“Dublin as an emerging tech hub”. Really?

I read a post earlier today that listed Dublin as one of the top 8 emerging tech hubs in the world. It was on The Next Web. Some of the other cities on the list were quite interesting and unexpected too. Read the post here. 

What surprised me was that Dublin was still listed as emerging. In the world of all things tech, surely the term emerging would cover a fairly quick growth period. Would it not be better to consider Dublin as emerged. We even have our own Silicon Docks afterall, right up there to match names like London’s “Silicon Roundabout” and “Silicon Alley” of New York.

All the talk of Dublin started to get me questioning what is a tech hub anyway?

One of the best definitions I found was on the site techhub

They describe a tech hub as a unique environment, a type of utopia where everything happens faster, people are smarter and meeting investors is easier. It really is all about creating a geographical location that encourages people from different areas of the IT landscape to gather from web designers to digital marketers. code developers to angel investors. It is a question of getting the right people together in a close environment, where ideas are given the space to germinate and fantastic things will happen.

Dublin-tech-map

So who has made Dublin the tech hub that it is today?

Miles of column space has already been taking up with praise for government tax policies, IDA investment and other growth initiatives. I am more interested in the physical fact of techies congregating on the ground. Dublin owes a lot to some of the large US firms that have made Dublin their European home, these are some of the biggest companies when we think of all things related to Web Development, Web Design, IT solutions and most recently the all important Cloud Computing.

You can see a fun map of the Dublin tech scene on the map here. Including the obvious players like: Google, Facebook and Amazon and other perhaps less well known but exciting companies such as Foodcloud, Viddyad and Storyful.

If you are looking for a really detailed map of all sized tech companies around Dublin and nationwide. Make IT in Ireland show us the finer detail on their map. 

While speaking of making Dublin a tech hub, let us not forget about the guys at the Web Summit, who have recently changed their name to reflect their growing global status and are just called the Summit. It has to be said they really put Dublin on the map for where great minds can meet.

The last thing that I found as I was researching about the phenoma of tech hubs, I decided to get an idea of consequences of a tech hub in your neighbourhood. Apparently Forbes found that an increase in property prices is one of the biggest effects and they did quite a detailed piece on it here. 

Judging by the growth in both the rental and sales market in Dublin property I think it is safe to say that Dublin is most definitely an emerged Tech Hub.


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