Capabilities & Competitiveness:: The Lucerna Project Report - 2010

National University of Ireland, Galway
Ollscoil na hÉireann, Gaillimh
Capabilities & Competitiveness:

A Methodological Approach for Understanding
Irish Economic Transformation
THE LUCERNA PROJECT REPORT - 2010

A Methodological Approach for Understanding
Irish Economic Transformation
THE LUCERNA PROJECT REPORT - 2010
i
Centre for Innovation and Structural Change (CISC)
J.E Cairnes School of Business and Economics
National University of Ireland, Galway
Ireland
www.nuigalway.ie/cisc
ISBN 978-0-9553159-4-7
Contributors
Dr Satyasiba Das
Post Doctoral Researcher, LUCERNA
Professor Michael H Best Email: [email protected]
Experienced Researcher, LUCERNA
Email: [email protected] Mr Oner Tulum
Researcher, LUCERNA
Dr Paul Ryan Email: [email protected]
Principal Investigator, LUCERNA
Email: [email protected] Dr Majella Giblin
Post Doctoral Researcher, HEA PRTLI 4
Email: [email protected]
This project is funded under the Marie Curie Transfer of Knowledge programme.
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Executive Summary
Ireland has achieved significant economic growth that has been characterised by rising high-tech exports and
knowledge-based employment. This growth was driven primarily by the presence of foreign-owned
multinational corporations in high-tech sectors and its sustainability has always remained a basis for debate. A
deeper understanding of industrial change and the technological capabilities that underscore the Irish
economy at present is essential to resolve the debate. The Government has ambitious plans for moving toward
the ‘smart economy’ with high levels of R&D. But does the Government have partners in the private sector in
the form of fast growing companies with the organisational and technological capabilities to drive growth and
create tens of thousands of jobs? While many Irish government reports describe the post Celtic Tiger growth
challenge and set ambitious targets for employment growth in new sectors (such as renewable energy) and
increased private sector R&D, they suffer from a common weakness: very little 'coalface' data on business
organisation including evolving production and technological capabilities.
Public data on industrial sectors is aggregated at a level that means researchers on industrial enterprise
evolution and technological change are unable to track the firms or account for changing product boundaries.
Companies are anonymous and company product mix data is not recorded in such public data. The anonymity
of companies involved obscures growth dynamics and the neglect of product information cloaks cluster
boundaries and dynamics. Therefore, the picture of industrial activity is incomplete. Therefore, crucial policy
questions go unanswered with available public data, as currently structured, such as whether the capabilities
are in place in Irish industry to allow a transition to a new business model based on endogenous development;
whether there is potential for an enhancement of these capabilities through technological convergence that
occurs at the intersection of two or more of the technology-based clusters that presently exist; whether
expanded funding of HEI research can be an engine of high-tech growth; and whether new sectors can have
large employment impact.
To address this data deficit the ‘Lucerna’ database has been developed at the Centre for Innovation and
Structural Change (CISC) at NUI Galway. The project is funded under the EU’s Marie Curie Transfer of
Knowledge programme and reflects a partnership between NUI Galway and the University of Massachusetts,
USA, where a similar study was conducted for high-tech industry in the ‘Greater Boston’ region. The Lucerna
database provides detailed information on high-tech companies designed to characterise evolving
technological capabilities, deep craft skills, emerging industry dynamics and churn. As the database will assist
policy makers and academics to answer the identified key questions we propose to make it open access to
those interested parties that may wish to interrogate it.
In essence, the Lucerna dataset serves as a metaphorical laboratory to study the emergence of high-tech
industrial sectors. It is composed of firms and the products they make – single or multiple – and the sectors
they operate in. Many firms, particularly large ones, operate in more than one sector. Companies that straddle
industry boundaries are most important in understanding industrial change and renewal as firms transition
into new industries and products. Lucerna includes rapidly growing companies, those in transition and foreign
MNC subsidiaries that drive industrial growth and, as such, are the carriers, developers and consolidators of
regionally distinctive technological capabilities. To demonstrate the power of the Lucerna database we have
undertaken preliminary data analysis exercises in two key areas:
1. An examination of the historic emergence, growth, dynamics, and distinctive capabilities of the
successful Medical Technology sector in Ireland.
2. An assessment of the future for Renewable Energy, examining the potential and barriers for this
emerging sector of the Irish economy.
The report suggests that from a capabilities perspective, Ireland has assimilated certain technological,
manufacturing and managerial capabilities primarily from the presence of multinationals and supported by HEI
investment that can be the drivers of economic growth.
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Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY III
CONTENTS V
1 A METHODOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON IRISH INDUSTRIAL CAPABILITIES AND

COMPETITIVENESS 1
1.1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.2 THE CAPABILITIES PERSPECTIVE 1
1.3 IRELAND IN THE GLOBAL CONTEXT 2
1.4 SHORTCOMINGS OF EXISTING DATA 4
1.5 LUCERNA DATABASE METHODOLOGY APPROACH 5
1.6 IDENTIFICATION OF COMPETITIVE SECTORS USING OFFICIAL-DATA SOURCES 6
STEP 1: IDENTIFICATION OF SIGNIFICANT HIGH-TECH SECTORS 6
STEP 2: PRODUCT CLASSIFICATION FOR THE DATASET 7
STEP 3: CREATION OF TECHNOLOGY-BASED CLUSTERS 8
STEP 4: POPULATING THE TECHNOLOGY-BASED CLUSTERS 9
1.7 ADVANTAGES OF THE NEW DATASET 11
1.8 DESCRIPTION OF IRISH TECHNOLOGY CLUSTERS 11
1.8 NETWORK ANALYSIS OF THE TECHNOLOGY BASED CLUSTERS 15
1.8.1 BASIC PROPERTIES OF INDUSTRY-TECHNOLOGY NET 15
1.9 CONCLUSION 17
2 CASE STUDY: IRELAND’S MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY SECTOR 18
2.1 INTRODUCTION 18
2.2 MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY SECTOR IN IRELAND 18
2.3 A REGIONAL CASE: GALWAY’S MEDICAL DEVICE CLUSTER 23
2.3.1 CLUSTER EMERGENCE AND DEVELOPMENT 23
2.3.2 CLUSTER CAPABILITIES AND SKILLS 25
2.3.3 THIRD-LEVEL INSTITUTES AND INDUSTRY INTERPLAY 27
2.3.4 INDIGENOUS GROWTH, EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND CONVERGENCE 28
2.4 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 31
3 CASE STUDY: IRELAND’S RENEWABLE ENERGY INDUSTRY 32
3.1 INTRODUCTION: THE CHALLENGE AND OPPORTUNITY 32

3.2 RECOMMENDATION FOR A BUSINESS MODEL FOR RENEWABLES 36
3.2.1 INTER-ORGANISATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS AND CLUSTER FORMATION 36
3.2.2 TAPPING THE TECHNOLOGICAL CAPABILITIES OF AFFILIATES OF TECHNOLOGY LEADERS HEADQUARTERED IN
IRELAND 37
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3.2.3 BUILDING AN INDUSTRY-EMBEDDED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE 38
3.3 RENEWABLE ENERGY SUB-SECTORS AND COMPANIES: A STRATEGIC AUDIT 39
3.4 TWO BARRIERS TO A RENEWAL ENERGY INDUSTRY 41
3.5 UNSHACKLING RENEWABLE ENERGY: REINVENTING THE PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE 41
3.6 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 43
4 CONCLUSION: INDUSTRIAL TRANSITION PROCESSES IN IRELAND 45
5 FINAL COMMENT 46
REFERENCES 47
List of Tables
TABLE 1-1: COMPETITIVE TECHNOLOGY-BASED CLUSTERS OF IRELAND AND ASSOCIATED BUSINESS UNITS 8
TABLE 1-2: INFORMATION ON INDIVIDUAL COMPANIES IN LUCERNA DATA 10
TABLE 1-3: STANDARDISED INDEX OF ENTRY OF ESTABLISHMENTS IN IRELAND 13
TABLE 1-4: LOCATION QUOTIENT OF TBCS IN DIFFERENT COUNTIES OF IRELAND 13
TABLE 2-1: SUB-GROUPS OF MEDICAL DEVICES AND SERVICES 19
TABLE 2-2: CONCEPTUAL FRAME WORK FOR UNDERSTANDING MEDEV CLUSTER CAPABILITIES 23
List of Figures
FIGURE 1-1: EMPLOYMENT IN DIFFERENT TECHNOLOGY BASED CLUSTERS IN IRELAND ............................................................. 14

FIGURE 1-2: NETWORK INDICATING INDUSTRY-TECHNOLOGY CLUSTER INTERACTION IN LUCERNA DATABASE. ............................. 16
FIGURE 2-1 PRODUCT LANDSCAPE OF THE IRISH MEDICAL DEVICE SECTOR BY EMPLOYMENT ................................................... 20
FIGURE 2-2: PRODUCT LANDSCAPE OF THE IRISH MEDICAL DEVICE SECTOR BY INCORPORATION YEAR........................................ 20
FIGURE 2-3: PRODUCT LANDSCAPE OF THE IRISH MEDICAL DEVICE SECTOR BY ORIGIN ........................................................... 21
FIGURE 2-4: PRODUCT LANDSCAPE OF THE IRISH MEDICAL DEVICE SECTOR BY REGION ........................................................... 21
FIGURE 2-5: PRODUCT LANDSCAPE OF THE MEDICAL DEVICE SECTOR IN GALWAY BY EMPLOYMENT .......................................... 26
FIGURE 2-6: PRODUCT LANDSCAPE OF THE MEDICAL DEVICE SECTOR IN GALWAY BY ORIGIN ................................................... 26
FIGURE 2-7: PRODUCT LANDSCAPE OF THE MEDICAL DEVICE SECTOR IN GALWAY BY INCORPORATION YEAR ............................... 26
FIGURE 2-8: GALWAY MEDICAL DEVICE CLUSTER: ACTORS AND FLOW OF INFORMATION .......................................................... 27
FIGURE 2-9: GALWAY TECHNOLOGY CLUSTER ................................................................................................................. 28
FIGURE 2-10: A SUBSET OF ENTREPRENEUR NETWORK IN INDIGENOUS START-UPS ................................................................. 29
FIGURE 3-1: SCATTER PLOT OF ENERGY TBC .................................................................................................................. 34
FIGURE 3-2: NETWORK OF CONNECTIVITY OF RENEWABLE ENERGY TBC .............................................................................. 35
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1 A Methodological Perspective on Irish Industrial
Capabilities and Competitiveness
1.1 Introduction
The project LUCERNA—Latin for ‘a lamp’—is a means to shed light on highly
disaggregated industry data, particularly in the contexts characterised by rapid
technological change, where the challenges of measurement are especially acute. The
Lucerna project integrates competitiveness and innovation scholarship with database
techniques in data gathering and economic development analysis. Micro enterprise level
data are employed to populate a virtual laboratory of high-tech companies and then to
‘interrogate’ this population of companies and conduct experiments designed to
understand the sources of industrial development and to enrich the concept of
industrial dynamics. The database provides a research capacity to gather, analyse, and
disseminate finely detailed business demographics in emergent and fast-changing high-
technology clusters. It facilitates the determination of the competences of firms in a
technology cluster and accordant distinctive regional capabilities.
1.2 The Capabilities Perspective

Business organisation and technological advance are central to the story of industrial
development and change. Capabilities are organisational accomplishments that take
time and teamwork to develop. According to Teece et al., (2000) capabilities are the
ability to reconfigure, redirect, transform, and appropriately shape and integrate
existing core competences with external resources, strategic and complementary assets
to meet the challenges of a time-pressured, rapidly changing world of competition and
imitation. The concept to some extent combines both the hard part of technology in the
form of science and engineering and the softer aspect such as the processes enabling its
effective application (Phaal et al., 2004). It is evident from many empirical studies that
micro-level organisational capabilities within specific firms can be related to macro level
regional capabilities. From this perspective technology is seen as cumulative and
differentiated. As a result the present industrial capabilities (industrial composition of
innovation activities and growth) in a given location reflects past technological
accumulation (Boschma & Frenken, 2006).
Closely related to production capabilities and business organisation, technology (and its
close associate, technology management) is a specific form of organisational capability.
However, technology differs from the other forms in two related ways. First,
technological capabilities are inherently dynamic: they are continuously reshaped with
every iteration of the ‘capability and market opportunity’ cycle. Sometimes, the change
is to a ‘next generation technology’; other times it involves the integration or re-
integration of two or more technologies as part of new product development. Second,
technology capabilities are unique: they impart distinctive industrial signatures or
fingerprints. Thus, technological capabilities are marked by both change and continuity.
Their evolution is regionally path dependent. Best (2001; 2005) argues that regional
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core competence is about distinctive regional technological capabilities that have been
cumulatively and collectively developed across enterprises over time.
Successful regions, like successful firms, have core competences or distinctive

capabilities that impart competitive advantage. Like all capabilities, the regional variant
takes time and teamwork to develop, is not easily imitated, and cannot be purchased in
the marketplace. Such regional technological capabilities are intangible; they are
embedded in the production processes and deep craft skills of a region’s inhabitants,
and are manifest in distinctive industrial sectors, or technology-based clusters. The
underlying distinctive capabilities give a regional organisational advantage. At the same
time, participants can easily take distinctive capabilities and associated skills for granted.
The empirical challenge is to audit and characterise a region’s technological capabilities.
Best (2006) relates how regions such as Massachusetts differ from less successful
regions in sectors such as medical devices. He states that part of the answer lay in
Massachusetts long history of precision engineering and instrument making dating back
to weaponry production centuries earlier through defence and more recently, mini-
computers and ICT. Ireland, with its agrarian-based economy over centuries of
colonisation has no comparable industrial heritage and legacy. Pockets of regional
capabilities such as glass-blowing in Waterford existed. But these did not provide a basis
for high-tech development. However, in recent decades multinational companies based
in Ireland have transplanted capabilities in critical areas such as precision engineering in
Galway for medical device production (and lately design). Higher education institutes
have also targeted high-technologies for capability development, such as regenerative
medicine and nanotechnology.
The high-tech companies that thrive today do so as members of specialised groups that
both leverage and renew a long-established heritage of regionally distinctive
technological capabilities and skills. They combine the region’s technology capability and
skills heritage with an ‘open systems’ business model to contribute to a vibrant regional
innovation system. A regional innovation system successfully builds on and leverages a
region’s distinctive technological heritage (Best, 2005). The described ‘capabilities
perspective’ underpins much of the analysis of the Irish high-tech real economy in this
report. The next section sets out the current situation for the Irish high-tech economy.
1.3 Ireland in the Global Context

It is a time of industrial and economic transition globally and in Ireland. While the news
is filled with accounts of imbalances in the property and financial markets, the ‘real’
economy has structural imbalances that demand attention as well. It is in the real
economy that a nation’s wealth is created and innovation is concentrated. Ireland, as a
small nation, will never be immune from disruptive forces of globalisation but the
constructive forces can offer great opportunities. During the 1980s and 1990s Ireland
successfully rode waves of technological change generated particularly in America. The
marriage of business and technology in post war America was accompanied by the
emergence and rapid growth of new high tech sectors driven by technology-intensive
business models.
2
In post war America and in the technologically stable industries, the multi-divisional
model prevailed in which corporate R&D labs were financed by oligopoly profits.
Subsequently, a new, continuous improvement model of innovation made the Japanese
business system a competitive force in mass production industries. But in recent
decades yet a third model of innovation emerged. This involved an inter-institutional
assemblage of government, universities, and business which fostered a new interactive
model of industrial innovation with powerful locational effects. Greater Boston’s ‘Route
128’ and California’s ‘Silicon Valley’ became the archetypal regional innovation systems.
Greater Boston is populated by some 3000 high tech enterprises and Silicon Valley by
twice that number.
Ireland never has had and will not likely soon be an independent source of industrial
innovation and technology development at least on the scale of the three models of
business organisation mentioned here. A small economy simply will not have the range
of infrastructures required to sustain an innovation ecosystem like that of greater
Boston or Silicon Valley. But at the same time, many of the success stories of small
economy, high-tech sectors such as Taiwan, Israel, Singapore, and Ireland have
developed business models that are closely inter-related with America’s high tech
industrial districts.
What these small nation success stories illustrate is that the forces of rapid technological
development can be tapped not only within the regions in which they are centred but by
distant locations which develop complementary capabilities. In the case of Ireland,
affiliates of fast growing high tech enterprises were attracted by the availability of
world-class production and remote-management capabilities for routine activities.
These capabilities became the means for the transfer of technologies and business
practices developed elsewhere.
A critical mass of affiliates with positive feedback loops was quickly established in
several rapidly growing sectors including computers, software, bio-pharma, medical
devices followed by internationally tradable services. Along the way Ireland developed
national capabilities in the rapid ramp up of production facilities for the world’s leading
high tech companies combined with management capabilities for the marketing, sales,
logistics and related activities for US companies seeking a platform to grow market share
in Europe.
However, over time imbalances and barriers have arisen. Growth was concentrated in
production and management activities that can be imitated by other regions with similar
government policies. Growth was also concentrated in rapidly growing sectors with high
tradable content. While the latter is not undesirable on its own, it meant that little
attention went to a number of key infrastructural sectors such as energy and
transportation. These sectors have proven intractable to development by invitation
strategies. They are huge sectors of the economy that have been highly resistant to
innovation and technological change. And, as in the case of renewable energy
demonstrated in section 3 of this report, Ireland has huge and untapped natural
resources. This is a case of organisational failure.
3
Second, Ireland’s economic success, driven by affiliates of large foreign global
companies, has not, to date, been accompanied by the indigenous ‘industrial districts’ of
networked groups of differentiated and specialised small firms. This model of business
organisation, common to high income regions of Italy, Denmark, and Germany, does not
seem to have taken hold in Ireland. Its best example may be in the continuing evolution
of the medical technology cluster in Galway, as shown in section 2 of this report.
With the global downturn in the last half of the present decade new queries are raised
about the sources and dynamics of growth in the past and the potential drivers of
growth as Ireland enters a new era. The last 20 years have seen the emergence of a
substantial body of comparative historical research on the foundations for industrial
development (Chandler, 1990; Lazonick, 1990; Porter, 1990; Freeman & Soete 1997;
Best, 2001). What emerges from this literature is the interplay of Industry, Technology,
and Innovation. How do the last couple of decades of industrial development in Ireland
fit into this literature? What can we learn about Ireland’s evolving capabilities from this
interplay - its industrial dynamics? Addressing these matters depends upon the
availability of enterprise (firm)-level data.
In a comprehensive search for information on business enterprises and industrial growth

in Ireland we found a serious lack of availability of reliable and complete enterprise-level
data required to investigate these issues. In an attempt to overcome these limitations
the Lucerna research team developed a new dataset that provides insight into industrial
dynamics 1 of Irish high-tech industry. This next section of the report describes a
systematic approach to identify key technology sectors in the Irish economy. The
shortcomings of existing datasets are discussed in more detail in the next subsection and
the construction of the new database described. We outline the advantages of the
dataset and broad implications for the utility of this methodology for researchers and
policy makers. Some examples of analytical exercises are conducted for illustrative
purposes of the utility and potential power of the Lucerna database.
1.4 Shortcomings of Existing Data

Many studies have shown that a certain amount of insight into industry dynamics can be
gleaned from disaggregating all Irish industrial activity by 2 digit NACE codes. At the
same time, we have found a number of shortcomings in addressing this issue using
available official data.
a. The data on business enterprises is lacking and incomplete. Even at a relatively

basic level it has been noted that gathering data on firms in Ireland is
1
There are four main facets to industrial dynamics: 1) the nature of economic activity in the firm
and its connection to the dynamics of supply and therefore economic growth, particularly the
role of knowledge; 2) how the boundaries of the firm (degree of vertical integration) and the
degree of interdependence among firms change over time and what role this interdependence
plays in economic growth; 3) the role of technological change and the institutional framework
conducive to technological progress at both macro and micro levels; and 4) the role of economic
policy in facilitating or obstructing adjustment of the economy to changing circumstances
(domestically as well as internationally) at both micro and macro levels of industrial policy.
4
problematic. As O’Sullivan and Giangrande (2002) stated, “In the Irish case
…trade associations, development agencies and similar organisations were
extremely disappointing as sources for company lists. In most cases, these
organisations could not provide us with a list of companies and when the
information was available it was typically limited.” In many cases, companies are
anonymous in official data or subject to confidentiality clauses making large-
scale company-based analysis nearly impossible. Critically important,
longitudinal examination of individual companies and sectors is not possible.
b. The current statistical datasets on industrial sectors provided either

commercially or by state agencies, such as, the Central Statistical Office, are
constructed according to standard industry classification systems such as NACE,
SIC or NAICS, which are too broad and static to capture the location, source and
extent of technological change and industrial transition. The data conflates
growing and declining subsectors and companies within sectors. In addition,
multi-product technology-driven companies often operate in more than one
NACE code but are recorded in only one. Furthermore, as technology has
evolved so too have industry categories which introduce additional ambiguity
into published industry aggregates. Many services sectors, for example, are
excluded which create big holes in the data when technology-driven companies
shift from, for example, packaged software, to down-loadable software as in the
case of Microsoft in recent years.
c. The compilation of public datasets organises industrial sectors according to the

share of value-added of firm activities carried out. However, this leaves
researchers and policymakers with little insight into the development of specific
activities and capabilities within particular sectors in Ireland as it does not
comprehensively capture the particular products developed or services offered
by firms and how they are evolving. We conclude that without more firm-level
and finely granulated empirical information it is difficult to critically assess the
fundamental challenges to the next stage of industrial development in Ireland.
Therefore, the next section describes a unique approach to addressing these
issues.
1.5 Lucerna Database Methodology Approach

At the firm level the process of product development capability (and corollary
engineering design skills) can be accessed from product data. The assumption here is
that product range is a suitable proxy of product development capabilities and,
furthermore, potentially a ‘measureable’ indicator of advance in capabilities and
underlying technology. Mapping product development change requires a finely
granulated classification system that captures the firm’s product portfolio and
technology and can be aggregated to the level of region to address the issues related to
innovation and industrial change.
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This project develops a company dataset informed by a finely granulated and
technologically-informed product classification system designed to identify key
technology-based industrial clusters. The objective is to understand and monitor
innovation and its economic impact through growth and changes in the key technology
sectors that are critical to the nation’s economy. Without the application of a
technology-based classification system it is nearly impossible to assess dynamic,
knowledge-intensive sources of growth or to compare business and technology
development in Ireland with other regions.
To determine the key technology sectors we initially took as influence a number of

American public studies (e.g. Index of the Massachusetts Innovation Economy, 2008;
The 2008 State New Economy Index; and vTHREAD developed by the Centre for
Industrial Competitiveness, University of Massachusetts, Lowell) to index and
benchmark state technology and innovation performance. Many US states pursue
technology-based economic development initiatives and deploy benchmark
comparisons not only with leading states but with small technology leading nations such
as Finland, Denmark, Israel and Taiwan. While every state and nation has a distinctive
industrial portfolio, a number of key technology-based or knowledge-intensive clusters
can be identified. We have characterised technology-based sectors in ways that draw
upon these so that one can distinguish Irish technology sectors and at the same time
make comparisons and develop historical performance measures.
Four steps were undertaken to construct the Lucerna database:
I. First, official, aggregative data was analysed to derive first approximations of

industry composition for the purposes of focusing on significant sectors in terms
of size, growth, and technology intensity.
II. Second, we searched an extensive product and service nomenclature for these
significant industrial sectors using a comprehensive product classification
system.
III. Third, a set of key technology-based clusters were derived from this high tech
product and service list to facilitate international and inter-regional monitoring
and comparisons of industrial performance.
IV. Fourth, the dataset of companies was used to populate these key technology-
based-clusters.
We employ the term ‘Technology Based Cluster (TBC)’ to denote these aggregated
industrial sectors that comprise the present Irish competitive high-tech sector. The
procedures and limitation of these steps are described in the following sub-sections.
1.6 Identification of competitive sectors using official-data sources
Step 1: Identification of significant high-tech sectors

As noted, before turning to the development of the new company database, various
exercises are performed on readily available industry data. Our purpose is to focus on
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significant sectors in terms of growth, size and technology intensity. By using publicly
available data key sectors in Ireland are identified by the following indicators:
A. Industries with competitive advantage

a. Revealed comparative advantage 2
b. Significant amount of export revenue
B. Industries with a significant amount of employment
C. Demonstrated growth or identified by government agencies as potential growth
sectors
D. Both science-based and specialised supply sectors that are characterised by
substantial organised R&D, strongly linked to science, display capabilities in
engineering
E. Includes both manufacturing and service sectors 3
As the present study is confined to high value export sectors based on capabilities in
engineering and science, some of the traditional trade categories were excluded in the
analysis 4. This resulted in the identification of the following set of globally competitive
industries: Organic chemicals; Medicinal and pharmaceutical products; Chemical
materials and products; Office machinery and computers; Medical, precision and optical
equipment; Radio, television and communications equipment; and Professional,
scientific and controlling apparatus
Step 2: Product classification for the dataset

In the first step of developing the new dataset, an industry-product concordance was
sketched using the Kompass Product Classification System. The Kompass Product
Classification System consists of three levels: the first level (2 digit code) represents the
broad industries, the second level (5 digit code) represents major product groups, and
the third level (7 digit code) represents the individual products. Kompass’s technical
team in France updates this classification regularly and new products are continuously
added to the classification system. We used the most recently published version of this
classification (2008) that comprised 71 industry groups at 2-digit level which is further
broken down into 1808 product and service groups. These 1808 product and service
groups consists of 57335 individual products. The classification is organised in three
parts: Industry Section [01 to 54 -manufacturers and traders who specialise in the
products listed]; Trading Section [61 to 68 -only traders are listed in this section]; and
2
These examine the proportion of a good produced or exported, or the numbers employed in
each industry, relative to other countries’ international trade data. In an exercise Addison-Smyth
(2005) used ‘Balassa indices’ to determine Ireland’s comparative advantage for 2002. We
extended this exercise to 2005 data.
3
The detailed exercise to identify key industrial sectors is available in a CISC working paper:
‘Competitive Irish Clusters – The application of the capability perspective to the study of cluster
dynamics’.
4
These sectors are: ‘Food and Live Animals (SITC 0)’, ‘Beverages and Tobacco(SITC 1)’, Crude
materials, inedible, except fuels (SITC 2), Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (SITC 3),
Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes (SITC 4).
7
Service Section [69 to 89 - only service providers]. Kompass groups firms by process or
technology, independent of material. The 2-digit correspondence of Kompass product
classification was searched to match the industries that we have identified as key
competitive technologies in Ireland in the previous exercise. A high-tech product pool
was constructed by thoroughly searching the product and service groups for
correspondence with the 5 digit Kompass classification system.
Step 3: Creation of Technology-Based Clusters

The next step was to organise the product groups into technology- and process-related
industrial categories for the purposes of indexing and conducting internationally
comparative analyses of Ireland’s industrial performance that is anchored in the
development or lack of development of capabilities at the enterprise level. Initially, ten
key technology-based clusters (TBCs) emerged from this exercise. An additional
‘Renewable Energy’ technology was added to our database because of its emerging
significance.
Table 1-1: Competitive Technology-based clusters of Ireland and associated business units
*
Name of TBCs Population
Computer and Communication Hardware (CCH) 341
Software and Communication services (SCS) 865
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Medical Devices (MEDEV) 67
Pharmaceuticals (PHARMA) 107
Test, Measurement, & Instrumentation (TMI) 105
Processed Chemicals & Materials (PCM) 341
Diversified Manufacturing & Processing (DMP) 116
Renewable Energy (RE) 208
Scientific, Technical, Engineering, & Consultancy Services (STECS) 987
Business & Management Services (BMS) 6758
Finance and Insurance Services (FIS) 2402
*Note: Population as per Lucerna data set-1: 2008
Taxonomies have been created for the purpose of classifying product groups and
establishments in the Irish context. They are based on the assessments of specific
engineering intensity, technological know-how involved in the critical production
5
This TBC includes medical product/device manufacturing firms only. Service and support firms
to the medical device sector are included in the Scientific, Technical, Engineering, & Consultancy
Services (STECS) category. A comprehensive analysis of the medical device sector should include
the MEDEV cluster along with the relevant service and support firms that are included in the
STECS category (see Section 2 of the report; ‘Case Study: Ireland’s Medical Technology Sector’).
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processes, and proximity to closely-related technologies in the underlying scientific
discipline 6. The resulting 11 key technology-based clusters and the number of associated
business units in Ireland are shown in Table 1-1. The detailed composition of these
technology based clusters in terms of the constituent 5-digit product and service groups
from the Kompass classification are provided in annex-1.
Of the 11 key technology-based clusters, which include both manufacturing and service,
our attention is focused on the manufacturing-based clusters. While the distinction is
somewhat arbitrary, the business units in these clusters are predominantly where
advances in business organisation capabilities in new product development and
technology management are made operational. These are the practical sites at which
innovation is translated into increases in productivity. This does not take away from the
critical contribution of the three professional service dominated key industry clusters
(the last three TBCs in Table 1-1) and particularly their employment impact, but these
three industry clusters are primarily technology-using.
Step 4: Populating the technology-based clusters

Populating the eight TBCs involved the following steps. First company data, including
company name, product code and description, employment and location information
were pulled from the Data Ireland Kompass 2007 directory 7. Second, after due data
cleaning and validation; the company/business registration number assigned by the CRO
(Company Registration Office) was identified for each company record. The CRO number
is unique to each business unit and is used as the main identifier for our records and also
used as a key to merge further micro-level data from different sources. For instance,
company data from the FAME 2007 database was merged with the Kompass database
by using the CRO numbers, and were individually matched to avoid duplication or record
mismatch. In many cases, FAME provides more enhanced company demographic, profile
and financial information than Kompass or any other dataset found in Ireland. However,
companies in FAME are grouped according to the existing conventional industry
classifications such as NACE and UK SIC and thus fail to allow users to identify product
development capability and emerging technologies.
This practice of constructing bridges between multiple datasets by using a unique

company identifier, i.e. the CRO number, allows flexibility within the Lucerna database
by enabling users to further enrich the dataset as needed. Furthermore, in longitudinal
series, the unique identifier allows users to monitor the development of individual
companies as their demographics, production or organisational structures change over
6
We removed some of the products (also product groups) that are not a part of Irish production
and in some cases do not fit to the existing technology-sector group. Some products are also
removed from the pool if they are not part of knowledge intensive industries but only a part of
industry group e.g. cotton and bandage in medical device industry, CD level in software and
communication services industries etc.
7
Kompass used a systematic method to collect this data but there is a time lag in updating all the
records. Therefore, the information in the 2007 directory which is available in early 2008 contains
demographics for the period 2006 and 2007. This is currently being updated by the Lucerna
research team with 2009 Kompass data.
9
time. It also pinpoints the records in a panel and indicates operational time (exit from
production) of the company in Ireland. Each individual company record in the Lucerna
database has the following information presented in the following table.
Table 1-2: Information on individual companies in Lucerna data
1. Identifier
a. KOMPASS registration number
b. Company registration number by Company
Registration Office – Ireland
2. Name as registered in Company Registration Office (CRO)
3. Location Information
a. Postal Address (Industrial Site, Street, Town,
County)
b. Telephone and Fax
c. Geo coordinate
4. Product and Activity Information
a. Industry (2 digits) Product Group (5 digits) Product
(7 digits)-for KOMPASS Product Classification
System with description
b. UK SIC and US SIC Classification Code with
Description
5. Incorporation Year
6. Last year of Operation (Exit Year)
7. KOMPASS Employment Figure
8. Country of Origin
10
1.7 Advantages of the new dataset
The new database consists of up-to-date business demographics for the key tradable
sectors of Ireland. The key sectors are demarcated at the product code level. As
individual companies are not anonymous in the database it allows case-by-case study
and allows greater flexibility to add or verify information. It also includes business unit
incorporation and exit year illustrating industrial evolution and churn. As the TBCs are
constructed by taking account of cluster studies developed elsewhere it provides a basis
to compare clusters internationally. Locational information for each record allows us to
integrate it to GIS-based analysis and mapping. It also provides flexibility to conduct
studies on various regional levels of aggregation (city, county, and region). Finally,
product-based classification for data-building allows the examination of technological
activities, engineering/science base of the industry and most importantly emerging
technologies and technology management capabilities.
The following sections outline some descriptive statistics and analytical exercises that
utilise the Lucerna dataset for illustrative purposes of its utility and potential power.
1.8 Description of Irish Technology Clusters

Descriptive statistics from the database, as presently constituted, can be used to
summarise different indicators of business enterprise demographics, including
employment size, incorporation period, geographic concentration and indigenous-
versus foreign-owned activity. Table 1-3 provides a standardised index for start-ups in
each TBC over time. The index indicates the relative start-up activity in each sector for
each period. For example, Table 1-3 shows the relatively early business development of
the processed chemical and materials (PCM) and pharmaceutical (PHARMA) TBCs in
Ireland. In fact, PCM has an index value greater than 1 for all but the last decade of the
twentieth century. Perhaps this is linked to the early arrival of pharmaceutical business
units well before the Celtic Tiger period. Likewise the relatively large number of start-
ups in test, measurement, and instrument (TMI) and diverse manufacturing and
processing (DMP) in mid-century Ireland created the conditions for the rapid growth of
medical device (MEDEV) start-ups between 1970 and 1990. The enormous burst of
activity in software and communication services (SCS) start-ups only began in 1995. The
point here is not that the database proves any such connections but it does allow the
researcher to pull out the specific companies and explore more deeply the activities
involved and the capabilities and skills being developed.
As this business unit entry date index only considers the number of start-ups it tells
merely a part of the story of industrial growth. To supplement, Table 1-4 uses
employment data to calculate location quotients for each TBC by county. The logic is
that a region with an employment share in any given TBC greater than the national
average is judged to be relatively specialised in the production of the output of that
particular sector. Share of employment as a percentage of total employment in each
TBC is presented in the maps in figure 1-1.
These applications of the database are examples of a range of background ‘quantitative’

exercises to guide qualitative, case studies of industrial transition, capability
11
development, and emerging sub-sectors in Ireland. As the dataset is updated annually
an additional range of longitudinal-oriented exercises can be deployed to more
accurately characterise the underlying organisational and technological capabilities that
drive industrial growth and development. Examples include:
• Fast growing firms and clusters by technology and region

