Remarks by Minister for Labour Affairs Tony Killeen at the Dublin Business Innovation Centre

On Wednesday 30 ^th November 2005

I am delighted to be here today, and to have this opportunity to say a few words on what I consider to be the theme of tonight’s function – partnership.

The Business Innovation Centres and especially Dublin BIC are a good example of what partnerships can achieve. Dublin BIC arose from an EU initiative which sought to assist the provision to small and medium sized enterprises of a full range of services, on favourable terms, focusing on innovation for industry or services to industry. Since 2000, the Government with Enterprise Ireland has provided funding of approximately €13 million to the BICs in recognition of the vital role that BICs play in enterprise development.

While the Dublin BIC is not alone in assisting start-up companies, it differs from most forms of enterprise support in that it accompanies the entrepreneur through each stage of the project, from business plan development right through to start-up phase. The BICs are unique and are able to focus their support to clients in a manner that is holistic:

• They are regionally focused,
• They provide intensive handholding services to the micro-enterprise sector,
• They help suitable clients identify and access business finance,
• They have established and manage a number of seed and venture capital funds, some in partnership with Enterprise Ireland, to provide early stage companies with start-up equity,
• They are involved in the development and management of incubation space for new and established small businesses, and
• They contribute to the creation of an enterprise culture by providing knowledge sharing events for entrepreneurs.

Dublin BIC alone, since 2000, has

• Counselled over 2,700 aspiring entrepreneurs,
• Provided business plan assistance to over 748 companies, and
• Nurtured from concept to start-up 73 enterprises whilst encouraging 195 potential entrepreneurs to achieve progress in building their enterprise.

Dublin BIC has also been extraordinarily successful in providing much needed infrastructural support to business. In partnership with Diageo, Dublin City Council, Dublin City Enterprise Board and Enterprise Ireland, it identified, planned, implemented and fundraised the Guinness Enterprise Centre. The 6,000 square metre Centre cost €7.6m and now houses 67 companies, employing over 380 people. Nine enterprises who developed in the Centre graduated in the past nine months, employing 170 people, with combined investment of €28m and sales of €22m. Dublin BIC’s success is supported by independent evaluations which have established that some 80% of Dublin BIC assisted projects survive through their first critical five years.

This success has been supported by not only its partnerships with public and Governmental bodies but also its partnership with the private sector. Dublin BIC has successfully leveraged private sector support for the development of enterprise space and for investment in seed capital funds. Dublin BIC approach to partnership with the private sector reflects its origins. Dublin BIC was one of the first ever private public partnerships formed in Ireland, to assist enterprise development. It was formed in 1987 with support from the Dublin Chamber of Commerce and local private, public and high education sectors.

I hope that this partnership between Dublin BIC and the private sector continues to grow. This is important as it mirrors the approach needed nationally. Ireland’s recent economic success was a result of a number of factors. Perhaps it is valid to say that Ireland’s economy had a sustainable competitive advantage – a combination of components which taken together was unique and difficult to replicate. Some of those components such as our cost basis are no longer in existence while some others such as our corporate tax regime are being copied elsewhere. We therefore need to engineer a new sustainable competitive advantage. I believe that we all have a role to play in developing it, and that a key component of it will be public and private sector partnerships.

A healthy business culture requires an environment which nurtures young companies and recognises them as the feedstock to future success. That environment can only come about if we act together, in partnership, so that we can all enjoy continued economic prosperity. With this in mind, I congratulate Dublin BIC for its success so far and I congratulate you, business men and women, in coming here tonight in the spirit of partnership.

ENDS

LA157