• High-tech: Aerospace, Computers & Office machinery, Electronics &
Communications, Pharmaceuticals;
• Medium-High-tech: Scientific Instruments, Electrical Machinery,
Motor Vehicles, Chemicals, Non-electrical machinery;
• Medium-low-tech: Shipbuilding, Rubber & plastic equipment, Other
transport equipment, Stone, clay & glass, Non-ferrous metals, Other
manufacturing, Fabricated metal products;
• Low-tech: Petroleum refining, Ferrous metals, Paper printing, Textiles
and clothing, Wood & furniture, Food beverages.
For the ISIC equivalent classification, see Appendix B in Klette
(1995). We use higher-tech or higher technology sectors as a term
encompassing both the high-tech and medium high-tech sectors. The use
of lower-tech as a summary term refers to both the low-tech and medium
low-tech sectors.
We classify a plant as being "R&D-active" where that plant has
reported at minimum an average annual R&D investment of £25,000 over
the period 1986-1995. Plants with an annual mean of £100,000 or over in
R&D spend over this period are classified as "large R&D spenders".
III The evolution of Irish Industrial Policy towards FDI
Gray (1997) provides the most optimistic evaluation of the
importance of FDI in the Irish economy '[I]t is probably not an
exaggeration to say that the growth in foreign investment is at the heart
of the Irish economic miracle.' Ruane and Gorg (1998) summarise the
evolution of Irish FDI policy in three steps: