UCD_BC_FDI_16-19.qxd 25/8/08 17:12 Page 20
INDUSTRY CLOSE-UP
Where
foreign
next
for
investment?
Ireland is not the beacon it once RELAND’S ability to attract high-quality foreign direct
was for foreign direct investment,
investment (FDI) — most notably from the US — has played
a key role in the economy’s dramatic growth over the past
which means a concerted effort to
couple of decades. And continued support from Irish-based
multinationals remains vitally important; in 2007, almost
innovate and maximise on its 1,000 IDA-supported firms directly employed over 135,000
strengths is now needed
Ipeople (6% of the workforce), accounted for more than
€90bn worth of exports (85% of manufactured goods and around
60% of the total), and generated €16bn in expenditure through
Robert Shapiro, who will speak at the ‘Foreign Direct
wages, materials and services.
Investment’ seminar at UCD School of Business in November
To date, US-owned companies have been a central component of
Ireland’s FDI model; last year, 474 American firms made up 48% of
the Irish-based multinationals and employed more than 95,000
people. However, while the overall number of new FDI projects
increased last year, Ernst & Young’s recently published European
Investment Monitor indicates that the slowdown in the US econ-
omy was already having an impact, with levels of investment from
that market down 9%.
Given the current pressures on the Irish FDI model – includ-
ing increased, low-cost competition from emerging markets and
a slowdown in the economies of the country’s biggest investors –
it is timely that in November, UCD School of Business will host
‘Foreign Direct Investment: What’s the forecast?’ as part of its
‘Growing Ireland’ series. The seminar will hear from Irish and
international experts, who will examine what Ireland must do to
maintain existing investment, how — and from where — it can
attract new FDI, and the challenges and opportunities presented
by China and India.
The keynote speaker at the event, Robert Shapiro, a former
advisor to Bill Clinton, Al Gore and John Kerry, and the author
of Futurecast 2020, A Global Vision of Tomorrow (in which he
describes the Irish economy as ‘the biggest success of the last
16 UCD BUSINESS CONNECTIONS
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