As part of “Team Ireland”, IDA works extremely
closely with its sister-agency Science Foundation
Ireland (SFI), to ensure that a collaborative and
ever-evolving science and engineering agenda
underpins the Smart Economy in the areas of
greatest strategic value to Ireland’s long term
competitiveness and development. Working
intimately with Higher Education Institutions in a
spirit of industry-focused “Open Innovation”, it is
this joined-up thinking that serves to present the
foreign direct investor with an astute blend of the
commercial and the creative.
The IDA works with client companies continuously
throughout the entire duration of their investment
in Ireland.
The feedback that client companies have
communicated directly to the author in the
production of this publication regarding IDA’s
performance in this regard, has been
consistently excellent.
The IDA works directly and pro-actively with client
companies to make sure that their needs are met,
and that they are constantly adding to the value
of the Irish operation. This has meant that many
initial investments have grown considerably in
importance to the particular company.
In addition to RD&I, two important areas that
stand out in this regard are:
1)
High Value Manufacturing
2)
Global Business Services
High Value Manufacturing
Ireland has established an international reputation
as a centre of excellence when it comes to
knowledge-intensive manufacturing. Advanced
manufacturing management processes that
incorporate Lean and Six Sigma are manifold.
A strong technical base, solid infrastructure, and
long experience in international supply chain
management mean that the IDA’s strategic serviced
site solutions offerings have been taken up by
companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Takeda
Pharmaceuticals, Liebherr, Medtronic, Millipore,
Pfizer, Merck, Genzyme, Apple & Intel.
Intel’s massive investment in Ireland is an excellent
example of how the IDA works closely with client
companies in the high value manufacturing sector
that will be explored later in this volume.
“Manufacturing continues to remain a core strategic
pillar of the Irish economic landscape with IDA
persistently seeking new strands of high-value
manufacturing to add to Ireland’s FDI portfolio.
A strong base of many of the world’s leading
multinationals have significant manufacturing
operations in Ireland. With our improving
competitiveness, Ireland continued to attract
manufacturing investments during 2010 including
Warner Chilcott, Merit Medical and Hollister,” said
Barry O’Leary.