I wish to thank the Vice Chairman and members for the opportunity to attend the joint committee this morning and contribute to the committee's work. I also thank the Vice Chairman for having introduced my colleagues. With his permission I will take the committee through some of the key points of my written submission. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation recently published the Action Plan for Jobs 2012. I welcome the publication of the plan and, in particular, its emphasis on the role that Irish companies and entrepreneurs from Ireland and abroad can play in bringing about economic renewal. Enterprise Ireland works very closely with our sister agencies and relevant bodies to deliver on the Government's objectives for Irish industry.
Above all else, Enterprise Ireland's objective is to grow jobs in Irish companies. Our job is to help companies create jobs. Enterprise Ireland client companies employ more than 141,000 people in the Irish economy, supporting direct and indirect employment which is estimated to total more than 300,000 jobs. I draw the committee's attention to the fact that Enterprise Ireland client companies have a similar economic impact in the country to foreign-owned companies here, in terms of the number of jobs supported and also the estimated €19 billion in annual expenditure in the economy.
In order for companies to grow their employment, they need to grow their sales. Export growth provides a sustainable route for companies to grow. We work in partnership with Irish enterprises providing a cohesive set of supports to help them start, grow, innovate, and win export sales on global markets driving sustainable economic growth, regional development and job creation. A major component of Enterprise Ireland's responsibility is to deliver maximum economic return from the Irish research system. Our supports for entrepreneurship and start-ups sit within this framework.
When it comes to promoting prosperity through job creation, the role of new enterprises can hardly be overstated. New enterprises are a critical source of new jobs. In addition, entrepreneurship activity provides the Irish economy with increased levels of innovation in the market place, increased productivity, and cost efficiency. Enterprise Ireland's challenge is to ensure we can support entrepreneurs to turn good ideas into great businesses. Opportunities for entrepreneurship range from locally focused micro-businesses to highly scalable internationally focused companies. All types of entrepreneurship are critical to the health of the economy. Since the early 1990s, thousands of jobs have been created by Enterprise Ireland supported start-up companies. It has supported more than 800 high potential start-ups since 2000. Those that are still in existence employ around 7,000 people. In addition, well in excess of 5,000 jobs were created in start-up companies that have since been acquired by multinationals
Ireland's rate of entrepreneurial activity is high compared with other European countries, ranking second for early stage entrepreneurship and fourth for established entrepreneurs. Ireland's high rate of established entrepreneurs, 8.6%, is on a par with Australia, 8.5%, and slightly ahead of the US, 7.7%. The 2010Global Entrepreneurship Monitor found that Irish entrepreneurs are the most innovative of advanced economies, offering innovative and novel products and services to global consumers.
Enterprise Ireland's entrepreneurship and start-up supports range from encouraging entrepreneurship in third level students and supporting community enterprise centres which provide business space for local micro-enterprise through to stimulating the seed fund industry in Ireland and directly investing in high potential start-up companies. Our regional offices and networks with banks, chambers of commerce, solicitors, accountants, colleges, local industry and business angels throughout Ireland provide a pipeline of early stage entrepreneur inquiries. This ensures that Enterprise Ireland is well-positioned to identify those entrepreneurs with the capability to grow exports and employment in the economy.
In 2011, Enterprise Ireland supported 93 new high potential start-up projects that are expected to create in excess of 1,500 jobs in the next three years. These are ambitious companies, with highly innovative products and business development strategies that will enable them to carve out a place in global markets, driving jobs, growth and export sales.
Enterprise Ireland actively works to build a pipeline of high potential start-ups from a wide range of sources including from third level research, internationally mobile entrepreneurs, and existing companies and serial entrepreneurs. Of the 93 high potential start-ups supported in 2011, ten were international entrepreneurs and ten came directly from State-funded research.
In line with the Government's Action Plan for Jobs, Enterprise Ireland is committed to delivering support to 95 new high potential start-ups in 2012 including an increase of 50% in the number of overseas entrepreneurs supported, to 15, and an increase of 40% in the number of high potential start-ups arising as spin-outs from research to 14. We also have a target to support five high potential start-ups with female promoters. Our efforts if successful will see us supporting the greatest number of high potential start-up companies ever in one year. By 2013 Enterprise Ireland aims to support 100 high potential start-ups.
In order to ensure a high quality flow of high potential start-ups, Enterprise Ireland actively promotes Ireland as an attractive location for internationally mobile start-ups to establish a business. The new dedicated €10 million international start-up fund targeting investor ready overseas entrepreneurs, the recently announced start-up entrepreneur programme visa initiative, and Enterprise Ireland's start-up ambassadors in international markets are all part of a strategy to promote Ireland's offering and encourage overseas entrepreneurs to locate start-up businesses in Ireland.
Spin-outs from State-funded research are another important and growing contributor to the flow of high potential start-ups, ten in 2011, a target of 14 in 2012. Enterprise Ireland has taken the lead in driving the commercial return from research by building the technology transfer infrastructure within the universities, establishing commercially relevant research centres in institutes of technology, and putting in place campus incubation facilities to support new technology companies in their formative years. In addition, Enterprise Ireland staff have made very considerable efforts to drive changes in culture and ensure that collaboration happens. Enterprise Ireland's approach represents a commercialisation "end-to-end" solution facilitating the creation of new spin-out companies and the creation and transfer of industrially relevant technology to Irish companies in order that they can grow sales and jobs. These supports and systems facilitated the transfer of more than 100 pieces of commercially valuable technology to industry in 2011 and the creation of 30 new companies. The system is expected to create a similar number of new spin-out companies in 2012.
