Our group’s site visit for today was at Guinness Enterprise Center (GEC). Here we learned more about what fuels Dublin’s thriving startup market. Walking around the city, one can see that there is no shortage of successful multinational corporations present. Due to Dublin’s highly incentivized economic model for attracting business, companies such as Google, Meta, Airbnb, and more have set up operations for growth within the city. While this is highly beneficial for the country, Ireland also wants to encourage Irish entrepreneurs to build corporations and grow throughout the world. This is where GEC comes in. They have a blueprint for incubating companies in their infancy, looking ahead to accelerate growth and see young companies flourish into multinational firms of their own. They have many success stories and are currently working with a multitude of prospects that are expected to achieve their goals in the near future. What I found interesting about the presentation this morning was the fact that Ireland saw significant growth in jobs and productivity through the Covid-19 pandemic unlike many other countries around the world. Our guide explained that a lot of this was due in part to the ingenuity of its citizens. Where some viewed a global catastrophe, others saw an opportunity to build something new. Through the use of an entrepreneurial mindset, Ireland saw many startups form and thrive throughout 2020 until today. Not only did this help keep people employed during hard times, but it continued to provide sustenance for the country. This shows the never ending importance for out of the box thinkers in today’s economic climate.