• Changing composition of technology-based companies by region
• Industry churn charts, assessing enterprise entries and exits
• Company and technology genealogies by region
• Company family trees indicated by changes in executive employment
• Exit and entry rates of firms by industry, region, and year
• Maps of high tech companies illustrating size and growth. 8
8
Detailed descriptions of some of these types of exercises are available in various CISC working
papers linked to the Lucerna project (see www.nuigalway.ie/cisc).
12
Table 1-3: Standardised index of Entry of Establishments in Ireland
1901- 1926- 1951- 1956- 1961- 1966- 1971- 1976- 1976- 1981- 1986- 1991- 1996- 2001-
<1900 >2005
1925 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
CCH 0.00 0.68 0.61 0.00 1.67 0.61 0.98 0.71 1.35 0.68 1.25 0.91 1.04 1.13 0.73 0.70
DMP 0.00 1.83 0.82 1.27 1.50 1.65 1.50 2.11 1.32 2.20 1.48 1.64 0.81 0.53 0.34 0.75
MEDEV 0.00 0.00 2.86 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.66 1.43 0.00 1.56 1.06 0.75 0.87 0.82 2.60
PCM 5.61 1.87 2.52 3.88 1.53 1.68 2.55 1.89 2.02 2.37 1.42 1.07 0.79 0.36 0.51 0.89
PHARMA 0.00 0.00 1.79 2.75 1.63 3.58 2.84 2.91 1.43 1.19 0.62 0.66 1.23 0.58 0.74 0.81
RE Data is not available for majority of companies.
SCS 0.00 0.98 0.22 0.00 0.40 0.33 0.10 0.26 0.24 0.29 0.65 0.89 1.09 1.40 1.47 1.21
TMI 0.00 0.00 1.82 1.40 1.66 2.73 1.66 1.48 1.82 2.43 1.27 1.58 0.95 0.38 0.67 0.00
Table 1-4: Location Quotient of TBCs in different counties of Ireland
Roscommon
Westmeath
Monaghan
Waterford
Tipperary
Longford
Wexford
Wicklow
Kilkenny
County
Limerick
Donegal
Galway
Leitrim
Carlow
Kildare
Meath
Dublin
Cavan
Offaly
Louth
Mayo
Kerry
Clare
Laois
Sligo
Cork
CCH 0.29 0.00 0.90 1.04 0.08 1.07 0.32 0.00 1.93 0.08 0.37 0.00 2.10 1.09 1.57 0.01 0.33 0.00 0.50 0.06 1.27 0.06 0.10 0.80 0.09 0.09
DMP 1.94 0.00 2.18 1.35 0.00 1.33 0.81 0.00 0.23 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.32 2.80 0.56 0.16 0.69 0.00 0.52 0.00 0.00 0.05 1.36 0.00 0.16 0.12
MEDEV 2.96 0.00 0.40 0.98 4.19 0.21 3.99 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.64 0.00 0.06 3.29 2.09 0.00 1.88 0.00 3.27 1.41 0.06 0.15 5.05 2.48
PCM 0.55 5.43 0.92 0.74 1.08 0.52 1.83 0.92 1.00 0.92 4.67 5.72 0.46 2.71 0.70 2.30 2.74 4.78 3.06 3.12 1.14 0.13 0.38 2.68 2.52 2.38
PHARMA 0.82 0.35 1.02 1.42 0.73 0.56 1.30 2.92 0.78 5.27 0.00 0.00 0.38 0.00 0.08 2.76 1.36 0.00 1.14 2.94 0.95 6.47 4.72 1.31 0.00 2.02
RE Employment figures not available for majority of companies.
SCS 0.72 0.03 0.56 0.57 1.49 1.59 0.30 1.92 0.76 0.36 0.05 0.00 0.43 0.03 1.52 0.06 0.10 0.63 0.07 0.37 0.44 0.38 0.92 0.60 0.56 0.45
TMI 5.90 0.00 4.40 3.44 0.28 0.79 0.18 0.00 0.27 3.79 2.45 0.00 1.83 0.00 0.28 0.06 1.27 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.19 0.53
13
Figure 1-1: Employment in different Technology based Clusters in Ireland
14
1.8 Network Analysis of the Technology based Clusters
The Network approach is a useful heuristic tool that enables us to focus on the network
structure, inter-linkages of TBCs, industries, firms and products and determine how
networks change over time. Mark Granovetter’s (1985) notions of connectivity and
embeddedness establish the degree to which TBCs, industries, firms and products are
enmeshed and linked in a network. Zaheer and Bell (2005) identified ‘network-enabled
capabilities’ in that firms are better able to exploit their capabilities to enhance their
performance via superior network position in the network structure.
We used standard network analysis software to identify a set of actors that may have
relationships with one another. The networks created illustrate the industries connected
to a technology-cluster that have greatest interaction and exchange of knowledge,
people and trade. Potentially one can identify other non-tradable links and exchange of
externalities and spillovers of social capital.
1.8.1 Basic properties of Industry-Technology Net

Figure 1-2 illustrates the connection between industries 9 and technology-based clusters
for the entire database. A careful interpretation of this graph can be very useful in
getting an intuitive grasp of the important features and structure of high-tech industrial
organisation in Ireland. The number and kind of ties that actors have are keys to
determine how much their embeddedness in the network determines their behaviour,
and the range of opportunities, influence, and power that they have. We examine
whether capabilities are transferrable across TBCs and industries in an evolutionary
manner through technological convergence.
The density of a network is simply the totality of all possible ties that are actually
present. This overall measure provides insight into the extent to which actors have high
levels of relational capital and/or constraint. This is 0.652 (SD = 14.652) for this net. The
density value of 0.652 indicates the entire industry-technology cluster net is well
connected. Connectivity is central to the facilitation of an open innovation model.
Further analysis could be conducted on the mechanisms through which new technology
start-ups become embeddeded in innovation and manufacturing networks.
Network theory contributes a number of important insights about the power of the
actors in a network. The network approach emphasises that power is inherently
relational. Actors that face fewer constraints, and have more opportunities than others
are in favourable structural positions. In industry-technology net having a favoured
position affords more opportunity to extract better bargains in exchanges, have greater
influence, and be a focus of attention for future growth and competitiveness. Lucerna
facilitates analysis of the elements and meaning of power and position as well as the
roles of brokers, technology gatekeepers, connectors and the natures of structural holes
and path-dependency.
9
Description of each 2-digit industry is provided in annex 2.
15
76
46 98 65
82 27
49 54
75
28
34
51 86 33
42
MEDEV
11
39
89 44
40
SCS 37 PCM 29
69 72 41
48 32
35
61 CCH
79 85 DMP 31 20
52
38
16
77 TMI 24 45
84 67 30
80 23
81
87 26 66
47 25
RE 36
BIOPHARM
83
68
18
Figure 1-2: Network indicating Industry-Technology Cluster interaction in Lucerna database.
62
1.9 Conclusion
Existing official data sources provide valuable insights into industrial composition in
Ireland. For example, official data sources can be used to ‘reveal’ comparative
advantage and estimate industrial location quotients within Ireland. We have developed
a complementary, business-enterprise-centred research methodology to go inside the
existing aggregative indicators of industrial dynamics.
No classification system can predict in advance the twists and turns of industry fortunes
consequent upon innovation and technological change. Uncertainty will always prevail.
The virtue of the Lucerna research methodology is that the site where these changes
impact on the economy is the business enterprise; consequently, the macro level of
industrial change can be examined in terms of the technologies, processes, products and
services that enterprises design, develop, produce and market at the micro level.
We deployed a product classification system to assist in the identification of eleven key

technology-based clusters (eight in manufacturing predominantly). A consistent
methodology is developed so that key industry clusters do not overlap and are mutually
exclusive in terms of data. Each year the data can be updated so that emerging trends
can be anticipated and benchmarked internationally. Thus the Lucerna database
methodology provides a general framework for investigating and understanding the
evolving Irish economy.
Nevertheless, the interaction of business organisation, technological change and

innovation is inherently complex. To more fully understand the dynamics of emerging,
rapidly growing, and maturing clusters requires a considerable amount of qualitative
investigation using case study and other research techniques. Nanotechnology and
renewable energy, for example, may be emerging technologies that operate at the
intersection of two or more of the technology-based clusters that presently exist in
Ireland. For another example, as the next section of the report illustrates, the rapid
growth of medical devices in the 1990s has led to the repositioning of companies once
classified in simple instruments manufacturing and to the convergence of medical
delivery devices, life sciences, pharma and information systems to result in the
emergence of a complex medical technology sector.
17
2 Case Study: Ireland’s Medical Technology Sector
2.1 Introduction
The development of the medical technology sector in Ireland typifies the nature of
economic growth that the country has experienced over the past two decades. Led by
the presence of significant operations by top foreign-owned multinational corporations
in the field, the Irish medical technology sector has contributed to rising high-tech
exports and knowledge-based employment. The purpose of this section is to undertake
a data analysis exercise utilising the Lucerna database and methodology to understand
the development and dynamics of this sector. In particular, the study provides an
understanding of the underlying capabilities and skills of the sector by analysing the
prevailing industrial dynamics. Based on this analysis, the main argument presented is
that the distinct capabilities are in place to allow a transition to a new business model
based on endogenous development. However a caveat is the danger of lock-in to a
technology through over-specialisation. Cognisant of the specialisation of activity at a
regional level, we examined more closely the medical technology sector in the Galway
city region. A description of the emergence and development of this regional cluster is
provided, the interplay between university and industry outlined, and emerging and
converging technologies identified. Finally, certain conclusions are drawn.
2.2 Medical Technology sector in Ireland

The successful development of the Irish medical technology sector is a consequence of
the policy drive to attract high-tech FDI. The presence of significant operations by the
world’s top companies such as Boston Scientific, Abbott, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic,
Stryker, Merit Medical, Baxter and Tyco Healthcare has resulted in the Irish sector being
compared to leading global medical centres: Massachusetts and Minneapolis. The initial
investments by foreign-owned MNCs (multinational corporations) in the country were
predominantly low-cost assembly manufacturing sites, whereby the corporation was
attracted by the low corporate tax rate and special grant aid incentives. The presence of
these firms has stimulated the growth of an indigenous base of small companies
providing mainly sub-supply and support services. The indigenous base of enterprises
involved in producing medical devices or diagnostics is relatively small and has
developed mainly as a result of ex-employees of foreign MNCs establishing local
enterprises or start-ups from universities. This is an export-oriented sector with the US
as a major export destination for the products manufactured in Ireland. The US
companies based in Ireland carry out major manufacturing activities with an aim to
export products to US and European destinations.
To understand the capabilities that underscore this TBC we use the methodology
described in the previous section of this report. The cluster as presently constituted
includes 657 individual products that, according to Kompass, can potentially be
produced in the medical diagnostics and testing areas. Our objective was to see what
proportion of these 657 products was manufactured in the Irish medical technology
sector. Kompass updates the list of products each year so longitudinal study of the
sector’s evolution is possible.
18
We identified a core group of 67 establishments that belong to this technology cluster
which are composed from 18 different industries. Apart from manufacturing, a
substantial number of firms in the medical technology sector belong to ‘science
technology engineering consultancy services’ (STECS) in the Lucerna database. We
arrived at a list of 137 establishments that includes the 67 core manufacturers and 70
service providers but excludes medical textile and medical glassware manufacturers.
The entire product portfolio of this technology-based cluster is regrouped into 16
medical device sub-groups (MD Sub-Groups) as presented in table 2-1. Each subgroup
consists of number of a ‘related variety of products’. This generally denotes common
technology and engineering platforms, production process or medical specialisation.
Table 2-1: Sub-groups of Medical Devices and Services
No of Available
Medical Device Sub-Groups
Products
Surgical & Medical Equipment - Specialised (SME-Spl) 87
Surgical & Medical Equipments - Basic (SME-B) 21
Surgical & Medical Equipment - Support System (SME-S) 15
Surgical & Medical Equipment - Sterilisation & Preservation (SME-SPs) 40
Surgical & Medical Equipments - Monitoring(SME-Mn) 33
Basic Surgical & Medical Instruments (SMI-B) 91
Dental Equipments (DENT) 82
Medical Reproduction Equipments (MDRE) 65
Orthopedics & Prostheses (ORPR) 49
Medical Products - Basic (MDPD-B) 43
Veterinary Equipments (VET) 37
Electro-medical and electro-biological equipment (EMBE) 33
Diagnostics Equipments & Testing Devices (DETD) 28
Rehabilitation Device & Equipment (REDE) 24
Medical Services (MDSV) 6
Medical Products - Other (MDP-O) 3
TOTAL 657
Data mining methods are employed to discern the pattern and structure of clusters and
sub-clusters. Information on which firms produce which product(s) is illustrated on
scatter plots in figures 2-1 to 2-4. The procedure behind this data mining technique is
that the product portfolio of this TBC in Ireland are scattered in a matrix format in which
the system specifies each product produced in Ireland. All the potential products that
can be produced in medical technology (ref our methodology and Kompass
classification) are organised into the technology sub-groups and represented on the x-
axis, while all the existing firms in this TBC in Ireland are represented on the y-axis.
19
Figure 2-1: Product Landscape of the Irish Medical Device Sector by Employment
500+(3500) (n=28)
Companies (Employment Size)
251-500 (n=11)
101-250 (n=21)
51-100 (n=29)
11-50 (n=39)
<=10 (n=10)
MDSV DENT DETD EMBE MDPD-B MDRE ORPR REDE SME-B SME-Mn SME-Spl SME-SSME-SpS SMI-B VET MDP-O
Medical Technology Products & Services (sub-groups)
Figure 2-2: Product Landscape of the Irish Medical Device Sector by Incorporation year
2000-2007 (n=29)
Companies (Incorporation Year)
1990-1999 (n=55)
1980-1989 (n=31)
1970-1979 (n=21)
<1970 (n=2)
20
Figure 2-3: Product Landscape of the Irish Medical Device Sector by Origin
Irish (n=46)
Companies (MNCs - Indg)
Foreign (n=92)
Figure 2-4: Product Landscape of the Irish Medical Device Sector by Region
West (n=34)
South-West (n=14)
Companies (Location)
South-East (n=15)
Mid-West (n=16)
Midlands (n=10)
Dublin (n=21)
Border (n=17)
Mid-East (n=10)
21
The scatter plot in Figure 2-1 shows that there are concentrations of product and
services in a few subgroups, that is, MDSV (Medical Service), MDPD-B (Medical Products
– Basic). The concentration of activity in these particular sub-groups indicates
capabilities in precision engineering and plastics. These sub-groups also exhibit unique
employment patterns. For example, the MDSV sub-group consists of firms that have less
than 250 employees with the majority employing 10 to 49 employees; MDPD-B (Medical
Products – Basic) and ORPR (Orthopedics & Prostheses) groups have sizable
employment. This may be linked to the nature of their investment, that is, foreign or
indigenous. Overall, in this TBC in Ireland, firms are involved in the production of a few
related varieties and complementary products around a few medical speciality groups,
irrespective of their size of employment.
Young and old firms as well as indigenous and foreign-owned firms operate within the
same MD sub-groups and activities are related as illustrated in figures 2-2 and 2-3.
suggesting transfer and learning of capabilities. Figure 2-3 illustrates a typical
concentration of indigenous activities mostly confined to those specialised MD sub-
groups where foreign owned MNCs also operate. This is particularly true in MDSV
(Medical Services), DETD (Diagnostics Equipments & Testing Devices), MDPD-B (Medical
Products – Basic) and SME-Sp (Surgical & Medical Equipment - Sterilisation &
Preservation) sub-groups. An in-depth analysis of the product portfolio indicates
indigenous firms are mostly involved in the production of related and complementary
products to MNCs or produce niche products in the same medical specialisation of
MNCs subsidiaries in Ireland. This is true irrespective of employment size and age.
Figure 2-4 shows the distribution of product by region. Eight administrative regions are
considered for this purpose. Analysis indicates some regional specialisations of
capabilities, (e.g. the West is specialised in SME-sp and ORPR in the South). We
conducted similar profiling exercise for Galway and the resulting product landscapes are
presented later in this section in Figures 2-5 to 2-7. The results again indicate young and
old, MNCs and indigenous operate in the same MD sub-group and are involved in
related activities.
The summaries of these findings that shed light on industrial dynamics and evolving
capabilities in this TBC are listed as follows:
• There is an inherent specialisation around a few medical speciality products and

services, and technology and engineering platform.
• Production in most of the MD sub-groups is distributed around related varieties
and is complementary to MNCs activities.
• The profiling exercise suggest significant organisational learning but also reveal
the exposure and potential vulnerability of the medical technology cluster to
technological lock-in.
These summary findings can act as ‘triggers’ for further more detailed empirical studies,
particularly qualitative analyses. Indeed based on these points a more detailed empirical
study of the cluster in Galway was carried out and is presented in the next sub-section.
22
Indigenous start-ups principally lack the state of the art process management
capabilities of the MNCs. MNCs also commonly acquire the indigenous start-ups after a
successful product development as part of their asset augmentation strategies. These
indigenous firms (innovation gap fillers) use specific niche strategies (particularly
development of products with shorter regulatory paths) to maximise potential success
through commercialisation. The other original indigenous manufacturers also use MNCs
as the source of knowledge. After a successful product development they connect to
value added resellers, other MNCs and distributors, both inside and outside of clusters,
for their global connections. This dynamic is conceptualised in a capability framework
and presented in table 2-2. Being the main source of knowledge in-house MNCs
substantially influence the organisational learning and routines of the cluster. On the
one hand it leads to a technological trajectory where new product development is
concentrated on a few medical speciality product(s) (e.g. intravenal cardiology in
Galway). On the other hand, the cluster can get locked-in to too few routine activities.
Table 2-2: Conceptual frame work for Understanding MEDEV Cluster Capabilities
Product Development Capability
High Low
Process Capability - Pioneering Mode

