Ten Reasons To Invest

Northern Ireland’s highly educated and skilled English – speaking workforce provides a steady stream of fresh talent for knowledge-based companies. The region has one of the youngest populations in Europe and educational achievements are high, with students consistently performing well above other UK regions at GCSE and A-Level. Northern Ireland’s people have a strong work ethic and are highly loyal with labour turnover rates amongst the lowest in Europe.

Northern Ireland’s Operating costs are highly competitive and significantly lower than the rest of the UK and Europe. A wide variety of business facilities are available at highly competitive costs with prime office rents among the lowest in the world; as little as £13.50 per sq ft in the Greater Belfast area, compared to £49.15 per sq ft in Dublin and £23.15 per sq ft in Washington DC, USA.

The UK was the first EU country to deregulate and privatise its telecommunications sector and is one of the most cost-effective locations for telecoms in Europe. The UK’s vast support infrastructure ensures excellent service support to business. A resilient, digital network provides high-speed voice and data connections throughout the world. Northern Ireland has become the first region in Europe to have 100 per cent access to broadband. In addition to this British Telecom (BT) is developing the 21^st Century Network (21 CN), a new global IP network that will carry voice, data and internet services on a single network. The high speed network, coupled with a more resilient telecoms infrastructure and lower telecoms costs will have important benefits for businesses in the region. When completed Northern Ireland will be the first region in the United Kingdom to have completed the 21 CN migration.

Knowledge-based sectors account for the large majority of all foreign direct investment into Northern Ireland. Software and financial services are among the sectors experiencing the fastest growth. Recent new arrivals to these sectors include Polaris Software Labs, Firstsource, Citi and Microsoft.

Belfast has recently been ranked as the top location in the British Isles for customer call and contact-centre based activities. Northern Ireland also boasts world-class companies in the Aerospace, Engineering and Health Technology sectors.  

Northern’s Ireland’s internationally renowned universities have been key drivers in the development of the region’s technology and knowledge industries. Queen’s University, Belfast and the University of Ulster have globally-recognised research centres across a range of disciplines, which are producing new ideas that change the world in which we work and live. They each have a strong track record in commercialisation of research and in spinning-off successful business ventures.

Northern Ireland provides a competitive near-shore proposition to Europe, with the advantage of operating in the same time zone, regulatory environment and similar culture to the UK. As part of the European Union companies located in Northern Ireland can take advantage of tariff free access to the world’s largest consumer market of over 400 million people. London is only an hour away by air, with Dublin only two hours by road or rail. There are daily direct flights from each of Northern Ireland’s airports to a variety of European business locations such as Paris, Rome, Amsterdam and Berlin. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with a Euro participant (the Republic of Ireland). As a result, the business community and the banking and financial services sector in Northern Ireland regularly conduct business in Euro.

The Northern Ireland labour market continues to perform well. The number of people in employment in Northern Ireland currently stands at 767,000*.

The unemployment rate is currently the joint-second lowest among UK regions at 4.6 per cent*.

Northern Ireland has a strongly pro-business climate. The regional Government is committed to developing the knowledge-based economy and encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship. Regulation is kept to a minimum. As part of the UK, the region benefits from the strength of the UK economy and its low-inflation, low-interest rate climate. Companies have ready access to a broad range of funding options as well as a developing venture capital market.

Northern Ireland offers a highly attractive and competitive package of financial incentives, recruitment and training, research and development and other development support tailored to each company’s needs. Invest NI works in an ongoing partnership with investors to ensure all the necessary support is given throughout the lifetime of a commercial venture to develop and expand your business and to improve your capability and international competitiveness

In recent years, Northern Ireland has become increasingly successful in attracting foreign direct investment. Key investors include multi-national companies such as Seagate Technology, Fujitsu, Bombardier Aerospace, Microsoft, Caterpillar, Polaris Software Lab, Liberty Mutual, HCL BPO, BT and Halifax. A testament to the success of these investments is the fact that nearly three-quarters of these companies have already reinvested in Northern Ireland or are gearing-up to invest more.

*April 2006