This paper examines the resistance of Irish regions to potential future economic shock, focusing specifically on employment change in firms in receipt of assistance from the Irish government’s enterprise development agencies. The paper classifies both regions and sectors in terms of their employment performance during the course of the 2011–22 period and assesses the roles of sectoral composition and firm nationality in shaping regional performance. While nationality mix is significant, sectoral composition is seen as having a more important impact on regional employment performance. It then uses the same approach to predict the performance of regions in the context of potential future shocks post 2022. The paper suggests that the Border region is the least resistant to potential future shock. Other regions with relatively low resistance include the Mid East and the Midlands. The paper subsequently considers the implications of the findings for both regional economic divergence trends and the policy aim of balanced regional development in Ireland.

To fully function in a society permeated by digital technologies requires individuals and households to have both the access and skills to use these technologies effectively. Unfortunately, access to digital infrastructure and skills is not equal. This chapter begins with a discussion on the nature of the digital divide and digital literacy. It then considers how digital technologies are changing how, where and when people work, and the opportunities for rural communities that the sharing economy and gig economy present. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how extant international frameworks and composite indices measure access, competences, and use of digital technologies by individuals and households, highlighting the need for a more comprehensive and inclusive measurement approach.

This chapter provides an overview of the growing body of evidence that now documents the positive impact of infrastructure for digital connectivity, as policymakers seek to harness its potential to drive economic development and improve standards of living. However, significant challenges continue to impede the delivery of comprehensive digital connectivity across all social groups and geographical contexts. As ever greater technological advances continue to shape our everyday lives, policymakers must ensure that the existing social and economic digital divide is not exacerbated. This chapter defines infrastructure for digital connectivity, as well as key concepts and terms. This is followed by a review of the economic impact of infrastructure for digital connectivity, most notably broadband, and a discussion of free and municipal Wi-Fi and rural digital hubs. The chapter concludes with an overview of how digital connectivity is measured in international frameworks and composite indices for measuring digital society and the digital economy.

AbstractDigital public services refer to the provision of public services using digital technologies wherein the interaction with a public sector organisation is mediated by an IT system. Citizens are constantly demanding higher transparency, efficiency and responsiveness from public organisations. The increasing adoption of digital technologies constitutes a key element of governments’ response to such demands and has the potential to generate substantial benefits for the overall economy both at a local and national level. This chapter defines digital public services, discusses the existing challenges for the implementation of these services in the rural context, and summarises existing frameworks for assessing the adoption and use of e-Government, e-Health technologies, and open data.

AbstractRealising the potential of digital technologies in smaller and rural towns is a significant organisational and management challenge involving a diverse range of stakeholders, who may have conflicting motivations. It requires substantial horizontal integration at a local level to leverage local contextual knowledge and relationships to increase participation in initiatives, while at the same time requiring vertical integration with political, social, and economic institutions and agencies, to facilitate the flow of resources. This chapter explores some of the governance challenges and mechanisms for building rural community resilience to digital technology evolution. It concludes with a discussion of how the governance of digital initiatives are measured by intergovernmental and international organisations, to the limited extent that they are at all.

It is well-established that the use of digital technologies can generate clear advantages for enterprises including cost savings, operational efficiency, IT resilience and scalability, easier access to new markets, and market effectiveness, amongst others. However, the adoption and use of digital technologies by rural businesses typically lags urban enterprises. This chapter introduces and defines the concept of the digital economy and digital business. It discusses the main benefits and challenges in the adoption and use of digital technologies by enterprises in general and by those in a rural context. The chapter concludes with a discussion of international frameworks and composite indices for measuring the adoption and use of digital technologies by businesses.

AbstractCivil society refers to social institutions outside of the confines of households, the market and the state. Such institutions provide a wide range of facilities and services in communities and society, generate employment, and create significant economic value through direct, indirect and induced expenditure. Notwithstanding this, voluntary, social and community organisations are rarely included in indices seeking to measure digital progress in society. Digital technologies can transform how civil society organisations operate and interact with their stakeholders. This chapter defines civil society, discusses the role they play in society, and the opportunities and challenges for digital adoption and use in civil society.

The ideational power framework developed by Carstensen and Schmidt has sought to make explicit the manner in which ideas can exert an influence over policy outcomes. However, one key feature of this theoretical framework has not yet been adequately conceptualised: the communicative process through which policy entrepreneurs convey their ideas to the general public. This article focuses on one specific form of communicative discourse as a means of generating widespread public support for a given policy proposal: public discourse via the media – be it print, broadcast or social media. We argue that the ideational power literature should recognise the media as a powerful entity in its own right rather than merely depicting the media as an implement for political communication. We contend that the ideational power framework could usefully incorporate a characterisation of the media that has recently emerged from political communications research: the hybrid media system. In order to illustrate how the communicative process inherent in ideational power can be understood in terms of a hybrid media system, we undertake a comparative review of two empirical studies which assess political discourse during the 2016 US presidential election from the perspectives of ideational power and hybrid media systems.