First Follower - Innovation Mode
Niche Strategy
Process Management Capability
Cluster Strategy
High
Original Equipment Manufacturer

Original Manufacturer
(High end component
(Innovator – Cluster Enhancer)
manufacturer/suppliers)
Product Technology
Application Specialist Mode
Innovation /Pioneering Mode
Free-Riding Strategy
Low
Niche Strategy
Supply and Service Provider
Original Design Manufacturer
(Low end component suppliers)
(Innovator-gap fillers)
Adapted from Yang, 2008
2.3 A Regional Case: Galway’s Medical Device Cluster
2.3.1 Cluster emergence and development

The first major investments in technology-related activities in the Galway region were
the establishment of a manufacturing facility by DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) in
1971 and the Canadian telecommunications corporation, Nortel Networks in 1973.
Digital in Galway was set up as a computer hardware assembly and distribution centre
for the European market (Wijnekus, 1997). Software, which was imported primarily
from the US and used to support the hardware business, was assembled into kits and
distributed with the hardware from the facility in Galway (Wijnekus, 1997). The facility
23
originally opened with 109 employees but the number employed grew consistently to
over 1000 workers by 1981 (Wijnekus, 1997). The software side of the facility also
developed quite rapidly and within the first three years of the operation a software
entity, distinct from hardware manufacturing, had emerged, namely the European
Software Distribution Centre (ESDC) (Wijnekus, 1997). This reflected the growing
knowledge-intensity of the activities being undertaken at the Digital facility (Wijnekus,
1997). Similarly, while Nortel Networks initially established a Galway-based
manufacturing site in the telecommunications domain, it subsequently invested in and
expanded activities at the site to include considerable research and software
development responsibilities.
In line with the growing electronics and software sector, medical technology activity in
Galway was initiated with the CR Bard investment in 1982. CR Bard’s facility involved the
development and manufacture of products in the area of coronary and vascular disease.
CR Bard continued to make significant investment in the facility in Galway through the
1980s and 1990s across various functions, including research, development,
manufacturing and marketing (Murphy, 1998). Ireland provided corporations like CR
Bard, Digital and Nortel Networks access to the European market, tax incentives and an
English speaking and educated workforce (Wijnekus, 1997).
The closure in 1993 of the Digital manufacturing facility in Galway resulted in a number
of initiatives being undertaken by Digital, the Government and local business groups
that resulted in the foundation of start-up enterprises in the region (Needham, 1999).
Digital itself offered internal services to redundant staff that included job search
facilities, career change programmes and an enterprise development/start your own
business programme (Needham, 1999). In addition, the Government along with national
industrial development agencies and local business support groups formed an inter-
agency task force from which the most significant outcomes were the provision of
funding for start-up enterprises, access to advisory services and the establishment of the
Galway Technology Centre (Green et al., 2001). The Centre provides workspace for early
stage and developing high-technology enterprises.
As a result of these initiatives, many ex-Digital staff used their acquired managerial skills
to form businesses in various areas including, electronics, software, manufacturing and
services (Needham, 1999). In addition, existing foreign investments in technology were
encouraged to remain in the region while new foreign investment was sought (Green et
al., 2001). In particular, one of the world’s leading medical technology corporations,
Boston Scientific, established a facility in 1994, occupying some of the redundant Digital
space. Whilst initially it was a relatively low-value added manufacturing facility, over the
1990s and early 2000s the MNC opened an R&D facility to develop as well as
manufacture medical devices particularly drug-eluting stents within the field of
cardiology. Furthermore, in 1998 the cardiovascular division of CR Bard was acquired by
AVE (Arterial Vascular Engineering), which was subsequently acquired by Medtronic the
following year. Both AVE and Medtronic retained this division in Galway and the facility
concentrates on the development and manufacture of drug-eluting stents and their
components.
24
While Medtronic and Boston Scientific are presently by far the largest employers
(employing over 4000 people between them in the region), a number of smaller-sized
indigenous and foreign-owned companies have been established in the past decade
adding to the vibrancy of the cluster (Giblin & Ryan, 2010). The establishment of these
new firms as well as the frequent mergers, acquisitions and management buy-outs
taking place underscores the cluster’s dynamism. However, foreign investments from
world-renowned corporations, including Tyco Healthcare (renamed Covidien and
formally Nellcor Puriten Bennett in the region), Beckman Coulter and Merit Medical as
well as Boston Scientific and Medtronic drive the cluster (Giblin, 2007; Giblin & Ryan,
2010). While divestments from the region, most notably Abbott in 2007 also mark its
landscape and accentuate the vulnerability attached to a dependence on foreign
investors, it is the upgrading of many of these investments from initial manufacturing
sites to product development facilities that has resulted in a transfer of knowledge, skills
and capabilities to the locality (Giblin, 2007; Giblin & Ryan, 2010). The next subsection
explores these capabilities and skills in more detail using explicitly the Lucerna dataset.
2.3.2 Cluster capabilities and skills

The influential presence of Boston Scientific and Medtronic has resulted in many of the
companies being involved in cardiology-related devices, particularly drug-eluting stents
and their components, such as guide wires, balloon catheters, hypo-tubes and filters. As
a result the Galway region has been recognised for its specialisation in coronary devices.
This point is emphasised in Figure 2-5 that shows a specialisation in the Specialised
Surgical and Medical Equipment (SME-Special) technology sub-group in Galway. The
products within this sub-group are mostly minimally invasive cardiovascular
interventional products. Figure 2-5 also displays the distribution of the products within
each MD sub-groups in relation to the employment size of the firms. It is not surprising
to observe that Diagnostics Equipment and Testing Devices (DETD), Basic Medical
Products (MDPD-B) and Surgical and Medical Equipment Monitoring (SME-Monitor) and
Specialised (SME-Special) products are manufactured by the firms that have 500 or
more employees considering the fact that some of the top global medical device
companies have manufacturing plants in Galway.
In terms of origin, products in DETD, MDPD-B, SME-Monitor, SME-Special and SMI-B

technology sub-groups are produced heavily by foreign owned companies in Galway
(see Figure 2-6). Figure 2-7 maps medical device products distribution by the year of
establishment of firms in Galway. What this figure suggests is that the establishment of
the CR Bard cardiovascular products plant in the early 1980s was followed by many
other Galway plant openings in the 1980s and 1990s. The scatter plots demonstrate the
region’s specialisation and capabilities in tackling design and production challenges of
complex medical products.
Figure 2-8 is a schematic illustration of industrial dynamics for the Galway medical
device cluster. This sector is highly regulated and successful product development
heavily depends upon critical management skills, knowhow and contacts specific to this
sector. That includes access to top clinician and R&D centres; understanding of the
regulatory standards; accreditation and regulatory approval by the FDA, marketing
25
expertise; and connection to government agencies, industry bodies, suppliers and
distributors. The MNCs play a pivotal role as they are the main sources of ‘managerial
knowhow’ in the cluster. Required international connections are often made through
MNCs. Knowledge transfer occurs through the movement of people between firms.
New indigenous start-ups by previous MNCs employees emerge as different forms of
knowledge, both tacit and codified, get circulated among cluster members. MNCs also
act as the most important source of ‘technological knowhow’ for indigenous firms.
Indigenous entrepreneurs avail of the gaps in the innovation value chain of the MNCs
activities which provide opportunities for new product developments.
Figure 2-5: Product Landscape of the Medical Device Sector in Galway by Employment
500+(3250)
250-499
(Employment Size)
150-249
100-149
50-99
10-49
0-9
Figure 2-6: Product Landscape of the Medical Device Sector in Galway by Origin
Irish
Companies (MNC -Indg)
Foreign
Figure 2-7: Product Landscape of the Medical Device Sector in Galway by Incorporation Year
2000-2007
1990-1999
1980-1989
1970-1979
26
Figure 2-8: Galway medical device cluster: Actors and flow of information
World leading MNCs G

C
TKH MKH TKH M&A QL MKH TKH MBO
TKH Original Design MKH BO QL MKH Alliances Value added resellers / Other
Suppliers Cluster Extender 1 G
Manufacturer 1 MNCs / distributors outside of C
cluster
University/
Research Institutes/ CM
Clinicians Alliances
T
Original Design Original Equipment T
K CM Cluster Extender 2
H
Manufacturer 2 Manufacturer K
H
TC
Legend: MKH – Managerial Know-How, TKH - Technological Know-How, MBO – Management Buy out, M&A – Merger & Acquisition QL -Quality Standard, CM – Contract
Manufacturing, GC – Global Connection
In the absence of a strong third level education/research institutes and industry

interplay, developing an internal technical infrastructure to challenge complex design
and product development tasks is not feasible. The next section addresses the historic
interplay dynamics in the Galway region.
2.3.3 Third-level institutes and industry interplay

The Government establishment of Centres of Science Engineering and Technology
(CSETs) through Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) at Irish Universities facilitated the
creation of partnerships between academic researchers and industry to conduct leading-
edge research. Within Galway, the Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI) CSET was
established in 2004 at NUI Galway. REMEDI is involved in stem cell biology and
manufacturing, gene therapy, orthobiologics, immunology, cardiovascular, socio-
economic and bioethical research (REMEDI 2009). One of its main industrial partners is
the local foreign-owned medical technology corporation, Medtronic, which invests
funding in the institute and has people working on the Insitute’s research activities. The
collaboration with Medtronic builds a reputation for REMEDI, opens opportunities for
students and further funding, and from Medtronic’s perspective, provides the possibility
for the development of a beneficial licensing arrangement from the research (Brady
2006). REMEDI is also embedded within the activities of the National Centre for
Biomedical Engineering Science (NCBES) based at NUI Galway. In conjunction with the
growing local medical technology sector, the Centre was established in 1999 and
undertakes research activities under four main themes; biomedical engineering, cancer,
neuroscience and regenerative medicine through REMEDI. Since its establishment the
NCBES has engaged in numerous formal research contracts with the medical technology
sector and participates in Enterprise Ireland Innovation Partnership projects that
provides funding for research projects involving third level institutes and Irish-based
companies.
In addition to these collaborative research activities, NUI Galway has also participated in
meeting the labour skill requirements of the medical technology sector. The University
introduced a new degree programme in Biomedical Engineering in 1998, the first
students of which graduated in 2002. The degree programme was established under the
27
Department of Mechanical Engineering, which changed its name in 2002 to the
Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering. This reflected its focus on
biomedical research and education activities. On average, twenty-two students have
graduated each year since 2003 and it was the first biomedical engineering degree
programme to be accredited by the IEI (Institution of Engineers of Ireland).
Such developments at NUI Galway and GMIT, which are embedded within the overall
policy context, have been significant for building the capabilities of the medical
technology sector in Galway (see figure 2.9).
Given that the local sector is driven by foreign-owned MNCs, the need for the cluster to
develop endogenously-based capabilities is significant, particularly for its sustainability.
In this respect, and as argued in the literature on clusters and regional growth (e.g.
Feldman & Braunerhjelm, 2006; Feldman, 2008; Giblin & Ryan, 2010), the development
of local research and entrepreneurial activity is essential. Therefore, the following
section concentrates on cases of entrepreneurship in the region and examines the
potential for the convergence of technologies that may underscore the future of the
cluster.
Figure 2-9: Galway Technology Cluster
Source: Giblin, 2007
2.3.4 Indigenous Growth, Emerging Technologies and Convergence

The effects of the DEC closure on the formation of start-ups in newly developing
subsectors within ICT such as integrated-circuit design and software are highly visible
(Sheridan, 2008; Giblin, 2007; Needham, 1999). Medical device start-ups, in the Galway
region in particular, were also emerging as a result of indigenous-focused policies that
have been implemented through various government agencies. Post-DEC era policies, as
discussed previously, created incentives for redundant but skilled DEC employees
(Needham, 1999) and ex-vendors to link with the globally emerging new sectors. Figure
2-10 provides an initial attempt to identify links amongst affiliates of foreign-owned and
local start-up medical technology companies as well as key serial entrepreneurs in the
Galway region. The core data for the map is acquired from the Lucerna database and
supplemented with data from internet content and archive searches. The Galway region
has become home to a small number of serial entrepreneurs who have prior MNC
managerial experience.
28
As Figure 2-10 illustrates, John O’Shaughnessy, Charles Taylor and Paul Gilson were
originally senior executives of CR Bard 10, the first US medical device firm to locate in the
region. The CR Bard acquisition was followed by the first wave of start-ups by the
O’Shaughnessy, Taylor and Gilson trio. The first series of start-ups, Salviac, Carotid
Interventional Systems (CIS) and MedNova, were successful. CIS and its parent company
MedNova were acquired by the vascular division of Abbott, the US life science company.
Another successful Irish Start-up, Crospon Technologies, was also a team effort this time
by John O’Dea, John O’Shaughnessy, and Conor McNamara. Prior to Crospon, John
O’Dea set up the R&D facility for Puritan Bennett before starting Caradyne in 1997,
which was acquired by Respironics, a US company, in 2004 (Daly, 2007).
Figure 2-10 indicates the family tree of the current medical technology cluster and
emphasises the importance of the juxtaposition of different technological spheres in the
region. Most importantly, the development of capabilities in electronics through the
presence of companies like Digital in the region provided an initial platform from which
medical technology activities have grown. The Galway-based company, Creganna
provides a case in point. This company, established in 1980, was involved in contract
manufacturing to the electronics industry but by 2003 it had divested interests in
electronics to focus solely on the medical device market. It is now one of the largest
indigenous employers in medical technologies in Ireland with over 520 employees
across its Irish and US bases (Corrigan, 2008a). With Boston Scientific and Medtronic
both involved in the production of drug-eluting stents in the region and the growth of
companies like Creganna around this activity the convergence of pharmaceutical and
medical technologies has also been at the core of the cluster’s development.
Figure 2-10: A subset of entrepreneur network in indigenous start-ups
As companies look for new opportunities, the potential for product development in the
convergence of particularly ICT and medical technologies has received attention recently
10
CR Bard was later acquired by Arterial Vascular Engineering (AVE) which was later acquired by
Medtronic.
29
(Allen, 2008) and is one in which Galway is ideally placed to exploit. Along with the
growing medical technology cluster in the 1990s, the closure of Digital signalled the
growth of an ICT cluster in Galway (Green et al., 2001), particularly in the area of
software (Giblin, 2007). Although it entails a smaller concentration of firms than in
Dublin, the software industry in Galway is characterised by the presence of foreign-
owned affiliates, such as Hewlett Packard and Nortel creating most of the employment
and a larger number of small and medium sized enterprises. Many of the firms are
involved in software product development, particularly bespoke software, systems
software and application software development as opposed to lower value-added
localisation activities (Giblin, 2007). With clusters of software and medical technology
firms in Galway, the potential for using local expertise in the convergence of these
technologies is significant but has not as yet been greatly exploited.
The endeavour to integrate IT and medical technology has been undertaken by one
medical company in the region by collaborating with Hewlett Packard in the US. Through
a license agreement with HP the indigenous company Crospon will produce and
commercialise a drug-delivery patch applied to the skin, which enables “precise control
of dosage timing, access to dosage history, patient activation mechanisms and inherent
safety protocols for preventing adverse drug interactions” (Crospon, 2007). The skin
patch, developed by HP Labs based on the core technologies of their thermal inkjet
printer (Brown, 2008), will involve a three-way convergence of IT, medical technology
and pharmaceuticals. While Hewlett Packard initially foresaw regulatory barriers in
bringing the concept to market but were considering it as a potential business
partnering project, the bringing together of the corporation with Crospon through
Enterprise Ireland led to the licensing out of the intellectual property (Brown, 2008).
Hewlett Packard runs an IP licensing programme and Enterprise Ireland approached the
corporation in Palo Alto, California to encourage them to consider Irish companies for
licensing agreements. From this, the relationship with the Galway-based medical
technology company developed.
Another company in the region, Vysera, which is involved in the design of anti-reflux
valves based on biomimetic material and used for the digestive tract, has recently
undertaken a “software modelling project that will add value to future product design”
(Corrigan, 2008b). Although, perhaps not a direct use of software for the functioning of
a medical device, the increased awareness of companies of the use of software to add
value in different ways is significant for the industry and local economy. Indeed, John
O’Dea of Crospon states that “the proximity between the IT and medical device sectors
could be harnessed here with Ireland playing a key role in the emerging technological
space” (Allen, 2008). The opportunities of using IT technologies to develop systems that
communicate with implantable medical devices (Allen, 2008) or to control and manage
the delivery of drugs as in the case of the HP-Crospon skin patch are considerable.
However, there are challenges to the development of this technological convergence

whether at a local or national level. It requires a collaborative environment (Allen, 2008)
with connectivity linkages between various actors; including firms from different
technological domains, regulatory bodies, end-users (e.g. clinicians), legal bodies,
30
funding agencies and research centres. Industrial development authorities, like
Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland can be used as a means for opening and building
communication linkages between these various actors. Most significantly however, such
a collaborative environment necessitates inter-organisational trust (Allen, 2008) and
long-term commitment to capitalise on local technological expertise in the highly
competitive industries of IT and medical technology.
2.4 Summary and conclusions

