cork facility designated as European R&D Centre of Excellence

The timing and scale of this Cadence investment is a real boost to Cork’s growing reputation as a specialised R&D hub. Due to our proximity to the University College Cork and Munster Technological University as well as to Ireland’s largest ICT research centre, The Tyndall Institute, the region provides an amazing engineering and computer science talent pool to draw from.

Ireland is one of Northern Trust’s largest fund servicing centres in Europe

Ireland is one of Northern Trust’s largest fund servicing centres in Europe

The support of IDA Ireland has been – and continues to be – an important enabler for our operations in Ireland. The IDAs partnership enhances our ability to scale, invest and compete. We have been working closely with the IDA since 2006 to support our growth.

Find your European home

Find your European home