We have always been a challenger nation, facing up to the competition of bigger and better-resourced countries. We have addressed this challenge not by trying to clone what other nations are already doing, but by adopting a more pioneering approach that sees us creating our own niches and our own areas of specialisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Above all else, we have been entrepreneurial as a nation, looking to find new solutions for problems that were once seen as intractable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our expertise has helped turn arid lands of Africa into fertile farming lands. Our innovations in food production have seen a country of five million people produce enough to feed sixty million. And in aviation, the Irish model of low-cost commuting has revolutionised the face of European travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our percentage of self-employed and small or medium-sized enterprises is further proof of our commitment to ploughing our own furrow, making new opportunities for ourselves instead of simply following the herd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We consistently over-index in terms of success stories on the world stage, whether it\u2019s in commerce, economics, science, entertainment or the arts. And underlying each of these successes is a culture of looking to the future rather than resting on the present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The graduates that result from this culture of entrepreneurship and of pioneering progress are stars of the global business world, not to mention leading the charge in the fields of academia and research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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