This just might have been the hottest ticket in Dublin business circles this week.

A 'booked out' engagement in the Round Room of Mansion House Dublin; featuring the always commanding, insightful Dr. Craig Barrett, retired Chairman and CEO of Intel Corp.

Since his retirement Craig Barrett has emerged as a tireless champion for U.S. and global competitiveness and an outspoken proponent of improved education as a path to sustainable economic growth - for the U.S. and the world.

In a nutshell, Barrett told the Irish, and other countries that should be listening, that real economic investment must be "indigenous," and that wannabe tech centers can no longer count on inward investment, or FDI, to create regional wealth.

Rather, Barrett, proclaimed that the entrepreneurial startup business model proven by Berkley and Stanford as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is one that universities in Ireland, and across Europe, need to regard and value as wealth-creation centers.

For countries to succeed in the 21st century, a smart environment where smart people and smart ideas can thrive is essential. Ireland needs to ask itself how hard is it to start a company? How entrepreneurial is your economy?”

The website Businessandleadership.com, carried a  Siliconrepublic.com story that it headlined: The FDI era is over, says Craig Barrett.

In this piece, Barrett, elaborated on his global economic viewpoint, noting that the world is full of Silicon Valley wannabees and "countries around the world (that) envision themselves as potential leaders in the knowledge economy."   But the era of external development is over, Barrett proclaimed. In the future growth will have to come by supporting entrepreneurs and start-ups.

“The FDI era is over. Real economic investment will be indigenous and growth will come from investment in new ideas.

“Google came out of Stanford and proved that the value of an idea can challenge any company.”