Digital technologies are transforming all aspects of society. While so-called smart city technologies are widely cited as solutions for a wide range of socio-economic challenges, there is a relative paucity of research and discussion on the role and impact of ICTs in towns. The term ‘digital town’ concerns a physical place, the people who interact with that place, information and communication technologies, and the relationship between them. This chapter introduces key concepts and terms in digital society policy and literature. Based on a review of literature and digital town initiatives and projects, ten rationales for adopting digital technologies in towns are identified and discussed and a working definition of a digital town is proposed. The chapter concludes with a discussion of commonly cited frameworks and composite indices for measuring digital society and the digital economy and the need for a discrete measurement framework for digital towns is justified.

Digital technologies are an increasingly important part of societies and economies. International benchmarks suggest that countries and cities worldwide are progressing in their digitalisation efforts. Unfortunately, some parts of society and the economy are under-represented in extant measurement frameworks and composite indices and are in danger of being left behind. This chapter presents an integrated framework for measuring and benchmarking the evolution and development of digital towns. The Digital Town Readiness Framework can be used to obtain an initial characterisation and understanding of key sectors and enabling infrastructure in smaller and rural towns, develop plans for the digital transformation of towns, and benchmark progress against regional, national and international indicators. Methodology and implementation considerations are also presented.

Intrapreneurship is known to play an important role in enhancing innovation and competitiveness within firms. However, there remains a dearth of literature on the workings of intrapreneurship at the regional level. Based on a qualitative analysis of intrapreneurship in the South East Region of Ireland, this paper explores the link between intrapreneurship and regional development. It makes several contributions that further the understanding of intrapreneurship at the regional level: (1) we detail the manner in which intrapreneurship emerges in distinct corporate contexts; (2) we identify the main barriers and challenges to intrapreneurship in these different contexts; and (3) we provide evidence that sets out the relative importance of the two key routes through which intrapreneurship stimulates regional development: firm growth and new firm formation.

This open access book proposes a definition of digital towns and examines the impact of the digital revolution on rural and urban societies and economies.

Education plays an essential role in transferring social norms and building human capital. There is widespread enthusiasm for the adoption and integration of digital technologies in education. This digitalisation of education has become a pillar of education policy worldwide, driven by growing optimism that such a policy approach can bestow a wide range of potential benefits to economies and society as a whole. Unfortunately, despite this optimism, digital inequalities remain in education—with these inequalities impacting the most vulnerable in society, including those who are socio-economically disadvantaged and/or residing in rural areas. Robust measurement of digital technologies in education is critical for informing policy and action, as well as for monitoring progress. This chapter defines digital education and discusses the rationales, benefits and challenges in integrating digital technologies in education. It concludes with an overview of existing international indicators for measuring digital technology in education.

This paper explores drivers and barriers of cross-border economic integration in the Ireland-Northern Ireland context.We show, via a case-study of the Irish pharmaceutical sector, that potential economic benefits of an all-island sectoral ecosystem have been recognised by businesses and policymakers in both jurisdictions.However, those economic benefits within the pharmaceutical sector have not materialised.We explore this situation by employing the concept of proximity.Proximity refers not only to geographic or spatial proximity, but also encompasses cognitive, organisational, institutional and social proximities.Our findings indicate that a mix of proximities is necessary to

This paper explores how cross-institutional Peer Observation of Teaching (PoT) provided a stru ctured opportunity for professional conversations by which observers and observees shared and developed their perspectives on teaching experience and skills. Such professional conversations offer opportunities for both parties to gain a perspective on practices that may have been taken for granted. Participants from three Higher Education institutions engaged in cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional PoT, followed by facilitated reflective conversations. This paper captures the factors for success that enabled continuing conversations on teaching and learning and highlights the value of supporting such conversations outside formal, uni-institutional peer observation programmes.

This paper explores the phenomenon of policy divergence in response to crises of a similar nature. We argue that politically dominant interpretations of the nature of a crisis constitute a central mechanism that determines the shape of prevailing policy responses to that crisis. These interpretations lend legitimacy to views and policy proposals of certain political actors over others, which strengthens their position in the political bargain from which the eventual policy response emerges. As a consequence, political actors can exert a greater influence within the policy-making process even in the absence of a shift in the underlying institutional or political configuration of power. We illustrate this via a case study which explores two crisis episodes - the Great Irish Famine (1845-1850) and the Lancashire Cotton Famine (1861-1865) - in which one particular policy response was proposed by policymakers, yet the eventual legislative outcome differed significantly.

How does fractionalization affect political collaboration on reform? We develop a theory to explain observable variation in legislative output over time and policy areas. We show how the properties of a reform project determine the extent to which fractionalization affects political collaboration on reform. We apply our framework to the case of Lebanon and present mixed-methods evidence based on a novel comprehensive dataset of legislative activity and 32 interviews with parliamentarians, ex-ministers, and other high ranking officials. Our findings contribute to explaining ambiguous evidence in the literature on the political economy of reform.