Check Against Delivery
Speech by the Taoiseach Mr. Enda Kenny T.D.
at the TechTour Gala Opening Dinner
Tuesday 17th September 2013
Dublin Castle
Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure to join you all this evening to warmly welcome TechTour to Ireland, and to express my delight that Dublin is hosting this event. It is of course perfectly fitting that this event is here in Ireland for reasons I like to call the three T’s: Technology, Trading and Talking. Those of you who have partnered with an Irish company will know that we are well able to make our case, sell an idea and to talk you into submission.
The gift of talking and making new connections is at the core of what it means to be Irish.
For generations Irish entrepreneurs have left these shores to build up new business empires abroad. And in return we have welcomed new visitors and investors to Ireland with open arms.
I believe that entrepreneurship is very much part of the Irish condition. The belief that you have you to go out into the world and work hard to make your own luck is something that we all understand well. We can’t rely on someone else for the next big opportunity or the next big idea, we need to chase it ourselves.
While the recent property bubble and crash has set back our enterprising spirit, when young entrepreneurs might have been drawn into property speculation rather than business building, but I see true entrepreneurship beginning to reassert itself in a major way.
The difficulties of the Irish economy in the past few years I believe has spurned many to go out and make their own opportunities to find their niche develop new ideas and turn them into successful companies.
We are still recognised as having one of the highest levels of business start-ups in Europe and the task of Government is to nurture and support it.
The supportive business environment for start-up companies is evidenced, for example, by the presence of:
• entrepreneur boot camps;
• internationally syndicated investors;
• competitive tax and regulatory systems; and
• the introduction of entrepreneur and investor visa regimes.
This environment is encouraging not only to indigenous start-ups, but to attracting overseas entrepreneurs to come and start their business here.
We are an innovation island. Experienced professionals, world-class researchers, multinational organisations and innovative start-ups all thrive here, and pushing entrepreneurship is policy priority for the Government.
On the technology front, the rise of the digital industry in Ireland has been nothing short of unprecedented in the past 15 years. We talk of the Dublin Docklands being at the centre of Ireland’s position of the internet capital of Europe.
From initially establishing small bases we have seen household names such as Google, Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter establish major European operations to join their more established colleagues of Microsoft, IBM, and Apple and many more that have had a substantial presence in Ireland for many years.
With these companies we have welcomed tens of thousands of new workers and future entrepreneurs to our shores. We don’t simply have a digital industry. We have a digital ecosystem. From start ups to global companies, and everything in between, Ireland is where it is at.
I personally had the pleasure since becoming Taoiseach to open a number of new digital incubators such as Dogpatch Labs and O2’s Wayra where Irish and international entrepreneurs are building new companies to fulfil services that haven’t even been invented yet.
To encourage young people make the most of their digital talents the Government is rolling out the fastest possible broadband into our second level schools. CoderDojos are popping up across the country. Irish school goers are developing globally popular apps and dreaming of a future where anything is possible.
The TechTour can bring those ideas whose time has come to the next level. This is a unique opportunity for entrepreneurs to showcase their companies to global investors, and for investors hopefully to identify and support the next big thing.
There are some really great Irish companies on the list to be announced tonight and I hope that Dublin will be the place where many deals will be struck.
The TechTour initiative is testament to the importance of international networking.
We recognise more can be done and in this spirit, Enterprise Ireland has launched Access Silicon Valley, a programme designed to fast-track early-stage Irish tech companies who are targeting Silicon Valley and San Francisco. This programme starts this month.
Access to Finance
We also recognise that like any business, capital and start up finance are needed if a good idea is going to get off the ground. Alternatives to bank financing are significant for Ireland’s continued recovery.
In this vein looking beyond the traditional banking and state sources of financing and non-bank financing was a focus of Ireland’s presidency.
Earlier this year the Government announced the first call for expressions of interest under the new Seed and Venture Capital Scheme which will see us committing up to €100m to Venture Capital Funds focused on investing in the technology and life sciences sectors.
Also, our Innovation Fund Ireland aims to increase the availability of smart risk capital for early stage and high-growth companies and attract top-tier venture capital fund managers to Ireland.
Through this programme run by Enterprise Ireland and the National Pension Reserve Fund we have already seen top international Venture Capitalists (including DFJ Esprit, Polaris Ventures, Sofinnova Partners and Highland Capital) establish a presence in the Irish market.
The Indigenous Software Industry
I welcome the fact that international investors are taking a closer look at the Irish digital sector.
Ireland’s digital ecosystem now boosts some 700 indigenous software companies that produce software for applications in areas such as finance, telecoms, security, digital media and eLearning.
Last year these companies made €1.7 billion in sales, representing growth of 12%, and over €1 billion in exports, representing growth of 19%. Importantly these companies employed over 11,000 people and accounted for almost €1 billion expenditure in the economy.
We expect Software exports will continue to grow out to 2016 and that the sector will achieve exports of €2 billion over the next 3 years, employing approximately 13,000 people in the process.
Action Plan for Jobs 2013
The importance of investment in technology and innovation to Ireland’s on-going and future economic and social development and well-being has been well recognised by the Government.
In February the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs 2013 was launched setting out more than 300 targeted actions that we as a Government are committed to take to help protect and create jobs, and to help Ireland become more competitive and investment friendly.
Our Action Plan aims to meet the demands of entrepreneurs, businesses and High Potential Start Ups and it gives a clear mandate to Enterprise Ireland to drive entrepreneurship and new business start-ups. The 2013 Action Plan includes seven landmark projects, or Disruptive Reforms, which have the potential to make a significant difference to the business environment and to capitalise on Ireland’s strengths in areas such as ICT and innovation.
Two of these reforms are to make Ireland the leading country in Europe in Big Data and the most attractive country in the world for ICT Skills availability. An example of measures delivered under the Action Plan for Jobs is the recent announcement of a major new Data Analytics Centre called INSIGHT, a 6 year, €80 million research project. INSIGHT has a cohort of 250 top third level researchers collaborating with 45 industry partners. By 2018 Ireland aims to have the highest percentage of computing graduates as a proportion of all tertiary graduates.
The aim this year is to deliver an additional 2,000 ICT graduate-level professionals available to industry.
Conclusion
Ireland has come through some tough years recently. One of the few shining lights during this period has been the digital sector which has grown consistency, seeking out new markets, new opportunities.
The best international companies still choose Ireland to locate and expand their operations.
They recognise the availability of talent and the supportive environment for business.
As a country we are on the way back. We have an ambition to make Ireland the best small country in the world for business by 2016.
And Ireland’s digital industry will be at the forefront of our continued economic recovery and export growth.
The ideas and the talent are here. I hope that events like tonight can link up those
ideas and talents to people who can turn them into internationally successful businesses.