IDA Ireland can help your business expansion needs

Exploring Ireland’s FDI attraction

1 <a href='https://go.forrester.com/blogs/customer-service-predictions-2021/'>https://go.forrester.com/blogs/customer-service-predictions-2021/</a>

Making waves in tech on Ireland's west coast

Forging connections in Dublin again

Going viral in Dublin

GHG emissions will reduce by seven per cent annually up to 2031.

Sustainability

Ireland’s government has committed to reducing emissions

Decarbonisation is vital in order to combat climate change, and Ireland has an advantage in abundant renewable energy sources. It generates a greater proportion of its electricity from onshore wind than any other country in the world, but must now turn its attention offshore. “Ireland has one of the best offshore wind resources in the world, and with the right level of ambition, we could ultimately be a global leader in renewables, exporting green energy internationally,” says Stephen Wheeler, Ireland Country Lead at energy company SSE, which, as the largest wind farm operator in the country, is accelerating plans for offshore farms.“There is enormous potential in renewables, but there’s work to be done,” says Tomás Sercovich, CEO of Business in the Community (BITC), an organisation that advises on sustainability and corporate social responsibility. He echoes concerns from industry bodies such as the Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA) that both the planning and grid systems will need revamping if Ireland is to achieve its “70/30” target: generating 70 per cent of its electricity from renewables by 2030.

Ireland’s carbon tax rate of €26 per tonne is expected to rise to €80 per tonne by 2030.

€80

36.3 per cent – up from 32.5 per cent in 2019.

Wind energy share of electricity demand in 2020:

Stephen Prendiville, Head of Sustainability at EY Ireland, says that multinational corporations (MNCs) attracted to the country by IDA Ireland over the years will be vital to progress. “We have great innovation ecosystems in Ireland made up of some of the best and biggest multinationals in the world. We need them to help us achieve those green targets.” Sercovich agrees that MNCs add a rigour partly driven by stakeholder pressure and the shift to sustainable finance: “What they bring to the equation is a global perspective. They’re very exposed to people like Larry Fink [CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager] who are telling them, ‘You’re not doing enough’.” IDA Ireland, for its part, wants the country to be “one of the best in the world for attracting sustainable FDI”, says Collum, who notes that currently two-thirds of IDA Ireland’s 100 top client companies are members of the global initiative Carbon Disclosure Project, which helps companies publicly disclose their environmental impact each year. Collum points to initiatives by high-profile MNCs such as Google, Apple and Amazon as showing the way forward. “Multinationals will lead the way in terms of their know-how,” he says. Among numerous examples, Amazon is investing in wind farms in Galway, Donegal and Cork to power its data centres and deliver electricity to the grid. In Tallaght, South Dublin, it aims to use waste heat from its data centre to heat nearby office buildings, the first large-scale district heating network of its kind in Ireland and the UK. Astellas, the leading Japanese pharmaceutical MNC has recently won the Energy Team of the Year award at the 2020 SEAI Energy awards run by SEAI, Ireland’s national sustainable energy authority.

Ireland aims to develop 5 GW of offshore wind by 2030.

5 GW

In this regard, the five-year Climate Ready programme, aimed at upskilling SMEs to manage climate risks and thrive in the green economy, is described by BITC’s Sercovich as an initiative with “huge scope”. The Irish government recently announced Climate Enterprise Action Fund, worth €10m, that will also help companies move onto a more sustainable footing.EY’s Prendiville, for one, believes Ireland, with its agile talent base, has the capacity to become a hub of green expertise — and ultimately should aim to be a leader on sustainability, not a follower. “The scale of ambition shouldn’t be just to deliver on our climate ambition,” he concludes, “it should be to incubate an entirely new global industry.”

Ireland’s 100 top client companies are members of the global initiative Carbon Disclosure Project.

Find out more about investing in Ireland here

Can Ireland turn itself into a green tiger?

257,000 people are directly employed by FDI in Ireland.

