Pat Collins is a native of Galway and has worked as an Economic Geographer at the University of Galway since 2012. Prior to that he was a researcher at the Whitaker Institute where his work looked at the location decisions of multinational tech companies. More recently, Pat has turned his attention to Creative Economies and Cultural Production. Through a number of EU funded projects, Pat has sought to better understand the relationship between culture, creativity and production as well as identifying the unique role played by Geography. Pat has contributed to both of Galway’s designation of UNESCO City of Film and European Capital of Culture. He has published over 20 internationally peer reviewed journal articles and two books. He is currently Director of the newly formed UrbanLab Galway at the University of Galway. His newest book ‘Galway: Making a Capital of Culture’ was published by Orpen Press in 2023.  

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This paper examines the pivotal role of the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in Galway’s transformation during the 1970s, a period that marked the city’s first population growth in over 200 years and its formal emergence as Ireland’s first “post-independence” city. Situating Galway within the broader context of Ireland’s shift from economic nationalism to neoliberal globalism, this study explores how the establishment of Digital coincided with the city’s redefinition, demographically, economically, and culturally as it transitioned from its colonial past to embrace a globalised, tech-driven future.

Key to this analysis is the concept of creative intrapreneurial practices—subversive, strategic performances by Digital’s local directors, who circumvented the rigid hierarchies of multinational corporate headquarters to prioritise Galway’s development. These practices enabled the city to position itself as a regional hub of technological innovation while fostering a sense of local agency and autonomy within the structures of neocolonial global capitalism.

The co-evolution of Galway and Digital is explored as a negotiation of place-based identity in a context where the remnants of empire persisted in the form of global corporate expansion. By linking the city’s transformation with the legacy of colonialism and the forces of cultural imperialism, this paper sheds light on how Galway became both a beneficiary and a microcosm of these dynamics. Ultimately, it interrogates the role of performance—both corporate and civic—in shaping Galway’s trajectory as a uniquely postcolonial Irish city, while reflecting broader global tensions between local autonomy and transnational influence.