As one of the success stories of the Irish economy over the past two decades, the Irish
medical technology cluster is examined in this section using the Lucerna database. It
shows the evolution of the industry from low value-added branch plant manufacturing
to upgraded product development and world-class manufacturing capabilities. Three
main results from the data analysis are identified. First, there are significant clusters of
product activity around basic medical products, medical services and orthopaedics and
prostheses in this sector in Ireland. Secondly, foreign-owned and indigenous companies
tend to engage in the same product activity bands, which is indicative of a competency
transfer effect. Finally, a spatial effect is also occurring in this sector as the data shows
concentrations of activity in orthopaedics and prostheses in the South-West and Dublin
region, while specialised surgical and medical equipment is clustered primarily in the
West of Ireland.
The data has then been filtered to examine the product composition of the Galway
medical technology cluster. An examination of the evolution of this regional cluster
shows the early stage establishment of manufacturing sites by foreign-owned
multinational corporations and the increase in indigenous start-up activity, primarily
since the mid-1990s. Furthermore, the convergence of technologies around electronics,
medical technology and pharmaceuticals has been a key factor in the evolution of the
regional cluster and its future development will depend on the exploitation of local
opportunities for new technological convergences.
Overall, this analysis provides a systematic understanding of the internal dynamics of

the medical technology industry in Ireland. As the economic model of attracting FDI
based on cost competitiveness and grant incentives has now become relatively
inadequate in Ireland, the challenge is to make the successful transition to a new model
based on endogenous development. The argument made here, substantiated by an
analysis of the medical technology sector using data mining techniques, is that the skills
and capability legacy can be leveraged to make this transition. The old model has been
successful in establishing a global and vibrant high-tech industry within a few decades.
However, to advance such an industry to a level comparable, and complementary, with
other high-tech regions internationally, like Massachusetts, requires encouraging skill
transformation processes, exploiting new skill formation in the form of indigenous
enterprises and entrepreneurship, and most significantly promoting the convergence of
technologies to lead the way in the development of next-generation technologies and
products.
31
3 Case Study: Ireland’s Renewable Energy Industry
3.1 Introduction: The Challenge and Opportunity
For reasons of energy security, climate change obligations, and cost, pressure is building
for Ireland to establish a renewable energy (RE) industry with the capacity to address
security, climate change, and competitiveness goals. The Government has set goals of
15% of electricity from renewable by 2010 and 33% by 2020 11. The barrier to the
achievement of RE goals is not the lack of natural resources. While Ireland does not have
appreciable fossil fuels, it has vast wind, wave, and tidal energy resources. Presently,
wind energy is Ireland’s lowest cost source of electricity with low environmental
externalities. Besides wind power, the west coast of Ireland is the site of Europe’s most
abundant source of accessible wave power with at least as much potential as off-shore
wind energy (SEI 2004 p. xvi; Staudt, 2007 p. 7) 12.
Ireland therefore is in the enviable position that it has the natural resources which,
combined with proven wind turbine technology, can supply its total electricity energy
needs with renewables. Sustainable Energy Ireland’s Brian Motherway states that
“Ireland has 13% of Europe’s coastline. In terms of wave and wind energy that is the
equivalent of a natural gas oilfield”. Similarly, Harvey Appelbe of Tonn Energy comments
that “Because the country has such a vast natural energy resource, and as the
technology becomes proven, and the government policy and supports take effect,
Ireland can really be the ‘Texas of Europe’ exporting large quantities of green electricity”
(Knowledge Ireland, Winter 2009).
It is unlikely the contours of a future industry have ever been as predictable as that of
renewable energy. Only the timing and trajectory are in doubt. While technological
breakthroughs will alter the composition of energy sources and the fate of individual
companies, the broad industrial outlines of the post-carbon technology age are coming
into focus. As Eoin O’Driscoll of Forfas stated “We understand the underlying science
principles involved in solar, tidal, bio-fuels, wind. What we don’t know is how to harness
the sun, wind, waves and crops to produce energy in a cost-efficient manner. ..Its more
of the engineering challenges and the deployment challenges and the cost-conversion
challenges than it is around basic science”. The timing and trajectory, however, are
important. Regions and nations that lead the way in the transition will enjoy the
economic advantages of leadership in that industry.
Ireland has engineered the development of new industries in the past but none as
complex as this RE sector. In the case of the Information and Communication
Technology (Computer & Communication hardware and Software & Communication
services) and Medical technology (Medical Devices, Equipments, and Services) the Irish
Development Agency (IDA) attracted affiliates of foreign headquartered companies with
a range of government supports. This included fostering close industry and education
partnerships in the creation of a curriculum to educate a labour force that matched both
11
The Government’s Energy White Paper published March 12, 2007.
12
This section of the Lucerna report on renewable energy will therefore focus principally on wind
and wave energy potential and challenges.
32
the technical skills and the size to rapidly ramp up production. The end result was the
development of a competitive advantage in complementary capabilities to foreign
headquartered technology-leaders. These capabilities evolved from the rapid
establishment to scale of world class manufacturing plants with an educated, low cost
labour force to the remote management of a range of other routine business processes.
Because of changes in both Ireland and the rest of the world, this model will not drive
the creation of a renewable energy industry. Its success created imitators abroad and
increased costs at home. Inviting large numbers of rapidly growing foreign firms to
establish Irish affiliates to deliver world class manufacturing capabilities is no longer
sufficient to drive the creation of a new industrial sector in Ireland. To establish a new
and rapidly growing RE industry in Ireland, the Government needs to do more than offer
services and facilities that keep costs low. The challenge is multi-faceted.
Growing an indigenous RE industry will depend upon mutual interactions amongst

growing enterprises across a set of technologically inter-dependent and inter-related
sub sectors as well as with civic bodies. That demands a structural change in the existing
Irish innovation system to a scale that the entire country will act as a full scale
laboratory for these sectors (as Denmark 13 did for wind industry). An entirely different
business model will be required and needs to be supported.
In recent years considerable attention has been paid to the lack of and potential for
development of the renewable energy industry. In addressing these challenges a
plethora of reports have been produced on the sector and its opportunities and
challenges 14. However missing from these governmental and advocate reports and
elsewhere within Ireland is a rigorous discussion of the population of enterprises that
currently or potentially constitute the RE industry within Ireland, both indigenous and
foreign headquartered, their strategies, and how the existing business organisation
capabilities and projects compare to an endpoint of an established RE industry. While
no simple mapping can be done from RE clusters elsewhere such as in Massachusetts or
Denmark, we can identify a number of inter related sub-sectors that will constitute such
an industry. Within each sub-sector potential industry drivers can be identified and
emerging technological capabilities can be characterised. The research methodology is,
in part, to characterise emerging distinctive national competitive advantages by
interrogating the product concepts and emerging technology capabilities of rapidly
growing companies, of companies that have successfully attracted finance and forged
technology development alliances with global leaders. Such an exercise of technology
capability characterisation is subject to ongoing reassessment as real-world events
unfold. At the same time it offers a starting point for developing a strategy for business
organisation development and the interdependent roles of government, foreign
13
Denmark particularly began the transition to a RE industry in the 1970s when a rapid rise in oil
prices brought the issue of energy security to the attention of the public and government for the
first time. While no country has completed the transition to a post-carbon age industrial system,
they have made important advances.
14
See especially the excellent work of Sustainable Energy Ireland and its extensive range of RE
reports at www.seai.ie/publications.
33
headquartered companies, indigenous ventures, business alliances, university programs
and research centres.
Figure 3-1: Scatter plot of Energy TBC: Product and Services
250+ (n=11)
NA
100-249 (n=12)
50-99 (n=9)
10-49 (n=33) 2000-2010 (n=101)
0-9 (n=51)

Companies (Employment Size)
NA (n=102)
1990-1999 (n=61)
1980-1989 (n=17)
<1980 (n=14)
ELCPD NUC SOL ALT REN C R&D

ELCPD NUC SOL ALT REN CR&D
Renewable Energy Technology - Products & Services (sub-groups)
Renewable Energy - Products & Services (sub-groups)

West (n=34)
Irish
South-West (n=45)
South-East (n=11)
Companies (Location)
Companies (Foreign - Irish)
North (n=12)
Midland (n=14)
Dublin (n=101)
Foreign
ELCPD NUC SOL ALT REN C R&D
ECLPD NUC SOL ALT REN C R&D
In this connection a sample of RE industry companies is drawn from the Lucerna

database. A product pool was constructed of the product groups (5 digit
correspondence at Kompass classification) and products at 7-digit level at Kompass, for
the RE TBC (Annex 1). There are 227 engineering products and service categories that
are defined by using Kompass 7-digit product classification. Scatter plots (see figure 3-1)
were created by Lucerna researchers in which the companies that provide services or
products are represented on the Y-axis and the actual products are represented on the
X-axis. In the resulting figure 3-1, 208 RE firms which were sorted in terms of
employment size, origin, incorporation year, and by region are represented on the Y-
axis. Each of the 236 red marks on the figures indicates products that are produced by
corresponding companies on the X-axis. By taking products as a proxy for firm capability,
34
the red marks in the figures indicate certain clusters of activity. This exercise allows us to
better understand the industry segments in which Irish production capability lies.
There are a number of key messages that can be discerned from the scatter plot figure
3-1. First, this is obviously a relatively new sector as indicated by the recent
incorporation years of the member firms. The employment structure shows most are
small firms. This is due to the newness of the sector and the fact that most firms are in
the consultants (C) band. There is a further concentration of small firms in the R&D
band. Electrical production and distribution ELCPD) has most large firms. There is a wide
distribution of firms in alternative (Alt) and renewable (REN) energy bands. Most of the
firms in all bands are indigenous. The next round of Kompass data, which is now
available, will facilitate us to track the growth and evolution of sectors and firms across
bands. 15
Figure 3-2: Network of connectivity of Renewable Energy TBC
18 TMI
25
PCM
30 1.0
18 SCS
36
37 25.0 12.0
DMP 38 23.0
37 PCM
14.0
40
11.0 110.0
44 24.0
6.0
48 RE
CCH
2.0
TMI RE
52 3.0
4.0
66
10.0 5.0
2.0
67 52 13.0
5.0
DMP
4.0
68
90.0 9.0
CCH
81 6.0
84 1.0
MEDEV
80
1.0
84
85
SCS BIOPHARM
87
The network analyses show that the RE TBC is connected to 18 different sub-industries
in the Lucerna high-tech database (figure 3-2). Figure 3-2 shows the strengths of the
principal connections. The four major ones are 18 (electrical production and
distribution), 37 (electrical and electronic equipment), 52 (building and construction)
and 84 (science, technology and engineering services and consultancies). The TBCs most
closely linked are CCH (computer hardware), SSC (software) and DMP (diversified
manufacturing processing). Those least connected are unsurprisingly MEDEV (medical
devices) and BIOPHARM (biopharmaceuticals).
15
We left the nuclear (NUC) band in as it shows up the small level of activity in this broadest of
bands according to Kompass list of potential products. This reflects Ireland’s non-nuclear policy.
35
Three lessons can be drawn from this initial audit of RE companies in Ireland with
respect to the goals of carbon emissions reduction, energy independence, and economic
growth.
First, the RE sector as currently constituted is small. Even stretching to include very small
wind farm developers and consultancies the total is closer to 50 than to 100 firms.
Airtricity aside, there are no large employers. In contrast to emerging RE clusters, such
as Denmark’s wind energy cluster with over 200 firms, many of which are technology-
driven and some of which are large employers, RE in Ireland is far short of a critical mass
of enterprises to suggest the realisation of the climate change and energy independence
goals.
Second, a number of indigenous RE technology development companies have attracted

foreign partnerships and funding in ocean energy technologies. This reflects both the
success that Ireland has achieved in wind farm projects and the promise of wind, waves
and tides as sources of energy generation in Ireland. In fact, it confirms meteorological
findings that Ireland has a natural advantage in a resource that can potentially not only
supply all of Ireland’s electricity needs but be an export earner.
Third, most if not all of the energy technology companies in Ireland are organised in
terms of an open-systems business model. Here we find a similarity with the business
model at the centre of the emergence and success of both high-tech sectors and design-
led sectors elsewhere in the world. In both variants, the open-systems business model
has fostered industrial innovation.
New business models tend to be introduced to a region or nation in the same process as
the introduction or creation of new industrial sectors. The success of the new business
model is not lost on new companies in pre-existing sectors and they become diffusion
vehicles. The leading business model in Ireland today is that of an affiliate of a foreign
headquartered company. The local units are networked, as noted before, but along
global production chains. The open-system business model is a vehicle for a different
form of networking in which companies specialise on core capabilities and partner for
complementary capabilities. This alters the prevailing model of innovation within the
economy and creates growth potential from cluster dynamic processes (Best, 2001).
3.2 Recommendation for a Business Model for Renewables
3.2.1 Inter-Organisational Relationships and Cluster Formation

