Ireland reaches 25th place in Global Competitiveness Report

3 Sep 2014

Ireland has crawled up three places to the No 25 spot in the Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015, which reveals Switzerland, Singapore and the US as the top 3 most competitive economies.

Ireland made its best showing in the report since 2009, having ranked 28th just last year.

The annual survey by the World Economic Forum assesses the competitiveness landscape of 144 economies, providing insight into the drivers of their productivity and prosperity, the World Economic Forum said.

These 12 drivers – or pillars of competitiveness – include Institutions, Infrastructure, Macroeconomic Environment, Health and Primary Education, Higher Education and Training, Goods Market Efficiency, Labour Market Efficiency, Financial Market Development, Technological Readiness, Market Size, Business Sophistication and Innovation. A rank of 1-7 in each pillar is considered among the best in the world.

Ireland achieved its best score, of 8, in Health and Primary Education. The country also garnered respectable scores in Technological Readiness (12), Institutions (15), Higher Education and Training (17), and Innovation (20).

The country could improve when it comes to Macroeconomic Environment, where drew a rank of 130, and Financial Market Development, where it scored 61.

What the leading economies in the report have in common is a track record in developing, accessing and utilising available talent, as well as in making investments that boost innovation.

“These smart and targeted investments have been possible thanks to a co-ordinated approach based on strong collaboration between the public and private sectors,” the World Economic Forum said.

The report also factors in a survey among business leaders, assessing government efficiency and transparency.

The Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015 complete rankings
 

Competitive Ireland image via Shutterstock

Tina Costanza was a journalist and sub-editor at Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com