There are 22 business incubation centres on higher education campuses throughout Ireland. These centres host about 300 companies that employ more than 1,300 people. The main aims of the campus incubation programme are to foster the development and expansion of campus company activity, support the commercialisation of research carried out in the third level sector, and promote balanced regional development.
At the other end of the spectrum, Enterprise Ireland's innovation vouchers are designed to build links between Ireland's public research providers and small businesses, creating a cultural shift in the small business community's approach to innovation. In 2011, Enterprise Ireland awarded more than 700 €5,000 vouchers to small and medium-sized enterprises in order to help them undertake a small research project with the help of an Irish university or institute of technology.
Closures and downsizings are devastating for employees and the region and locality involved. Working in partnership with IDA Ireland, county enterprise boards, and SOLAS, Enterprise Ireland has taken a co-ordinated and cohesive approach to the downsizing and closure of indigenous and multinational industries. For example, Eistec, a Waterford-based high potential start-up company founded by former TalkTalk Telecom employees began providing consumer contact centre services in 2011. A recent substantial Enterprise Ireland investment will help to secure 250 new jobs by mid-2012 as part of a major expansion at the company's new facility at the Cleaboy business park in Waterford.
A competitive start fund launched in 2011 is focused on accelerating the growth of start-up companies by providing critical early stage funding to young companies to test the market for their products and services and progress their business plans. In 2011, Enterprise Ireland supported 55 emerging start-up companies under the fund, building a strong pipeline of companies that have the potential to create sustainable jobs. We have a target to support 60 projects under the fund in 2012.
A €200,000 competitive feasibility fund was piloted in January 2012 aimed at stimulating start-ups and creating jobs in the south east. The fund is one element of Enterprise Ireland's response to tackling the persistently higher rates of unemployment that the region faces.
Enterprise Ireland works intensively with high potential start-ups to drive growth. Our dedicated accelerated growth team for high potential start-ups is focused on 100 companies that have the potential to scale significantly and achieve rapid international growth. The Internet growth acceleration programme is an intensive management development programme aimed exclusively at high potential Internet companies in the Irish Internet industry. Enterprise Ireland's financial supports directly assist entrepreneurs and leverage critical matching funding from banks and investors to ensure that start-ups have access to the capital they require to execute ambitious growth strategies. The seed and venture capital sector is an absolutely vital element of the funding environment supporting the creation of jobs and start-ups in Ireland. By the beginning of 2011, €124 million was under management by four seed funds. This is a fourfold increase on the amount of seed funding available in the past three years. More than 40 investments were made during 2011 and it is expected that a similar number of investments will be made in 2012.
Business angels are another key source of seed and start-up capital. Last year saw record levels of business angel investment in Ireland with investments in approximately 33 companies worth €10 million, double 2010 levels.
In addition to the assistance I have outlined, Enterprise Ireland has put in place a broad system of supports including workshops, seminars and training courses for entrepreneurs across Ireland which are designed to aid the development of business plans, and assist companies in getting off the ground. These include IdeaGen which brings researchers and prospective entrepreneurs together to explore collaborative opportunities; Enterprise START workshops which help prospective entrepreneurs to develop a business plan; and the enterprise platform programme which supports entrepreneurs to establish start-up businesses across Ireland.
On average, 180 participants enrol annually on the enterprise platform programme with 70 to 80 start-up businesses emerging, approximately 15 of which are high potential start-ups. Enterprise Ireland's network of more than 290 mentors help to build capability and accelerate growth in early stage enterprises while companies that are moving into new markets can participate on first flight programmes and retain the services of a business accelerator to support their expansion and development into an export market.
Sowing the seeds of entrepreneurship and exposing students to the fundamentals of business is a key part of promoting an entrepreneurial culture. Enterprise Ireland manages the Think Outside the Box Awards at third level. The priority is to get students thinking about starting their own business as a viable career option once they graduate.
County and city enterprise boards offer a first port of call for prospective start-ups and play a vital role in entrepreneurship stimulation in local communities. In line with the Government's Action Plan for Jobs, Enterprise Ireland will work with the county and city enterprise boards, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and local authorities to establish a new micro enterprise and small business unit and a network of local enterprise offices.
The availability of business space is a fundamental infrastructural requirement for businesses to establish and grow in any location. Community enterprise centres provide this space helping the development of entrepreneurship in urban and rural locations. The 110 community enterprise centres across Ireland accommodate approximately 875 companies that have a combined employment of approximately 5,000 people. A new community enterprise centre development programme of €2 million is targeted at maintaining or establishing a strong business development function manager in these centres.
Entrepreneurship is a key engine of growth for the economy. The entrepreneurs of today generate the jobs, sales, and exports of the future. Enterprise Ireland works with other agencies and bodies to support entrepreneurs from the initial seed idea through to investing financially in high potential start-ups. Despite the challenging domestic and international economic environment, ambitious entrepreneurs with highly innovative products and business development strategies are continuing to build their presence in export markets successfully. Enterprise Ireland works with them to achieve this and generate sustainable growth for the economy.