IRELAND

IDA Ireland

Ireland's inward investment promotion agency

IDA Ireland partners with foreign investors, helping them to set up and develop and expand their business in Ireland.

Dave Shanahan
Global Head of Life Sciences, IDA
www.idaireland.com


US Contact
Jaclyn Kollmar
Padilla Speer Beardsley
212-762-8338
[email protected]

Ireland offers a well educated workforce, the youngest in Europe and a positive enterprise culture which includes ease of doing business allied to a low rate of corporation tax, 12.5% and R&D based tax incentives whereby innovative companies who develop their products in Ireland can offset some of these research costs against income tax. In addition IDA partners with inward investors in research and development projects helping them access and leverage our growing 3rd level education system presently benefitting from the largest government investment since the foundation of the state, part of an € 8.2Bn investment under the national development plan. Ireland’s present health spending is under 10% of GDP, compared with 20% in the U.S.

Support programs

One of our initiatives is "Food for Health Ireland," which  focuses on nutraceuticals and functional foods. We have a wide Competence Center program which funded seven centers last year in diverse sectors such as bioenergy and nanotech. Both domestic and international companies participate in these Centers.

Focus of investment support

Some of the large companies that have a presence in Ireland are Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson Pfizer , Genzyme, Google and Facebook. IBM will be establishing its Smarter Cities Technology Center in Dublin. It will be cross-disciplinary, focusing on improving the sustainability of urban operating systems, such as energy and transportation, water, and communication.

International companies already in Ireland

In addition to large companies, we are also seeking smaller companies to come to Ireland, for example CMOs and CROs for manufacturing and research. We are also seeking to bring companies from China, India and Singapore into Ireland as partners to our domestic firms.  We're particularly interested in Green Tech and Clean Tech and committed to investing in these areas, along with the Life Sciences and ICT. Ireland’s increasing competitive position and available talent make it an ideal location for knowledge based businesses to operate in Europe.

Newcomers that Ireland wishes to attract

We have an attractive regulatory environment in Ireland and an excellent safety record for  pharmaceuticals as we have many FDA approved manufacturing facilities . Approvals are harmonized throughout the EU, although each of the states retain oversight on the processes.

Advantages of investing in Ireland

Digital health and bioinformatics is a growing industry in Ireland. We have a good base of technology in biometrics, imaging and other areas relating to health care, food quality and other services. Research is being carried out on developing medical devices and biosensors for Point of Care service, where reporting is done via WiFi. Biosensors are also in development in fermenters, with monitoring results likewise transmitted wirelessly. We have a major medical device industry now partnering with ICT companies on developing convergent products of the future.

Vision for the future of biotech in Ireland