Official Launch of the Cross-Border Business and Innovation Centre

on Thursday, 2 December 2004.

I would like to thank Gerry McGuckian and Chris Coughlan for their kind welcome and to thank Ultan Faherty for his introduction and invitation to this event. I am very glad to be here in Letterkenny Institute of Technology today to mark the official launch of the Cross-Border Business and Innovation Centre, a new initiative between WESTBIC and NORIBIC, which is intended to enhance economic development in the North-West region.

I am particularly pleased that this official launch is simultaneously taking place in Derry, hosted by NORIBIC, which underlines the cross-border and cooperative nature of this initiative. This event is a novel occasion using the benefits of technology to facilitate a joint launch and it is indeed a pleasure to be able to address guests from Letterkenny and Derry. I note that there will also be contributions from a European perspective to this event and I wish to extend a warm welcome to the beautiful North-West to those speakers.

The Business and Innovation Centres on the island of Ireland provide a regional structure of support to innovative SMEs and entrepreneurs. I am aware that WESTBIC and its counterpart in Northern Ireland, NORIBIC, have been cooperating together for over ten years. They recognised that through cross-border co-operation they could improve the delivery of their services in the North-West region. The establishment of the Cross-Border Business and Innovation Centre marks a significant expansion in their ongoing partnership and extends their service provision to include a defined cross-border focus going forward.

Since its inception WESTBIC has provided tailored support for enterprise creation across a range of industry sectors, as well as business and community development activities. WESTBIC operates from seven regional offices located in the Border, Midland and Western region, with an office here in the Letterkenny Institute of Technology, and provides locally based support for enterprise development and community groups. It is a specialist provider in the Irish Government’s portfolio of supports to indigenous industry, particularly for start-up and early stage enterprises and works in close co-operation with the economic development agencies, the third level sector and other organisations in the region.

The development of the Cross-Border Business and Innovation Centre is an example of how we can harness cross-border cooperation to our mutual benefit. It will facilitate the development of company-to-company cross-border trade, joint ventures, cross-border clusters and joint delivery of innovation focused programmes. We have heard of the benefits available to SMEs in the North-West region and I would encourage businesses in the region that wish to develop a cross-border opportunity to tap into this dedicated resource and expertise that will be available to them.

The concept of a Business and Innovation Centre was launched by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional Policy in the early 1980s to address the challenge of how to turn innovative entrepreneurial projects into successful businesses, adding long term value to regional economies. Its success can be evidenced by the fact that there are now more than 160 European Commission recognised Centres in the regions throughout Europe.

The Irish Business and Innovation Centres have made a significant contribution to the development of the indigenous business sector in Ireland. They enjoy strong public and private sector support as well as an extensive and well-organised network with their European counterparts. Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Business and Innovation Centres have formed a very good working partnership as they provide a complementary approach to achieving a common objective of balanced regional industrial development, the promotion of entrepreneurship and innovation and support for potential knowledge based start-up companies.

In order to improve even further on the services they can provide to business, Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Business and Innovation Centres have recently agreed a Memorandum of Understanding. This sets out a number of areas of proposed enhanced cooperation and this agreement will form the nucleus of a new working relationship between Enterprise Ireland and the Centres.

Cross-border cooperation is making a valuable economic contribution to the North-West region and across the island of Ireland. One of the benefits of the peace process over the past decade has been the expansion of the level of trade between North and South. The extent of the growth in North/South trade can perhaps best be illustrated by the fact that over the past ten years the total level of trade between the two parts of the island has grown by 35 per cent. In 2003 the value of cross-border trade on the island was €2.4 billion. Behind this figure is the fact that many businesses have realised the potential of cross-border trade, and that such trade supports employment in those businesses, which are located right across the island.

I believe it is important to emphasise that trade figures by themselves do not capture the full extent of the mutual benefits that are to be reaped from closer economic and business links between North and South. Indeed, it can be argued that equally important benefits for businesses in both jurisdictions will come from sharing knowledge resources, market intelligence and technological capabilities. This will strengthen the competitiveness of those enterprises both locally and regionally.

In order to ensure that we maximize the full potential of such economic cooperation, InterT radeIreland, one of the North/South Bodies established under the Good Friday Agreement, is leading the development of the island economy in the areas of North/South trade and business development. It is implementing a comprehensive range of all-island initiatives and the benefits of North/South collaboration can be seen in diverse areas such as technology and knowledge transfer, supply chain, public procurement, benchmarking, sales and marketing.

As both North and South share the same strategic objective to harness continued economic success from research, innovation and knowledge, it makes sense to address the economic opportunities and competitiveness challenges on an island of Ireland basis where such collaboration is of benefit to all. As the dynamic of the island economy grows it is important to encourage businesses to pursue cross-border opportunities and equip businesses with sufficient knowledge in order that they can develop and improve their marketing and selling in the other jurisdiction, as well facilitating the establishment of joint ventures and other cross-border initiatives.

There are significant economic benefits to be gained from sharing our knowledge resources and building enterprise capabilities through collaborative North/South networks. As a means to achieve this InterTradeIreland has been to the fore in developing all-island networks, which involve the exchange of knowledge between firms, industries, universities and other centres of excellence. The report of the Enterprise Strategy Group in the South also recognised the potential of collaborating at a business network level and recommended the development of all-island business networks where complementary strengths are identified.

There are many fine examples of impressive cross-border cooperation between the business communities here in Letterkenny and Derry and also in the wider North-West region. The respective long-term spatial development plans for North and South recognise the North-West as a region with an important interdependent cross-border dimension. Therefore the launch of the Cross-Border Business and Innovation Centre is a most welcome development and will add another significant initiative to promote enterprise and innovation in the North-West region.

This important initiative has received support from the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation and is a very good exemplar of a network that combines North/South expertise and knowledge to assist enterprises in the North-West region.

In conclusion, I would like to warmly welcome the establishment of Cross-Border Business and Innovation Centre and to wish it every success. I congratulate WESTBIC and NORIBIC in establishing this joint initiative. I have no doubt that it will indeed prove a great success in terms of promoting cross-border business collaboration and expansion. Thank you.

ENDS/ETE 1292