Remarks by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Batt O’Keeffe TD, at the launch of IMI/IDA Ireland Report on Innovation and the Irish Manager

Please check against delivery.

I am delighted to join you here this morning at the launch of ‘Innovation and the Irish Manager’.

This research provides us with an important insight into how Irish entrepreneurs think and act.

The findings in this report show that we have the workers with the characteristics needed to build the ‘smart’ economy and increase productivity and innovation across all sectors of the economy.

We are an entrepreneurial nation.

Entrepreneurs starting businesses as percentage of the population is 4.3pc in Ireland compared to just 2.7pc across the European Union and 2.9pc in the UK.

The rate of established entrepreneurs in Ireland at 9pc is one of the highest across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Many innovations start with small companies and start-ups and high-potential growth firms play a critical role in the economy.

Entrepreneurs stimulate innovation and transformation in established companies, including multinationals.

Interestingly, half of all entrepreneurs in Ireland have, at one point, worked for a multinational company.

It is clear that stimulating innovation is important in all areas of economy - both in indigenous and multinational companies.

Evidence shows that research and development-performing firms are showing higher growth over recent years than non-research and development-performing firms.

But the ‘smart’ economy is not just about formal research and development.

It is about people thinking smarter and working smarter across all sectors of the economy.

This research provides us with an important insight into what distinguishes us from our international peers and how we can nurture and support those qualities to increase our competitive advantage.

We hear stories about how the Irish get along with anyone.

The research shows that the managers and executives involved valued their relationships as highly as they valued their ideas.

This supports much anecdotal evidence about Irish business people.

The research also shows that we Irish think and act in a unique and agile way.

IDA Ireland has used the Irish mind theme in a very successful international marketing campaign.

It has developed the concept further with its current campaign, ‘Innovation - It’s In Our Nature’.

Through this research, these anecdotal claims have now been scientifically analysed and upheld by the findings in this report.

If we look at some of the key findings, the emergence of a signature mindset is clearly evident.

The Irish entrepreneur is strongly people-oriented, finds personal inspiration through innovation and is more likely to be individualistic and self-reliant than their international peers.

Irish entrepreneurs are more imaginative and intuitive.

What is striking about the research findings is the ability of the Irish to handle complexity and ambiguity - what James Joyce called ‘two thoughts at a time’.

Our Irishness is a significant factor in our success in attracting foreign direct investment and embedding some of the world’s leading companies here in Ireland.

Time after time, the Irish and their candid approach and flexibility have been cited as reasons the Irish subsidiary of a multinational company wins further investment or gets a new, more strategic, mandate.

There was a strong recognition at the Farmleigh Forum that Irish culture is a unique aspect of Irishness that cannot be replicated by our international peers.

The Government is committed to fostering the innovative talent inherent in the Irish entrepreneur and Irish manager.

Our aim is that by 2020 Ireland will have a significant number of large world-leading innovation-intensive companies.

These companies will provide high-quality employment, be export orientated and vary in scale and activity.

Some of these companies will be Irish-owned.

All will be innovative.

The Innovation Taskforce stressed the relationship of Irish culture to enterprise and employment.

I am delighted to be chairing the Innovation Taskforce Implementation Group.

The Taskforce has proposed recommendations across a wide range of issues that will re-focus and re-invigorate all parts of the innovation ecosystem around the needs of the entrepreneur and enterprise.

We must ensure that entrepreneurial individuals are identified, appreciated and cultivated.

We depend on them to raise our performance in business nationally and internationally.

Before I finish, I want to thank the Irish executives and entrepreneurs who gave of their time and participated in a battery of personality tests.

You have given us a unique insight in to what makes Irish entrepreneurs tick.

I want to commend IMI and IDA Ireland for undertaking this innovative research and, in particular, Dr Andrew McLaughlin and Megan Burgdoff.

Thank you for listening.

ENDS/ETI2232