Our initial interrogation of Lucerna found a small population of innovative enterprises in
an industry in which Ireland has a natural competitive advantage (2007 Kompass data) 16.
To date, the gap between the actual and the potential realisation of the natural
advantage in RE is wide. What would it take to create a dynamic RE cluster capable of
turning the country’s natural advantage into a competitive advantage? Put simply, it
requires the emergence and rapid growth of not a few but a large number of business
16
This is currently being updated with recently available Kompass data. This will show areas
where evolution and growth is occurring.
36
enterprises. And while the understanding of cluster formation is not a hard science,
history does reveal a few key relationships.
i. First, we find firms do not grow alone, but as members of groups of enterprises,
mutually adjusting one to the other. For this reason, amongst others, the open-
systems business model is a building block.
ii. Second, we find inter-sector feedback loops: the PC and semiconductor
industries; furniture making and woodworking machines; the combustion
engine and the car body industry.
iii. Third, we find interactions between emerging industries and government
funded physical infrastructure: the car and the highway system; ICT and the
fiber-optic Internet backbone; electrical appliances and the national grid.
iv. Fourth, we find interplay between technology driven enterprises and university
conducted basic research. In fact, from an innovation perspective we can see
technology management as cutting across universities and enterprises to link
basic, technological, developmental, and applied research with new product
development.
v. Fifth, we find government funding of a basic research and a science and
technology infrastructure centred in research-intensive universities. While this is
most pronounced in high tech sectors, the interplay of specialist technology
education and product-led business strategies is universal.
In all of these cases we are not simply looking at the existence of a list of activities in the
industrial, governmental and educational spheres. We are looking for interactive, cross-
institutional processes by which the activities in each institutional sphere mutually
adjust to one another to establish an innovative system.
3.2.2 Tapping the technological capabilities of affiliates of technology

leaders headquartered in Ireland
MNEs currently located in Ireland may amend their business models to employ their
capabilities in the RE arena. There is great scope to utilise capabilities of MNEs in
materials, machining, engineering, hardware and software, electronics and S&T
knowhow in the RE arenas. Several major IT companies with a major presence in Ireland
are entering into the smart grid space with investments and acquisitions elsewhere.
Gary O’Callaghan, of Siemens Ireland, makes the point: “Renewable energy would form
the bedrock of a smart grid in Ireland...If the government is going to invest heavily in the
national infrastructure to achieve its target of 33 percent of renewable energy, it would
get additional savings by deploying smart grid technologies” (Siliconrepublic.com).
While the details need to be worked out, we do know this: achieving climate change and
energy independence goals is about reinventing the grid to take full advantage of both
the IT revolution and renewable energy technology advances. Only then will the RE
industry come of age in a self-reinforcing and self-organising set of inter-industry
dynamics to become the foundation of a post- carbon age, knowledge-intensive
industrial economy.
37
3.2.3 Building an Industry-embedded Science and Technology Infrastructure
Companies need to do more than make products; they need to have new product
development and technology management capabilities if they are to contribute to the
growth of an indigenous, innovative RE industry. Important as these enterprise
capabilities are, the creation of a RE industry will require the industrial innovation
capabilities that are rooted in interactions amongst a critical mass of flexibly specialised
enterprises.
Building a dynamic renewable energy industry exposes many of the shortcomings of the
Irish high-tech economy as presently constituted. While Ireland’s economy grew rapidly
over a two decade period, it was not based on the development of an indigenous S&T
infrastructure and technology development within Ireland. Strikingly, there was under-
investment by the Irish government in science, technology, and innovation in the period
1994-1999. It did fund education and ramped up the output of science and engineering
graduates in sync with the needs of the affiliates of foreign-based high tech companies.
This did not leave Ireland with an independent direction to technology and future
industrial development. It was passive in technology priorities. It worked until costs
rose. But the seeds for RE and clean technology and transportation were not planted in
the education and research system and the transition will accordingly be that much
harder.
Despite improvements in public investment in S&T since 1995, Ireland is not well
prepared for technology-led transitions at least in terms of R&D capability. A report by
the Irish Energy Research Council stated the following: “A review of the current status of
energy research in Ireland reflects the historically low levels of investment [c. Euro 6
million in 2005] with fragmented research effort on a wide range of topics” (IERC, 2008
p. 18). For 2005, Ireland spent 0.07% of GDP on energy R&D and this is in contrast to
Denmark (0.30% of GDP); Netherlands (0.27%); Norway (0.30%); and Switzerland
(0.40%). (IERC,2008 p. 13; European Commission, 2007).
Government leadership will be required to oversee the establishment of both the smart
grid and a S&T infrastructure in which ‘third-mission’ R&D capabilities of university labs
foster the growth of a critical mass of firms which both benefit from and contribute to
advancing and shaping Ireland’s S&T infrastructure.
The troika model of interplay amongst industry, government, and university was not lost
on economic policymakers elsewhere. The Nordic countries, more so than anywhere
else, have institutionalised just such a complex to foster the emergence and growth of
high tech sectors. In Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway, the government has
funded basic research, fostered industry and university research partnerships, and
sought to leverage emerging ‘indicators’ of competitive advantage and turn them into
clusters with a critical mass of companies. They have thought and acted long term.
We might call the troika a framework for government technology management (TM)
policymaking. As for the Nordic countries, TM is not a government add-on to
38
policymaking; it is about effectively administering the interplay of business organisation,
production capabilities and skill formation, the capability triad.
Ireland simply does not have the critical mass of resources to compete with a Route
128’s 3000 plus high tech companies, or Silicon Valley’s 6000 plus high tech companies.
But both of these regional innovation systems began with industry and university
partnership capabilities and government funding of basic research. Long term
partnerships can be an organisational means to link basic research, technological
research, developmental research, applied research and new product development into
a single system. This is a common feature of the most successful high tech industrial
districts.
In this regard, the Shannon Energy Valley project was initiated by partners from NUI,
Galway, University of Limerick, Shannon Development and the Irish Technology
Leadership Group (which is based in silicon Valley). The aim is to harness the resources
of the Western Irish seaboard region as well as the research and development expertise
at the two universities. Professor Terry Smith of NUI, Galway stated that “the Shannon
Energy Valley concept seeks to provide a big-picture coherent ecosystem relating to
energy” (Irish Examiner, March 16, 2010)
3.3 Renewable Energy Sub-sectors and Companies: A Strategic Audit

Wind energy is the most advanced of the renewable electricity generating technologies.
Ireland is currently one of the world’s leading countries in the use of wind energy for
electricity generation (Irish Times, 27 May, 2010). A recent SEAI report reveals the share
of electricity generated from renewable resources in 2009 was 14.4%, two-thirds of
which was wind. Perhaps not surprisingly however, given the lack of renewable energy
R&D, Ireland has no wind energy technology making companies. History, too, has a role.
Turbine technology development goes back at least to the early days of water-powered
textile mills. Many generations later, military funded jet engine companies invested
heavily in R&D in turbine technology. Wind turbine development began in earnest in the
1980s in northern Europe and more recently advances have been made in the U.S. as
well. Innovations in advanced materials are continuously upgrading turbine efficiencies.
Consequently, given the head start, regions with wind energy clusters such as Denmark
have a well established competitive advantage.
Nonetheless, Ireland has a number of companies, most notably Airtricity and SWS
Energy, that operate large wind farm systems. The ability to store wind energy is the key
to success for wind energy. Gaelectric is a pioneer in wind energy storage using a
compressed air technology and the firm is planning to invest more than €2 billion in
America over the next six years (Irish Examiner, 29 March, 2010). Another
complementary technological capability is the software solution developed by Servesnet
which provides a real-time picture of how wind installations are performing. This
software capability can be extended to wave and solar power installations. Consultant
services further pad out the RE sector. AirEn Services, for example, provides site
assessment, wind measurement and grid application services for wind energy to both
domestic and commercial clients.
39
Wave and tidal technologies, however, are not dominated by established companies
elsewhere. Ocean wave energy technology lags some way behind wind energy
technology. Ireland has at least 3 companies that are engaged in ocean energy
technology development and production with the potential, in the long run, to play
important roles in the development of the industry globally.
OpenHydro Group was formed in 2004 following a “technology trawl” by two Irish
businessmen that identified the open center turbines designed by Irish-American
Herbert Williams who had been working on the technology since 1995. The three
became controlling owners in the new company and have since raised over Euro 50
million for development, including Euro 15 million from Imera. In 2008, after 18 months
of testing, it became the first tidal energy company to connect a tidal turbine to the U.K.
national grid from a testing site at the European Marine Energy Centre off Orkney,
Scotland, which illustrates how Ireland currently lags behind Scotland in marine energy.
OpenHydro designs, produces, and manufactures both 250kW Open-Centre turbines
and is beginning the production of a new generation 1MW Open-Centre Turbine.
Although early days in tidal wave technology, the potential for scale is considerable.
Presently, OpenHydro turbines are being installed for utilities at tidal sites in Nova Scotia
and the Channel Islands.
WAVEBOB is a first generation wave energy technology developer and operates an open
system business development model. Wavebob has entered into a joint venture with
the Swedish company Vattenfall, the fourth largest energy producer in Europe to
develop a 250MW wave farm off the west coast of Ireland. Chevron’s Technology
Ventures subsidiary is also an investor in Wavebob. Wavebob has established a US
location near Annapolis, Maryland and the largest wave tank in the world at the US Navy
Academy.
Another emerging wave power company OCEAN ENERGY is trialling its ‘OE Buoy’ at the
Marine Institute/SEI test centre in Galway Bay. The west coast of Ireland is an attractive
test site because it offers testing in one of the most vigorous wave regimes in the world.
Furthermore, the demonstration test centre allows wave energy developers an
advantage over developers in the US which are forced to negotiate inter-departmental
jurisdictions before getting permission for ocean testing.
Both OpenHydro ($2.36 million) and Ocean Energy ($1.16 million) received marine
energy funding from the Scottish government in 2007 for testing their devices near
Orkney where it plans to build the world’s largest commercial wave energy farm. In
2008, Ireland announced an investment of €2 million for a grid-connected test site for
full scale prototypes to be located in northwest Ireland. This will complement a sub-
scale test facility in the Bay of Galway. Nevertheless, it appears that there are less than
five wave energy converters worldwide that have moved beyond the concept phase to
demonstrate a capacity to generate electricity in a real-life, sea environment.
40
3.4 Two Barriers to a Renewal Energy Industry
What has kept RE from becoming a major industry in Ireland given the country’s unique
natural advantage? The reasons are partly general but also specific to Ireland. Two stand
out. First, the renewable energy industry everywhere has been held back, perhaps
strangled at birth by national grids designed, constructed, and laid out geographically to
electrify economies around centralised fossil fuel and nuclear technologies. This is not to
underestimate the positive effects on industrial growth of the creation of the grid in its
time. The electrification of the economy was driven by a hugely successful electric
power industry which ushered in a new phase of industrial development that impacted
everything including product and process design, plant layout, and the geographical
location of industries and cities.
At the same time, the structural links between the grid and fossil fuels unintentionally
erected a barrier to the emergence and growth of a dynamic RE industry. This is
illustrated by Ireland. Ireland’s RE natural resources are most pronounced along the
west coast which is not connected to the grid except for ‘light end’ household usage.
The existing grid is like a one-way highway system from a place, in this case 24 large
fossil fuel power stations, to companies and households. It is not organised to flow from
the west, where RE sources are abundant, to population centres and it is not organised
for two-way flow of electricity and information. Consequently, if an RE industry had
begun to emerge as even a minor source of national energy supply, the grid would have
choked it.
The intermittent nature of renewable energies has been a second major obstacle to the
growth of renewable energy. This has changed. Innovations in long distance
transmission technology and convergence of IT and energy technology in the form of the
“smart grid” have greatly reduced the intermittency barrier. We turn next to two “game
changing” technological and organisational changes in the electric power industry
infrastructure both of which attenuate the intermittency challenge of renewable
energies.
3.5 Unshackling Renewable Energy: Reinventing the Physical

Infrastructure
Globally, technological advances in the transmission and distribution of electric power
are moving fast. Innovations in transmission technology have greatly reduced the loss
energy in long distance power transmission. High voltage, direct current transmission
(HVDC) lines enable efficient transfer of power over hundreds of miles. This technology
is critically important to the economics of wind energy. It involves converting AC current
from renewable sources to DC current for long distance shipment before reconversion
at the point of application. Denmark exports up to half its wind energy during peak
periods and uses the same transmission lines for imports as required. At present
projects in India and China to transmit power over much greater distances are
underway. Investments in nanotechnology and superconductivity technology in the U.S.
are being undertaken to tap market opportunities and enhance the economics of
41
sending wind and solar generated industry from mid-west and south-west regions to the
east coast (Pernick & Wilder, 2007).
These technological advances are not lost on Irish entrepreneurs. Imera Power,
headquartered in Dublin, is using advanced HVDC long distance technology to link
Ireland’s grid to mainland UK and later to the North Sea.20 Once completed, Imera’s
three cable lines linking Ireland with mainland UK have the capacity to transmit nearly
15% of Ireland’s energy generating capacity.21 The project is part of a bigger drive to
create a pan-European offshore electricity network, the EuropaGrid. The project
includes schemes to integrate the offshore wind farms in the North Sea region with the
existing main power grid. Offshore wind energy potential in the region is estimated to
be 68,000 megawatts (Irish Examiner).
As important as advances in long-distance electricity transmission is to fostering the

growth the REs, the idea of the “smart grid” has complementary and even greater long
term effects. In fact, the “smart grid” has been likened to the interstate highway and the
internet highway in terms of its revolutionary impact on business and industrial
structure. A smart grid is 'an electricity network that can intelligently integrate the
actions of all connected to it - consumers, suppliers and those who do both (Eamon
McKeogh of UCC).' The ‘smart grid’ approach involves a two-way flow of power and
information. It enables a combination of central power stations and small and widely
distributed power suppliers. A smart grid can attenuate the natural fluctuations of wind,
wave, tides, and sun with real time analysis of, and response to, supply from sources
scattered throughout the country and off-shore, and demands both locally and
nationally.
The convergence of IT and energy technology is not new. But the smart grid, an
Internet-enabled two-way conversation between the source and use of electricity, is
creating new market opportunities involving an emerging network of devices connected
by switches, routers, and software. It will require sensors to anticipate disruptions,
circuits to redirect spiking currents, automated meter readers, and intelligent control
systems that will automatically power down non-critical appliances such as daytime
lighting during periods of peak demand. CleanEdge (2009) comments that “these
devices, from commercial refrigeration units to residential washing machines, will have
a unique identifier—an Internet Protocol, or IP address—that will allow the integration
of buildings, vehicles, cell phones” (p. 8).
A smart grid which connects disparate sources of renewable energy sources will act as a
standardising force by open-system interface protocols. Intel’s public interface rules
sparked the rapid growth of the PC industry by diffusing experiments and design
activities across thousands of specialist firms linked by the public interface rules.
Network economies were established by numerous specialists, niche producers that set
the standard for their link in the value chain.
Like the two previous “highways” the “smart grid” will rely on government funding and
industry standards to flourish. But the potential is huge. Consequently, many IT leaders
are entering into the smart-grid space: Cisco, GE, Google, HP, IBM, Analogy Devices. First
42
generation smart-grids are being developed by IT and utility partnerships. For example,
the Pecan Street Project in Austin, Texas, includes Cisco, Dell, GE, IBM, Intel, Microsoft,
and Oracle to create a showcase next generation grid.
3.6 Summary and conclusions

Of particular importance to Ireland, the technical challenges to the transition to a RE
industry are largely resolved in the case of wind energy but ocean power technologies
are still in the developmental stages. The technological challenges posed by the
intermittency of RE are being addressed by R&D projects elsewhere and rapid advances
are underway. Perhaps most relevant, the concept of the ‘smart grid’ is integrating IT
and energy tech in ways that promise step-change improvements in energy efficiency
and the application of diffused energy storage capacity.
Globally, the confluence of IT and energy technology is creating a huge opportunity in

the form of the reinvention of the electric utility grid. The smart grid has the opportunity
to incorporate many of the leading innovations of high tech in the production and
delivery of energy. Many argue that the smart grid will be to the electric power industry
what the Interstate Highway program was to the transportation industry in America and
fibre optics and packet switching to the Internet-driven communications industry.
Could renewable energy play a role in driving growth in the Irish economy like the IT or
medical devices industry in the 1980s and 1990s? Not on its own. The emergence and
growth of a dynamic RE industry will require government leadership in establishing
three inter-related infrastructures. First, designing and building a smart grid takes
advantage of the latest developments in digital information technology to better
manage and deliver a range of centralised and distributed energy sources. But it has
pervasive public good characteristics and will not be built without government funding.
Second, as is the case in all high-tech industries, establishing a science and technology
infrastructure involves close partnering between technology-driven enterprises and
scientific and technological research in independent, university departments and
laboratories. The IDA’s challenge was to attract affiliates of fast growing companies
headquartered elsewhere in which the technology was crystallised to create an industry
where one had not existed. It did not require the development of an indigenous S&T
infrastructure; the basic research was conducted elsewhere. A certain S&T
infrastructure has been created in IT and medical devices over the past decade.
Third, the emergence of a critical mass of rapidly growing, technology-driven companies

will depend upon a business organisation development infrastructure. In the past
Ireland has relied upon the attraction of affiliates of rapidly growing foreign
headquartered enterprises to establish a foothold in a new industry. Establishing, for the
first time, cluster dynamic processes will require financial institutions regulated to foster
long-term commitment to company development as well as liquidity requirements. Both
the leading technology development states in the U.S. and the Nordic countries offer
models for support systems and institutions that encourage and enable the transition of
43
technology development companies from basic research to proof of concept to early
stage technology development to product development to production and marketing.
The consequences of fostering the emergence and growth of an innovative renewable

