Start-ups will be the life’s blood of the Irish economy going forward, Enterprise Ireland CEO Julie Sinnamon said today.
At the showcase of the Enterprise Ireland High Potential Start-up programme for 2014 it emerged that some 1,500 jobs will be created by 102 high-potential start-up companies in Ireland in the next three years.
Some 43 new female start-ups were supported in 2014.
Enterprise Ireland also supported 16 spinout companies from the higher education institutions.
Twelve new food and drinks companies were supported and 14 overseas start-ups located in Ireland in 2014.
“Certainly in any economy start-ups are the life’s blood of the economy in terms of creating new opportunities and new jobs going forward and bringing new technologies in,” Enterprise Ireland CEO Julie Sinnamon said.
“There’s 183 companies in this room and 1,500 jobs have been projected in the initial projects.
“Our experience historically is that those numbers have been achieved and have grown from there.”
Jobs Minister Richard Bruton TD said that Ireland has been on a journey of economic transformation where innovation and not speculation is what will make the difference.
“Enterprise Ireland has been at heart of that journey. It is a journey that is moving away from speculation to enterprise, moving away from property to focus on innovation, moving away from debt to focus on competitiveness and that’s what’s at the heart of the business that Enterprise Ireland is now creating.
“We want to build on that this year and make this a year where we look not just at national success of enterprise but also at the success of every region, make them also hubs of innovation and allow them to have startup hubs to cultivate new companies to establish and grow.”
