Trade And Investment Mission To New York And Nashville

The Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys, will lead an Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland trade and investment mission to Nashville and New York, with a focus on driving exports.

The mission aims to strengthen economic ties with Nashville, a rapidly expanding growth centre in the US, and the city of New York, with an overall focus on increasing Irish exports to markets outside of the UK to 50 per cent by 2020.

As the world's largest consumer market globally, the United States is a key economic partner for Ireland and the perfect launch pad for Irish businesses who want to scale and develop a presence within their sector overseas. Irish companies employ over 100,000 people across the 50 states, with 85,110 of these employed by EI client companies. Three Enterprise Ireland backed companies today announced their increased presence in the US market, including Prodigy Learning, Go Contractor and UrbanVolt.

Minister Humphreys will commence the Trade Mission in Nashville today, meeting with a leading automotive OEM to discuss capability in Connected Autonomous Shared Electric Vehicles (CASE).

The future of mobility is currently one of the single biggest topics in global markets, with the global CASE market predicted to be worth over €60 billion by 2035. Today's meeting will provide a key platform to highlight current and future opportunities for Irish companies in this evolving market.

The visit coincides with a period of rapid growth in Nashville's healthcare sector; the city is recognised as a national health care industry capital in the United States and a global health care industry leader. More than 500 health care companies are located in Middle Tennessee, making it the region's largest and fastest-growing industry. Minister Humphreys will engage with a number of key healthcare organisations in the region to discuss further opportunities for collaboration.

The Minister will also meet and engage with Senior Executives from the digital media and software sectors in New York, providing an opportunity to increase awareness of the innovative capabilities of Enterprise Ireland supported companies in numerous sectors including digital technology and to strengthen the relationship between Irish companies and their local partners.

Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD, said: "Market diversification has never been more important than it is now with Brexit on the horizon. Irish companies already make a significant impact to the US economy, but I want to see that footprint growing even further.

"In the coming days, I will be engaging with key decision makers at the highest levels in Government and industry in Nashville and New York. My key goal will be to promote Ireland as both a source of world-class products and services and as a world-leading destination for FDI."

New announcements include:

• Prodigy Learning announcement of a US presence

• Go Contractor announcement of new brand (Initiafy) and new platform

• UrbanVolt announcement on the launch of their platform in the US.

Kevin Sherry, Executive Director, Enterprise Ireland said: "The United States is the second largest individual export market for Enterprise Ireland supported companies, highlighting the strength of our economic relationship. As we continue to work hard to further strengthen this relationship, Enterprise Irelands strategy is geared toward encouraging an increased number of early stage companies to the US as their first or core export market, while also assisting more established companies to increase their foothold in the States. In the past year two years alone Enterprise Ireland-supported companies opened 119 new offices in the U.S.

"During this Mission to Nashville and New York, Minister Humphreys will be engaging with key decision makers in the healthcare, engineering and construction, agritech and ICT sectors to raise the profile of the innovative capabilities of Enterprise Ireland supported companies and the world class solutions they provide."

Mary Buckley, Executive Director, IDA Ireland who will accompany Minister Humphreys to her meetings with the parent companies of IDA Ireland's existing and target clients said: "Competition for foreign investment has never been as intense and investment missions help IDA Ireland increase awareness of Ireland's suitability as a place to invest. This mission to Nashville and New York with Minister Humphreys builds on relationships with new clients to generate new investments for Ireland and deepens relationships with the parent companies of existing clients. The US is the single largest source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Ireland. 766 US corporations employ over 160,000 people directly in Ireland and US corporations account for over 70% of total inward investment employment in Ireland."

The trade mission is jointly co-ordinated by Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland.