Growth in Ireland requires an enterprise approach
that places competitiveness, productivity and
innovation at the centre of what we do. Ireland
will make it happen by building on our strengths,
tapping into emerging opportunities and revitalising
our mature sectors. In looking at the opportunities
for growth we can classify Irish companies into four
broad categories.
1. Areas of Strength
Ireland has a strong position in high growth
sectors like ICT, Sife Sciences, Agri-Food and
internationally traded services. These sectors
export a staggering €130bn annually. Ireland is
home to all 10 of the world’s top 10 ICT companies,
8 of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies and 9 of
the top medical technology companies. In addition
to the leading global players we are seeing the
emergence of strong Irish companies like Creganna
in medical devices, Curam in Internationally
Traded Services and Norkom in software.
These companies are leading the drive to increase
exports by Irish companies by 33% over the period
to 2015. Export opportunities exist beyond Ireland’s
traditional markets of the US and the UK and the
state enterprise development agency, Enterprise
Ireland, is supporting efforts to increase our share
of Eurozone markets and to tap into the emerging
economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China.
Our science and technology research activity is
increasingly underpinning the performance of
our strong sectors and can lead to the creation of
exciting new opportunities in areas of converged
technologies. At the Competence Centre for
Applied Nanotechnology some of the world’s
leading IT and pharmaceutical companies, such
as multinationals Intel, Seagate, Medtronic
and Analog Devices, and Irish companies
Aerogen, Audit Diagnostics, Creganna
and Proxy Biomedical are collaborating in
integrating electronics with the bio industry in
pursuit of breakthrough applications in the field of
nanomedicine.
In a world where food security, quality and
convenience are increasingly important, Ireland’s
agri-food industry, which employs over 135,000
people and sells its products in over 170 markets,
will achieve growth and add value as it moves to a
brand-centred consumer focus.
2. Emerging Opportunities
In addition to building on Irish enterprise’s
areas of strength we will generate growth and
jobs by increasing focus on areas of emerging
opportunities and untapped potential. Ireland
has some of the best wind and wave resources in
the world. Leading companies like NTR plc,
Mainstream Renew able Power and SWS Energy
have emerged over the past five years. Exciting
new start-ups, like Wavebob and Open Hydro
are attracting significant capital and are creating
interesting partnerships with leading energy
utilities. The Belmullet wave energy test site
and the Smartbay project in Galway provide the
necessary infrastructure to allow Ireland to develop
a leadership position. The potential for jobs is
illustrated by the recent announcements by GE,
Siemens and Gamesa of plans to create 4,400 UK
jobs in the UK, manufacturing wind turbines,
following the commitment by the UK Prime
minister David Cameron to invest £60m in related
port infrastructure.
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