Regional Enterprise Plans are an integral part of Ireland’s enterprise policy, aimed at driving economic growth and sustaining better standards of living throughout Ireland. As a ‘bottom-up’ initiative, the plans complement national level policies and programmes emanating from a ‘top-down’ approach such as Ireland’s national enterprise policy, Enterprise 2025 Renewed and the Future Jobs Ireland initiative.
The South East Regional Enterprise Plan to 2024 is currently being created by regional stakeholders – managed by the Ireland South East Development Office under Chairperson Patsy Carney and overseen by the Regional Enterprise Steering Committee – who will collectively identify a number of Strategic Objectives for enterprise development for the region.
This is your chance to have your say on what actions you believe should be prioritised in the new South East Regional Enterprise Plan.
This consultation period will remain open until close of business Fri 30th July.
To view the previous Regional Enterprise Plan to 2020 please click here
Using the eight questions below as a guide please email your response to:
- Alan Quirke, Director, Ireland South East Development Office: al**@ir**************.com or
- Richard Hickey, Project Executive, Ireland South East Development Office: ri*****@ir**************.com
There is no requirement to address all of the questions, please choose what is most relevant to you.
Objective of the consultation period: To identify the highest impact actions that should be prioritised in the new South East Regional Enterprise Plan.
SMART: The actions identified need to be achievable so please bear in mind following the SMART process in your response when proposing actions, make them:
- Specific – target a specific area for improvement.
- Measurable – quantify or at least suggest an indicator of progress.
- Assignable – specify who will do it.
- Realistic – state what results can realistically be achieved, given available resources.
- Time-related – specify when the result(s) can be achieved.
GUIDE QUESTIONS
- What job creation actions do you think should be prioritised in the new South East Regional Enterprise Plan 2021 – 2024?
- What specifically is required to deliver on these actions?
INDUSTRY-LED CLUSTERS
About: Industry-led clusters are crucial to regional economic development as they allow for collaboration between industry, Higher Education Institutes, research centres, government agencies and others to realise business opportunities, solve industry challenges and use their combined economies of scale to promote the region and attract talented people. The South East has emerging industry-led clusters in areas like Engineering and Financial Services and the creation of a Technological University of the South East from 2022 presents a unique opportunity for the South East to deepen it specializations.
Consultation Question:
- What clusters should be prioritised in the South East? What specific gaps or opportunities should these clusters focus on?
SUPPORTING MORE START-UPS
About: The region has a well established ecosystem for developing Start Ups with many early stage supports including those from LEO, SEBIC and New Frontiers. There is much available incubation space and newer sector-specific innovation supports are coming on stream including Kinetic Labs and the Insurtech Network Centre. The South East Business Angel Network provides an opportunity for start-ups in the region to seek funding from angel investors within the region. Despite this ecosystem the region has consistently underperformed in the numbers of HPSUs it produces and in order to increase the economic resilience of the South East it will be critical that we maximize the number of Start Ups coming out of the region.
Consultation Question:
- What is required to increase the number of start-ups growing in the region?
REALISING GREEN ECONOMY OPPORTUNITIES
About: It is clear that climate change is one of the key global challenges. It will also be a driver of job creation. The South East has latent potential in a number of green economy areas such as offshore renewable energy, sustainable construction, circular economy and green ICT. Maximising these opportunities will be essential to the region’s future development.
Consultation Question:
- What do you think are the South East’s key Green Economy strengths and specifically, what is required to develop them?
MAXIMISING THE REGION’S TOURISM POTENTIAL
About: The South East has clear tourism strengths in areas such as outdoor activities; food and drink; castles and gardens; and its unique history. Much progress has been made on the goal – that originated in the first Action Plan for Jobs – of linking the region by Blueway/Greenway. However, the region is largely a domestic tourism destination and has relatively low numbers of international visitors.
Consultation Question:
- What specifically is required at the regional level to step-up the South East’s tourism offer?
SKILLS AND TRAINING
About: The skills base of the workforce is recognized as being one of the top drivers of economic development. The South East faces a number of challenges in terms of skills and training but also opportunities. There are a range of agencies working to support up-skilling and training and the opening of the Technological University of the South East in 2022 also presents a clear opportunity.
Consultation Question
- What skills and training initiatives should be prioritized that can be additional and at regional scale?
8. If you have any suggestions that fall outside of the above thematic areas please feel free to add them