Growth

FDI is responsible for 463,000 jobs in the Irish economy

Ireland is one of the world’s most open economies; proportionally it has the fourth highest international workforce in the EU. Visit Cork, for instance, and you will find plenty of multinational companies (MNCs) that have had a base in the city for decades — including Pfizer, Boston Scientific, DePuy Synthes, Stryker, Pepsi, GSK and Eli Lilly.Ireland’s success in attracting investment through pro-business policies, committed EU membership, and its youthful talent pool are widely acknowledged. Its educated workforce, in particular, will stand it in good stead coming out of the pandemic. Youth is on Ireland’s side, too. “We have the youngest population in Europe — about half the population is under the age of 34. So there's a strong pool of talent here,” says Rachel Shelly, Head of Medical Technologies at IDA Ireland, “but through our EU membership we also have access to the European market for talent — that’s been a great benefit for multinationals.”MNCs frequently cite the Irish workforce’s adaptability and flexibility as a key benefit. “Companies can evolve what they’re doing: they can scale, they can pivot and the workforce will adapt with them,” says Shelly.

In 2019, FDI contributed €25.2 billion to the Irish economy.

€25bn

9 of the top 10 pharma companies in the world14 of the world’s 15 top medtech companies

Ireland is home to…

There are plenty of other draws — not least for US multinationals the fact that Ireland is the only English-speaking country in the eurozone, providing a gateway to the European market.Significantly, interest has started coming from other directions. “We are increasingly seeing Ireland’s attractiveness as a European base being recognised by Asian investors, who in turn may be able to leverage Ireland as a platform for the US and other markets,” says Liam Diamond, Head of FDI/International Tax, PwC Ireland.Another strength would be the fact that the country is the fastest growing digital economy within EU. That has helped during the pandemic as businesses have turned to new ways of doing business. To drive further transformation, the new Advanced Manufacturing Centre in Limerick, is designed to help MNCs and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to digitise their manufacturing and adopt and scale the latest technologies to drive the next wave of manufacturing.More broadly, IDA Ireland and other government agencies, such as Enterprise Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland, have over several decades applied joined-up thinking in identifying emerging trends and nurturing collaborative business ecosystems in Dublin and regional clusters in cities such as Cork, Limerick and Galway. Galway has become a global hub for medtech and is home to 14 of the world's top 15 medtech companies, part of a nexus of interconnected businesses — SMEs, OEMs, MNCs — in a co-location with Cúram, the transdisciplinary research centre based at the National University of Ireland, Galway that brings academics and industry together to develop next-generation medical devices.

Ireland is home to 20 of the world’s top 25 financial services companies.

Being a small country helps foster these collaborative connections. “The scale of our island means you’re never within a long distance from a university or from another academic centre,” notes IDA Ireland’s Shelly. Ireland’s Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF), worth €500 million, exemplifies the drive towards interconnected development. The DTIF promotes collaboration between MNCs and SMEs and academics on cutting-edge research into next-generation solutions. “We’re very much about driving that ecosystem for the good of industry and academia,” says Shelly.IDA Ireland is encouraging further growth through its five-pillar 2021-2024 <a href='https://www.idaireland.com/about-ida/driving-recovery-and-sustainable-growth-2021-2024'>strategy</a>, which includes a raft of investments such as €116bn for infrastructure and capital works under Ireland’s National Development Plan. In attracting future growth, Ireland’s track record on FDI is a proof point in itself. “Investors want a ‘tried and tested’ location,” says PwC’s Diamond. “One of the first questions they ask is ‘who from my sector has already used Ireland?’ and this track record gives them great comfort.”

Almost 30 per cent of higher-education students in Ireland are enrolled in STEM courses.

The secrets of attraction: how Ireland lures multinationals

Ireland has an enviable track record in attracting multinationals to its shores through its inward investment agency, IDA Ireland. This series of articles, photo essays, infographics and videos explores what makes the country such a draw for overseas businesses.