Delivering for Ireland, Leading Globally (2025-2029)

In turbulent times, Enterprise Ireland has launched its strategy for the next five years ‘Delivering for Ireland, Leading Globally (2025-2029)’ (Strategy) with its purpose to ‘Accelerate Sustainable Irish Business’ with the ambition that exporting Irish companies will become the primary driver of the Irish economy.

The Strategy launched in March, has several ambitious goals and targets:

• to increase jobs in companies supported by Enterprise Ireland to 275,000
• to increase exports to €50 billion by 2029
• to support 150 large Irish exporting companies of more than 250 employees
• to see 1,700 new Irish-owned exporters
• to see €2.2 billion spend on RD&I
• to support 1,000 new start-ups
• to support companies in achieving a 35% reduction of CO2 emissions by 2030
• to support companies in achieving a 3% annual average increase in productivity
• to see €55 billion spend within the domestic Irish economy
• the delivery of 10,000 enterprise engagements with Irish businesses through research infrastructure and programmes

Enterprise Ireland’s goal is to support Irish exporting companies to make an even greater contribution to the Irish economy through international growth and nationwide employment, with the long-term ambition that exporting Irish companies become the primary driver of the Irish economy.

Kevin Sherry, Interim CEO, Enterprise Ireland, has said: “With companies supported by Enterprise Ireland now employing 234,454 people and over €34 billion in exports, this gives Enterprise Ireland a strong platform to launch our strategy, with ambitious targets for the Irish enterprise base which aims to support more Irish companies to achieve greater scale through international growth. It is our long-term ambition that exporting Irish companies will become the primary driver of the Irish economy.”

The Strategy sets out four strategic objectives for the Irish enterprise base:

• Start - Enhance the pipeline of innovative and scalable start-ups by supporting them with their long-term, sustainable growth ambitions.
• Compete - Support companies to be more productive, founded on sustainability, innovation, digitalisation, operational efficiency, and strong leadership and capabilities.
• Scale - Increase the number of world-leading Irish companies.
• Connect - To see an enhanced, internationally competitive, and interconnected enterprise and innovation ecosystem that fosters start-ups, drives enterprise growth and investment.

To advance these areas of focus, Enterprise Ireland will utilise six levers to achieve its goals:

Funding Ambition - improve access to debt and equity finance to stimulate investment in enterprises with exceptional potential.

Igniting Innovation - drive collaboration and investment in innovation, development, and the commercialisation of research for long-term, sustainable growth and competitiveness.

Embracing Sustainability - lead Irish business in embracing sustainability to support Ireland in meeting its climate obligations, while strengthening operational resilience and competitiveness.

Strengthening Skills and Talent - deliver programmes, strategic partnerships, and financial supports to drive capability, skills, and leadership development.

Maximising Global Opportunity - inspire global ambition and support Irish companies to identify international opportunities and scale overseas.

Driving Performance - assist Irish businesses in the adoption of AI, automation and digital processes, and operational transformation to help them enhance productivity, reduce costs, and drive sustainable growth.

Michael Carey, Chairman, Enterprise Ireland, has said: “Enterprise Ireland’s ambitious and exciting new strategy aims to increase client company export sales to €50 billion by the end of 2029, with a target to grow jobs numbers to 275,000. Despite the global economic challenges that lie ahead, we have every confidence in the resilience and agility of the Irish enterprise base who, with our support, have proven their ability to adapt, diversify and succeed, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with our client base to deliver for the benefit of the Irish economy over the next five years.”  

The Strategy sets out strategic initiatives, including:

• Committing increased levels of funding under the Seed and Venture Capital Scheme to leverage private sector investment and increase the availability of pre-seed, seed, and series A and B stage capital in the market.
• Developing a plan for Start-up Ireland, and a coordinated approach to enhance and align start-up supports and programmes across the Irish start-up ecosystem. This will include the potential development of a new National Accelerator Programme to assist globally ambitious entrepreneurs and start-ups.
• Working through Technology Centres and with the wider research system to provide targeted offerings and insights to businesses, specifically leveraging opportunities in AI and machine learning for accelerated business services automation.
• Establishing an Enterprise Scaling Fund to provide significant direct investment for scaling companies and to leverage venture capital domestically and internationally to a greater extent than is currently possible under our existing Seed and Venture Capital Scheme.
• Partnering with the European Digital Innovation Hubs to support Irish businesses to map their digital journeys and identify appropriate technologies to drive growth.
• Investing in research infrastructure to significantly scale the supports available to businesses in the areas of industrial automation, machine learning and AI.
• Leading out on the development of a new state-of-the-art National Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence, bringing together industry and academic expertise, and foster collaboration, research, and innovation.

As the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Peter Burke states, in the foreword of the Strategy: “These efforts will all add to the resilience of Irish businesses, preparing them to continue to succeed in an increasingly competitive global market. International expansion will continue to be critical to Irish companies’ ability to thrive and scale, and a key element of Enterprise Ireland’s strategy will be to support start-ups to grow, leverage sales, and access global markets.”

For more information, please contact authors Darran Nangle, Partner,  Michelle McLoughlin, Senior Knowledge Consultant, or your usual contact in the Corporate group. 

Date published: 8 April 2025