energy industry in Ireland extend beyond the benefits of the industry itself. They would
include the transition to a model of industrial development that would establish a
national technology management capability that could enhance performance in all
sectors.
There is certainly some cause for optimism. Brian Motherway of SEAI reports that “the
level of entrepreneurial activity is staggering, the amount of people with ideas is
staggering and established companies such as Kingspan and Glen Dimplex have
reoriented themselves to capitalise on this opportunity” (Knowledge Ireland, Winter
2009). The history of industrial evolution based on capabilities tells us that from these
seeds of entrepreneurial activity and existing firms’ reorientation grow the most
successful of modern industries. The necessary capabilities and skills will be a blend of
the old, such as those in electrical and engineering, and newer, such as marine energy
and green software development.
44
4 Conclusion: Industrial Transition Processes in Ireland
The Lucerna database was created to permit researchers and policy analysts to
characterise, measure and monitor emerging technology-oriented business activities
that can become drivers of industrial transition processes in Ireland. There is no single,
universal model of business organisation that fosters innovation and drives economic
growth. Close examination of successful national and regional economies reveals that
success in fostering technological change and innovation involves the development of
business models and a business system that has unique organisational features. The
Lucerna company database research methodology is to facilitate a deeper
understanding and analysis of business organisation within Ireland and how it can be a
force for fostering innovation and economic development. The Lucerna database
complements and extends existing industrial datasets. It can be employed to trace the
origins and evolutions of technologies, product groupings and industrial clusters in high-
tech sectors. It facilitates examination of fast growth sectors and sub-sectors in the Irish
economy. It can assist in the identification of ‘green shoot’ technologies and sectors that
might fruitfully be nourished into fast growth sectors. While application of the Lucerna
database is still in the early stages the following overarching themes have emerged:
Technology clusters and industrial dynamics
At the level of analysis and policy a focus on technology clusters as distinct from
industrial sectors can be rewarding. Our research shows that the juxtaposition and co-
evolution of different technological spheres has been an important feature in the
growth of industrial activity in Ireland. For example, the presence of electronics firms,
such as Digital in Galway in the 1970s and 80’s provided the initial platform from which
medical technology and software has grown in the region. The future development of
industry is not around individual sectors but rather the intersection of technologies,
which is evident in the merging of medical devices, pharmaceuticals and ICT, and the
newly emerging area of renewable energy that transcends sectoral boundaries.
Technological convergence is the key to the evolution of cluster dynamic processes and
future development requires the exploitation of local opportunities for new
technological convergences.
Business organisation development infrastructure
The economic model of attracting FDI based on cost competitiveness and grant
incentives and subsequently relying on such investment to establish an industry in
Ireland is now largely inadequate. The need to make the successful transition to a new
model based on endogenous development is paramount. Our research suggests that in
certain TBCs the seeds to make the transition are in place. An analysis of the medical
technology sector in Ireland shows evidence of a competency transfer effect taking
place from the foreign-owned to indigenous sector, as companies from both sectors
tend to engage in the same product activity. It is suggested that the formation of skills
from the presence of the multinational corporation has, to a degree, translated into the
45
establishment of start-up enterprises. But start-up enterprises are only the beginning of
a long and difficult process of business organisation development (Best 2009).Both the
leading technology development states in the U.S. and the Nordic countries offer
models for support systems and institutions that encourage and enable the transition of
technology development companies from basic research to proof of concept to early
stage technology development to product development to production and marketing.
This requires enhanced connectivity, long-term commitment and inter-organisational
trust among various actors, including firms from different technological domains,
regulatory bodies, end-users, legal bodies, financial providers and research centres.
Regional specialisation within Ireland
While Ireland is a small country, there are regional effects taking place with regards to
the development of technologies and industries which should be promoted through
public policy. An analysis of the Lucerna database shows concentrations of technological
activity in particular regions across the country. For example, within medical devices, a
specialisation in orthopaedics and prostheses was demonstrated in the South-West and
Dublin region, while specialised surgical and medical equipment was revealed to be
clustered primarily in the West of Ireland. Further investigation of the relevance of such
concentrations of activity reveals the significance of ‘lead’ or ‘anchor’ organisations in a
region as they influence the technological development of a region. Research on the
Galway medical technology cluster in particular shows the influence that large MNCs can
have in a region as they can result in the formation of start-up enterprises, the
development of labour skills and the growth of suppliers in the locality.
5 Final Comment
From a capabilities perspective Ireland has not failed as an economy. It has assimilated
capabilities, technological, manufacturing and managerial from multinationals,
principally American. It has belatedly invested in the higher education sector that
should, with proper management, further develop technological capabilities. Whilst the
short–term economic outlook for Ireland is bleak the longer term prospects are more
promising in areas of high-tech expertise and knowhow such as IT, pharma and medical
technology. These can underpin green technology and nanotechnology as exemplars of
future growth. The capabilities perspective can also be the foundation for projects such
as the ‘Green Collar economy’ programme recently proposed which will provide a
stimulus package for ‘technology actions’ to generate 30,000 new jobs in the ‘smart
economy’. So the Lucerna project is an exhortation for economic growth via evidence-
based capabilities development, guided evolution and enhancement. Chris Horn stated
in the Irish Times (8th August 2009) that “I have been surprised by the absence of public
discussion on just how we now expect to drive growth in our economy”. He asks “what
can now be the engine of growth to create sustainable jobs?”. Lucerna can contribute to
this required public discussion as an evidential database to illustrate potential engines of
growth.
46
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ANNEX 1 : LUCERNA TECHNOLOGY-BASED CLUSTER LISTING (Page 1 of 2)
KOMPASS CODE Product & Service Descriptions TBC KOMPASS CODE Product & Service Descriptions TBC
Computer & Communication Hardware Software & Communication Services

37300 Telecommunication system exchanges & network equipment CCH 28730 Publishing: Compact discs, records, audio & video cassettes SCS
37310 Telecommunication transmission & reception equipment CCH 44880 Operating systems. System & development software SCS
37311 Telecommunication transmission & reception equipment CCH 44890 Software, database management system (DBMS) SCS
37320 Telecommunication equipment accessories CCH 44900 Application software packages, business, office, professional & financial SCS
37350 Remote controls, electric & electronic CCH 44901 Applic. softw. packages, business, office, profes. & financial SCS
37360 Radar systems & equipment CCH 44920 Application software packages, industrial, technical & scientific SCS
37361 Radar systems & equipment CCH 44930 Software NES SCS
37390 Radio equipment, professional CCH 44940 Software, multimedia SCS
37391 Radio equipment, professional CCH 44950 Software to customer specification, software houses SCS
37400 Television & video equipment, professional CCH 44951 Software to customer specification, software houses SCS
37401 Television & video equipment, professional CCH 44952 Software to customer specification, software houses SCS
37410 Radios, tape recorders, CD players & high fidelity (hi-fi) equip. CCH 44960 Computer & computer peripheral maintenance services SCS
37420 Television receivers, video recorders & camcorders CCH 44970 Computer maintenance accessories SCS
37430 Audio-visual (AV) & simultaneous interpreting equipment CCH 44980 Electronic data processing (EDP) & data input services SCS
37440 Loudspeakers & headphones CCH 44990 Computer & Internet related services NES SCS
37460 Aerials, wave radiators & collectors CCH 61860 Internet portals SCS
37480 Microphones CCH Medical Devices
37490 Recording equipment for industrial use CCH 38890 Medical & surgical instruments MEDEV
37500 Automation systems & servomechanisms CCH 38891 Medical & surgical instruments MEDEV
37510 Electronic equipment & components, industrial CCH 38900 Equipment & instruments for medical laboratories MEDEV
37511 Electronic equipment & components, industrial CCH 38910 Medical & surgical equipment MEDEV
37600 Capacitors & power factor correction systems CCH 38911 Medical & surgical equipment MEDEV
37601 Capacitors & power factor correction systems CCH 38912 Medical & surgical equipment MEDEV
37610 Resistors & rheostats CCH 38913 Medical & surgical equipment MEDEV
37620 Passive electronic components: coils, chokes & power transformers CCH 38914 Medical & surgical equipment MEDEV
37650 Complex electronic components. Passive microstructures CCH 38915 Medical & surgical equipment MEDEV
37660 Tubes & valves, electronic CCH 38920 Ophthalmic equipment MEDEV
37661 Tubes & valves, electronic CCH 38930 Orthopaedic equipment MEDEV
37690 Semiconductors CCH 38940 Prostheses MEDEV
37700 Transistors, thyristors & metal rectifiers CCH 38950 Physiotherapy & spa equipment MEDEV
37710 Integrated circuits (ICs) & printed circuits CCH 38960 Dental equipment & instruments MEDEV
37720 Components for semiconductor devices & micro-electric circuits CCH 38970 Dental laboratory equipment & supplies MEDEV
37730 Electric & electronic relays, classified by type CCH 38980 Dental prostheses MEDEV
37731 Electric & electronic relays, classified by type CCH 38990 Medical & surgical equipment, veterinary MEDEV
37740 Electric & electronic relays, classified by use CCH 37550 Electro-medical & electro-biological equipment MEDEV
37750 Amplifiers CCH 37560 Hearing aids MEDEV
37751 Amplifiers CCH 37630 Optoelectronic systems & equipment MEDEV
37760 Oscillators CCH 42650 Laboratory equipment, microbiological MEDEV
37770 Microwave systems CCH Pharmaceuticals
37810 Wires & cables for telecommunications & electronics CCH 31310 Organic acids, their anhydrides & acid halides BIOPHRM
37820 Fibre optic cables, systems & equipment CCH 31311 Organic acids, their anhydrides & acid halides BIOPHRM
37850 Lasers & masers CCH 31312 Organic acids, their anhydrides & acid halides BIOPHRM
37860 Electrical & electronic equipment for military use CCH 31313 Organic acids, their anhydrides & acid halides BIOPHRM
44140 Printing machinery & equipment CCH 31314 Organic acids, their anhydrides & acid halides BIOPHRM
44141 Printing machinery & equipment CCH 31315 Organic acids, their anhydrides & acid halides BIOPHRM
44160 Printing machinery & equipment, special purpose CCH 31510 Raw materials for pharmaceuticals BIOPHRM
44180 Typesetting & phototypesetting/photocomposing mach. & equip. CCH 31511 Raw materials for pharmaceuticals BIOPHRM
44200 Lithographic, offset & photolithographic machinery & equipment CCH 31512 Raw materials for pharmaceuticals BIOPHRM
44220 Colour separation & scanning equipment CCH 31513 Raw materials for pharmaceuticals BIOPHRM
44240 Screen printing equipment CCH 31610 Carbohydrates, proteins & enzymes BIOPHRM
44260 Laser & ink jet printing machinery CCH 31611 Carbohydrates, proteins & enzymes BIOPHRM
44300 Block making & stereotyping equipment CCH 31620 Vitamins, hormones & organ extracts BIOPHRM
44320 Type & typesetting supplies CCH 31621 Vitamins, hormones & organ extracts BIOPHRM
44340 Printers' ancillary equipment & supplies CCH 31630 Barbiturates, sulphonamides, glycosides, alkaloids & antibiotics BIOPHRM
44341 Printers' ancillary equipment & supplies CCH 31631 Barbiturates, sulphonamides, glycosides, alkaloids & antibiotics BIOPHRM
44360 Bookbinding & folding machinery & equipment CCH 31632 Barbiturates, sulphonamides, glycosides, alkaloids & antibiotics BIOPHRM
Pharmaceutical preparations for the cardiovascular system, central &

44400 Typewriters CCH 31640 BIOPHRM
autonomic nervous system. Anaesthetics
44420 Calculating machines CCH 31650 Pharmaceutical preparations for ophthalmology, ear, nose & throat & dent. BIOPHRM
Pharmaceutical preparations for metabolism, nutrition, alimentary systems.

44440 Accounting & invoicing machines. Cash registers CCH 31660 Pharmaceutical preparations for urology, dermatology, gynaecology & BIOPHRM
obstetrics
44460 Duplicators & addressing machines CCH 31670 Pharmaceutical preparations NES BIOPHRM
44480 Photocopiers CCH 31680 Pharmaceutical veterinary preparations BIOPHRM
44500 Office machinery & equipment NES CCH 31690 Chemotherapeutic agents, endocrines, antiseptics, immunological prep. BIOPHRM
44501 Office machinery & equipment NES CCH 31691 Chemotherapeutic agents, endocrines, antiseptics, immunological prep. BIOPHRM
44520 Mailing & postal machinery & equipment CCH 31710 Parapharmaceutical preparations BIOPHRM
44560 Servers & large scale computers CCH 31720 Medical preparations, oriental BIOPHRM
44580 Desktop computers, portable computers & related devices CCH Renewable Energy Technology
44620 Industrial computers. Special purpose computers NES CCH 18100 Electricity Production & Distribution RE
44640 Simulators CCH 37890 Nuclear engineering Plant, installation & equipments RE
44660 Data storage devices for computing CCH 37900 Nuclear Fuel, isotopes, compounds, related equipment RE
44680 Circuit boards & microprocessors for computers CCH 37910 Measuring & control instruments for nuclear installations RE
44720 Terminals, monitors/display screens CCH 37920 Nuclear engineering Contractors RE
44740 Network equipment, switches & terminators CCH 37950 Solar energy systems & equipments RE
44760 Computer keyboards & other input devices NES CCH 37960 Alternative energy equipments, NES RE
44780 Printers, plotters CCH 37980 Renewable energy equipments, Parts & accessories RE
Software, energy network management & services, to customer
44800 Document scanners, bar code scanners/readers CCH 4495117 RE
specification
44820 Local area network (LAN) equipment NES CCH 84720 Nuclear engineering consultants RE
44830 Computer cable assemblies & connectors CCH 84740 Alternative energy engineering consultants RE
44840 Computer consumables & accessories. Components for computers NES CCH 85510034 Heat & energy technology Research & Development RE
44841 Computer consumables & accessories. Components for computers NES CCH 85600 Nuclear Energy research RE
44860 Integrated computer systems CCH 85620 Renewable energy research RE

ANNEX 1 : LUCERNA TECHNOLOGY-BASED CLUSTER LISTING (Page 2 of 2)
KOMPASS KOMPASS
Product & Service Descriptions TBC Product & Service Descriptions TBC
CODE CODE
Test, Measurement, & Instrumentation 30900, -01 Thermoplastics processing contractors PCM
37530 Ultrasonic, ultraviolet, infrared & radiolog. equip. for indust. & scientific use TMI 30950 Thermosetting plastic contractors PCM
Ultrasonic, ultraviolet (UV), infrared & radiological equipment for biological 31120,
37540 TMI Iron & steel alloy compounds PCM
& medical apps. -21, -22
Electrical & electronic instrum. & apparatus for measur. electrical 31140, - 41, -
38010 TMI Non-ferrous heavy metal compounds PCM
quantities 42
31160,
38030 Electrical & electronic test equipment TMI Light metal compounds PCM
-61, -62
38040 Electrical measuring & control instruments for electric circuits & networks TMI 31180, -81 High-melting point & noble metal compounds PCM
Electrical, electromechanical, electrochemical, electrophysical measuring 31200,

