Agrifood is one sector which has been identified in a new Government plan for investment in every region in the country. For Ireland to receive €396 million from the European Commission the creation of a National Smart Specialisation Strategy is a pre-requisite. The European Regional Development Fund will to support investment.
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar has said this would be utilised to look at strengths and opportunities for investment across all the various regions. “We have already identified some really exciting areas to focus on, such as the creative sector and so called ‘blue’ economy in the Northern and Western region, advanced manufacturing, food and financial services in the East and Midlands and ICT, design and the automotive sectors in the Southern region. The document is only the beginning, we will be coming forward with a number of region-specific programmes over the coming months,” he commented.
Investment funding has been earmarked for technological universities, to help with research and technology transfers between SMEs and higher education institutions, as well as training, clustering and smart hubs for entrepreneurial research and innovation.
Stakeholder engagement pinned down sectors such as ICT, pharmaceuticals, agrifood and the growing renewable energy sector as being strengths across the country. The strategy also intends to focus on areas like digital transformation, green transformation for enterprise and international collaboration on research, development and innovation.