A new Health Innovation Hub being established by the Irish Government as part of its Action Plan for Jobs could generate thousands of new jobs and hundreds of new start-up companies.
As part of its 10th progress report on the Action Plan for Jobs, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton said the unemployment rate in Ireland is at its lowest level since 2009.
The new Health Innovation Hub will enable Irish healthcare companies and start-ups to test their products and services, which will accelerate their chances at commercial success.
Conversely, the new technologies could also be used by the health system to deliver better care to more patients.
The pharma, medical device and ICT sectors together account for more than €140bn in exports from Ireland.
Progress on the jobs front
Among the various measures introduced as part of the Action Plan for Jobs is a new national Trading Online System to help consumers attack the €6bn a year e-commerce market.
As well as this, 35 new staff have been added as part of the IDA ‘Winning Abroad’ scheme, which is focused on creating 10,000 new jobs.
The Government also enacted legislation to establish the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI), which will provide up to €4bn in low-cost funding for SMEs.
“Seventy thousand jobs have been added across the economy in the past 18 months. Every region and virtually every sector has felt the benefits,” said Bruton.
“However, there is a long way to go. The Action Plan for Jobs is the crucial mechanism we have for making the policy changes and providing the new supports that will allow businesses to create the jobs we need.
“There will be no let-up in our determination over the coming years to add 100,000 jobs by 2016, and replace all the jobs that were lost by 2020,” Bruton said.
Heart monitor image via Shutterstock