38060 TMI Metal compounds NES PCM
equipment for non-electric values -01, -02
38100 Electrical & electronic measur. & controlling instruments for nuclear TMI 31250 Inorganic chemicals NES PCM
Electronic measuring instruments & meters for laboratory & research.
38120 TMI 31260 Compressed & liquefied gases. Chemicals for refrigeration PCM
Oscilloscopes, wavemeters
Electronic measuring, testing & controlling instruments for vibration &
38130 TMI 31270 Rocket propellants PCM
electro-aco ustics. Filters, signal generators
38160 Magnetic & electromagnetic measuring instruments TMI 31330, -31 Hydrocarbons & halocarbons PCM
38180 Static & tensile testing equipment TMI 31730 Culture media, fresh cell culture solutions. Bacteria PCM
38190 Dynamic testing equipment TMI 31810, -11 Petroleum based fuels, fluids, industrial oils, lubricants, greases & gases PCM
31940, -41, -
38200 Structural testing equipment TMI Synthetic rubbers, resins, latices & other precursors PCM
42, -43
38210 Industrial testing equipment for internal combustion engines & motor TMI 32020, -21 Fertilisers PCM
32040, -41, -
38220 Hydraulic & thermal test equipment TMI Fungicides, insecticides, bactericides, vermin destroyers PCM
42
Herbicides, plant growth control substances, chemical spray prods,
38230 Testing equipment for building materials TMI 32060 PCM
fumigants
38240 Testing equipment for paper & paper pulp TMI 32440, -41 Paints & primers PCM
38250 Testing equipment for the rubber, plastic & leather industries TMI 32480 Vitreous colours, enamels & glazes PCM
38260 Testing equipment for textiles TMI 32500 Anti-corrosion, anti-foaming, antioxidant, antistatic & antifreeze products PCM
38270 Testing equipment for colours, paints & varnishes TMI 32510, -11 Adhesives, synthetic PCM
38280 Testing equipment for precious stones TMI 32610, -11 Explosives, gunpowders & detonators PCM
38300 Testing equipment for metals TMI 32640 Pyrotechnical products PCM
38320 Physical measur. equip., chromatographic analy., X & gamma-ray TMI 34040 Ferro-alloys PCM
38410 Microscopes TMI 34050, -51 Refined, special & tool steels & their semi-finished products PCM
38440 Refractometers & other optical instruments TMI 34210 Light metals & alloys PCM
38450 Astronomy equipment TMI 34250 Precious & rare metals & their alloys PCM
38460 Optical instruments for military use TMI 34260 Precious & rare metal semi-manufactured products PCM
38550 Photographic processing equipment TMI 34290 Pure metals PCM
34310, -11, -
38590 Surveying & geodetic instruments TMI Non-ferrous metals & alloys NES PCM
12
38600 Underwater testing & measuring instruments TMI Diversified Manufacturing & Processing
38830 Telecommunication measuring & testing equipment TMI 37780 Electrical & electronics industries contractors DMP
38840 Measuring & testing instruments, electric & electronic NES TMI 37830 Electrical insulators DMP
38880 Precision measuring instrument components & accessories TMI 37840 Electrical insulating & dielectric materials DMP
39180 Control & navigational instruments for ships TMI 37890 Nuclear engineering plant, installations & equipment DMP
39750 Aircraft cockpit equipment TMI 37900 Nuclear fuels, isotopes, compounds & related equipment DMP
39780 Aircraft cabin equipment & appliances TMI 37910 Measuring & control instruments for nuclear installations DMP
39790 Aircraft electrical equipment TMI 37920 Nuclear engineering contractors DMP
39830 Flight training equipment TMI 37950 Solar energy systems & equipment DMP
39950 Airport equipment TMI 37960 Alternative energy equipment NES DMP
47740 Machinery & equipment for the electrical industry TMI 37980 Renewable energy equipment, parts & accessories DMP
47760 Machinery & equipment for the electronics industry TMI 38510, -11 Cameras, photographic equipment & projectors DMP
38150, - 51 Electrical & electronic measuring, monitor. & controlling instru. for various TMI 38530 Cine-cameras, cine projectors & related equipment DMP
38170, - 71 Test equipment for the electrical & electronics industries TMI 38560 Cine film processing equipment DMP
38290, - 91 Testing equipment for materials & products NES TMI 38570 Microfilm equipment DMP
38310, - 11 Testing & analysing equip. for the chemical, pharmaceutical & cosmetic TMI 38850 Photoelectric control systems & devices DMP
38430, - 31 Spectrophotometric & photometric instruments TMI 39010 Ocean-going ships DMP
39810, - 11 Aircraft control & navigational equipment TMI 39060 Submersible vessels & equipment DMP
Processed Chemicals & Materials 39120 Marine propulsion, transmission & steering units. Boilers DMP
29100 Processed rubber, rubber solutions & adhesives PCM 39210 Locomotives, railcars, & trams DMP
29360, -61 Rubber products for industrial use PCM 39250 Railway & tram carriages & wagons DMP
29560 Rubber products for medical, veterinary & laboratory use PCM 39310 Motor cars & vans DMP
29750 Cellular/foam rubber products PCM 39330 Buses & motor coaches DMP
29800, -01 Ebonite & gutta-percha products PCM 39340 Lorries/trucks & tractor units DMP
30180, -81 Glass fibre reinforced plastic (GRP) products PCM 39350 Motor vehicles, special purpose DMP
30590, -91, -
Plastic products, miscellaneous PCM 39700 Aircraft DMP
92, -93
30680 Plastic products for the chemical, pharmaceutical & cosmetic industries PCM 39710 Missiles, rockets & satellites. Launching platforms DMP
30700 Plastic products for the mechanical engineering industry PCM 39730 Aircraft engines & components DMP
30720, -21 Plastic products for the electrical & electronics industries PCM 39740, -41 Aircraft structural equipment & components DMP
30820 Plastic products for the optical, photographic & cinematographic industry PCM 40010 Water turbines & engines DMP
30870 Plastic products for hospital & medical use PCM 40030 Steam & gas turbines & engines DMP
30880 Plastic products for surgical, orthopaedic & dental use PCM 40050 Internal combustion engines DMP
30890 Plastic products for veterinary use PCM 41950, -51 Food industry plant & equipment NES DMP
ANNEX 2: INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION – 2 DIGIT KOMPASS CLASSIFICATION
Kompass
Kompas Industry Groups Desciptions
Code
01 Live animals
02 Agricultural, horticultural and floricultural prod.
07 Agricultural and animal services
08 Forestry
09 Fish and other marine and freshwater prod.
11 Coal and peat
12 Ores
13 Crude oil (petroleum) and natural gases
14 Quarried stone
17 Minerals, non-metallic
18 Electricity, gas and water
20 Food and tobacco
21 Beverages
22 Leathers, skins, furs and their prod.. Travel goods. Footwear
23 Textiles
24 Clothing and textile prod.
25 Wood and cork prod.
26 Furniture
27 Cellulose, paper, board and their prod.
28 Printing and publishing
29 Rubber and synthetic rubber prod.
30 Plastic prod.
31 Acids, alkalis, chemical base materials, alcohols, petroleum prod., pharmaceuticals, resins
32 Agricultural chemicals, insecticides. Detergents, soaps, perfumes, cosmetics, waxes and polishes. 33 Non-metallic mineral prod.
34 Basic metal prod.
Metal constructions for the building industry. Metal tanks, containers, cables, ropes, wires and fabrics. Chains, screws, bolts, nuts and rivets. Fasteners and
35 springs. Metal turned articles. Bearings, pulleys, couplings and gearwheels. Industrial power transmission equipment
36 Metal pipes, tubes, hoses, taps, valves, cocks, packings and gaskets. Metal sanitary and household articles. Knives, scissors, shears
37 Electrical, electronic and nuclear equipment
38 Measuring and testing equipment. Optical, photographic equipment. Medical, surgical, dental and veterinary equipment
39 Means of transport. Transport infrastructure equipment
Turbines, engines, steam machines, pumps, pneumatic and hydraulic equipment, boilers, ovens, kilns, furnaces and burners. Heating, ventilation, air conditioning
40 (HVAC), cleaning, catering, cooking and refrigeration equipment. Fire-fighting, protection and safety equipment
41 Agricultural and forestry machinery and equipment. Food, drink and tobacco industry machinery and equipment
42 Plant, machinery and equipment for chemicals, rubber, plastic, refuse and water. Packaging machinery and equipment
43 Textile, clothing, leather and shoemaking machinery and equipment
44 Pulp, paper machinery and equipment. Printing and office machinery and equipment. Electronic data processing (EDP) equipment
Machinery and equipment for mining, quarrying and stoneworking, oil and gas extraction, cement, clay, ceramics and glass industries machinery and equipment.
45 Road making, building. Mechanical handling machinery and equipment. Industrial robots
46 Plant, machinery and equipment for metalworking
47 Plant, machinery and equipment for wood and cork. Machinery and equipment for the precious stone, optical and watchmaking industries.
Forging, stamping, hot pressing, surface treatment and machining contractors. Mechanical construction and assembly contractors. Industrial packaging
48 contractors. Mould, foundry core and pattern making contractors.
51 Civil and marine engineering contractors
52 Building industry
54 Environmental services
61 Importers and exporters, general. General traders and commodity merchants. Department and chain stores
62 Wholesalers and distributors, importers and exporters of consumer goods: animals, agricultural prod., plants, food, drink and tobacco
63 Wholesalers and distributors, importers and exporters of consumer goods: textiles, clothing, domestic furniture, toiletries, cosmetics
64 Wholesalers and distributors, importers and exporters of consumer goods: publications, stationery and office requisites
66 Wholesalers and distributors, importers and exporters of industrial and commercial prod.: base materials and their prod..
Wholesalers, distributors, importers and exporters of industrial and commercial prod.: machinery and equipment, hospital and medical equipment, electrical
67 and electronic prod., telecommunication equipment, computers, office machinery
68 Wholesalers, distributors, importers and exporters: means of transport and related spare parts and accessories
69 Hospitality and tourism, hotels, motels, catering services. Conference centres.
71 Transport infrastructure administration
77 Warehousing and storage services
79 Postal services, telecommunications, radio and television
80 Administrative, personnel and property services
81 Commercial services
82 Financial and insurance services
83 Hire and rental services
84 Technical offices and engineering consultancies, architects
85 Research and testing
86 Education and training
87 International and national organisations. Public administration
88 Medical care, social services
ANNEX 3: EXAMPLE - LOCATING MEDEV AND STENT RELATED TECHNOLOGIES IN KOMPASS CLASSIFICATION (2, 5 & 7 DIGITS)
2, 5 & 7 Digit Kompass Codes Kompass Product Group/Product Description
2 DIGIT - 38 Measuring and testing equipment. Optical, photographic and cinematographic equipment. Medical, surgical, dental and veterinary equip.
38010 Electrical and electronic instruments and apparatus for measuring electrical quantities
38030 Electrical and electronic test equipment
38040 Electrical measuring and control instruments for electric circuits and networks
38060 Electrical, electromechanical, electrochemical, electrophysical measuring equipment for non-electric values
38100 Electrical and electronic measuring and controlling instruments for nuclear engineering
38120 Electronic measuring instruments and meters for laboratory and research. Oscilloscopes, wavemeters
38130 Electronic measuring, testing and controlling instruments for vibration and electro-acoustics. Filters, signal generators
38150 Electrical and electronic measuring, monitoring and controlling instruments for various applications
38151 Electrical and electronic measuring, monitoring and controlling instruments for various applications
38160 Magnetic and electromagnetic measuring instruments
38170 Test equipment for the electrical and electronics industries
38171 Test equipment for the electrical and electronics industries
38180 Static and tensile testing equipment
38190 Dynamic testing equipment
38200 Structural testing equipment
38210 Industrial testing equipment for internal combustion engines and motor vehicles
38220 Hydraulic and thermal test equipment
38230 Testing equipment for building materials
38240 Testing equipment for paper and paper pulp
38250 Testing equipment for the rubber, plastic and leather industries
38260 Testing equipment for textiles
38270 Testing equipment for colours, paints and varnishes
38280 Testing equipment for precious stones
38290 Testing equipment for materials and products NES
38291 Testing equipment for materials and products NES
38300 Testing equipment for metals
38310 Testing and analysing equipment for the chemical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries
38311 Testing and analysing equipment for the chemical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries
38320 Physical measuring equipment, chromatographic analysers, X-ray and gamma-ray spectrographs
38330 Mechanical measuring instruments for laboratories
38350 Instrument recorders for research and industry
38370 Optical lenses and glasses. Optical mirrors
38371 Optical lenses and glasses. Optical mirrors
38380 Spectacles and spectacle frames
38390 Magnifiers, eyepieces and objectives
38400 Binoculars, telescopes and periscopes
38410 Microscopes
38420 Optical projectors
38430 Spectrophotometric and photometric instruments
38431 Spectrophotometric and photometric instruments
5 DIGIT KOMPASS
38440 Refractometers and other optical instruments

38450 Astronomy equipment
38460 Optical instruments for military use
38500 Compasses
38510 Cameras, photographic equipment and projectors
38511 Cameras, photographic equipment and projectors
38530 Cine-cameras, cine projectors and related equipment
38550 Photographic processing equipment
38560 Cine film processing equipment
38570 Microfilm equipment
38580 Meteorological equipment
38590 Surveying and geodetic instruments
38600 Underwater testing and measuring instruments
38630 Drawing and mathematical instruments
38650 Length, surface and volume measuring instruments
38660 Measuring instruments, mechanical and optical NES
38670 Checking instruments, mechanical
38680 Mechanical measuring and controlling instruments for pressure. Manometers
38681 Mechanical measuring and controlling instruments for pressure. Manometers
38690 Mechanical counters and tachometers, industrial
38720 Mechanical scales, weigh batching and dosing equipment
38730 Automatic scales, weigh batching and dosing equipment
38731 Automatic scales, weigh batching and dosing equipment
38750 Optoelectronic, electronic and special scales, weigh batching and dosing equipment
38760 Accessories and weights for scales
38780 Temperature measuring instruments
38781 Temperature measuring instruments
38790 Flow measuring and control equipment
38791 Flow measuring and control equipment
38800 Level measuring and control equipment for liquids
38810 Moisture, specific gravity, pH, fluid conductivity and viscosity measuring instruments
38811 Moisture, specific gravity, pH, fluid conductivity and viscosity measuring instruments
38820 Temperature regulating and control equipment
38830 Telecommunication measuring and testing equipment
38840 Measuring and testing instruments, electric and electronic NES
38850 Photoelectric control systems and devices
38860 Regulating and control systems and equipment NES
38870 Components and accessories for regulating and controlling systems and equipment
38880 Precision measuring instrument components and accessories
38890 Medical and surgical instruments
38891 Medical and surgical instruments
38900 Equipment and instruments for medical laboratories
38910 Medical and surgical equipment
38911 Medical and surgical equipment
3891100 Medical and surgical equipment (cont'd)
3891101 X-ray room equipment
3891102 Production equipment, automatic, for radiotherapy beam shaping filters
3891103 Dosimeters for radiotherapy
3891104 Kymographic tubal insufflation apparatus
3891105 Injection equipment for radiological contrast media, medical
3891108 Anaesthesia apparatus and accessories
3891109 Epidural anaesthetic apparatus
3891110 Anaesthetic and cardio-respiratory monitoring apparatus
7 DIGIT KOMPASS
3891112 Electro-surgical equipment

3891113 Microsurgery equipment
3891114 Cryosurgery systems and equipment
3891116 Surgical diathermy apparatus
3891117 Surgical equipment, laser
3891118 Surgical equipment, ultrasonic
3891119 Surgical equipment, water jet
3891120 Blood loss measurement apparatus (haemorrhometers)
3891122 Stereotactic equipment, medical
3891123 Ophthalmic surgery equipment
3891124 Vascular surgery equipment
3891125 Cardio-surgery equipment
3891126 Coronary stents
3891127 Lithotrity and lithotomy apparatus and equipment
A Methodological Approach for Understanding Irish Economic Transformation
The Lucerna Project Report - 2010
ISBN 978-0-9553159-4-7
Contributors
Dr Satyasiba Das
Post Doctoral Researcher, LUCERNA
Professor Michael H Best
Experienced Researcher, LUCERNA
Mr Oner Tulum
Researcher, LUCERNA
Dr Paul Ryan
Principal Investigator, LUCERNA
Dr Majella Giblin
Post Doctoral Researcher, HEA PRTLI 4
This project is funded under the Marie Curie Transfer of Knowledge programme.
The figure on the front page illustrates the word cloud of the report. The figure on the back page illustrates all the high-
tech companies in Ireland in different technology fields.

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National University of Ireland, Galway

Ollscoil na hÉireann, Gaillimh

Capabilities & Competitiveness:

THE LUCERNA PROJECT REPORT - 2010

THE LUCERNA PROJECT REPORT - 2010

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY III

1 A METHODOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON IRISH INDUSTRIAL CAPABILITIES AND

2 CASE STUDY: IRELAND’S MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY SECTOR 18

3 CASE STUDY: IRELAND’S RENEWABLE ENERGY INDUSTRY 32

3.1 INTRODUCTION: THE CHALLENGE AND OPPORTUNITY 32

4 CONCLUSION: INDUSTRIAL TRANSITION PROCESSES IN IRELAND 45

FIGURE 1-1: EMPLOYMENT IN DIFFERENT TECHNOLOGY BASED CLUSTERS IN IRELAND ............................................................. 14

1.2 The Capabilities Perspective

Successful regions, like successful firms, have core competences or distinctive

1.3 Ireland in the Global Context

In a comprehensive search for information on business enterprises and industrial growth

1.4 Shortcomings of Existing Data

a. The data on business enterprises is lacking and incomplete. Even at a relatively

b. The current statistical datasets on industrial sectors provided either

c. The compilation of public datasets organises industrial sectors according to the

1.5 Lucerna Database Methodology Approach

To determine the key technology sectors we initially took as influence a number of

Four steps were undertaken to construct the Lucerna database:

I. First, official, aggregative data was analysed to derive first approximations of

1.6 Identification of competitive sectors using official-data sources

Step 1: Identification of significant high-tech sectors

A. Industries with competitive advantage

Step 2: Product classification for the dataset

Step 3: Creation of Technology-Based Clusters

Computer and Communication Hardware (CCH) 341

Software and Communication services (SCS) 865

Pharmaceuticals (PHARMA) 107

Test, Measurement, & Instrumentation (TMI) 105

Processed Chemicals & Materials (PCM) 341

Diversified Manufacturing & Processing (DMP) 116

Renewable Energy (RE) 208

Scientific, Technical, Engineering, & Consultancy Services (STECS) 987

Business & Management Services (BMS) 6758

Finance and Insurance Services (FIS) 2402

*Note: Population as per Lucerna data set-1: 2008

Step 4: Populating the technology-based clusters

This practice of constructing bridges between multiple datasets by using a unique

Table 1-2: Information on individual companies in Lucerna data

1.8 Description of Irish Technology Clusters

These applications of the database are examples of a range of background ‘quantitative’

• Fast growing firms and clusters by technology and region

Table 1-4: Location Quotient of TBCs in different counties of Ireland

1.8.1 Basic properties of Industry-Technology Net

We deployed a product classification system to assist in the identification of eleven key

Nevertheless, the interaction of business organisation, technological change and

2.2 Medical Technology sector in Ireland

Table 2-1: Sub-groups of Medical Devices and Services

Medical Technology Products & Services (sub-groups)

Medical Technology Products & Services (sub-groups)

Medical Technology Products & Services (sub-groups)

Medical Technology Products & Services (sub-groups)

• There is an inherent specialisation around a few medical speciality products and

Product Development Capability

Process Capability - Pioneering Mode