2018-2021

April 2018

dbei.gov.ie

Table of Contents

Foreword 3

Vision, Mission, Values 4

Our Goals 5

Introduction & Context 6

Goal 1:Create and sustaining high quality enterprise & employment across all

regions 12

Goal 2:Lead a whole of Government approach to developing the most competitive

environment for investment, productivity and sustainable jobs 13

Goal 3: Position Ireland as a Global Innovation Leader 14

Goal 4: Deliver positive workplace relations supports, well-functioning dispute

resolution mechanisms, robust enforcement of employment rights and

a safe working environment 15

Goal 5: Ensuring that business regulation facilitates business investment and

development, competition in the marketplace, high standards of consumer

protection and corporate governance and provides Ireland with a competitive

advantage in the global market. 16

Goal 6: Working ambitiously with our EU and International Partners across a wide

range of interests, including Brexit 17

Goal 7: Investing in our staff and optimising our resources 18

Appendix 1: DBEI Programme for Government Commitments 19

Appendix 2: Working collaboratively with other Departments 20

Appendix 3: Some Key DBEI Stakeholder Forums 22

Appendix 4: Targets set out in Enterprise 2025 and Innovation 2020 25

Appendix 5: Our Agencies and Offices

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Foreword

I welcome the publication of this Statement of Strategy, which has been developed, taking account of

Brexit and other significant current global challenges and opportunities. Over the period covered by the

Statement of Strategy, my Department will continue to work to stimulate the productive capacity of our

economy, and to create and develop an environment which supports job creation and jobs maintenance.

We will continue to focus on ensuring that progress and growth is accelerated throughout all regions of

the country. The Government has set a target of creating 200,000 jobs by 2020, and we want 135,000

of these to be created outside Dublin. Enterprise 2025 Renewed, which I recently launched, will provide

overall direction for the development of enterprise and job creation in the coming years. Developing a

stronger research and innovation system is also crucial to ensure that our economy remains resilient

and internationally competitive and driving the implementation of Innovation 2020 is also a high priority

for us.

I am confident that the staff of my Department, working closely with their colleagues in the Offices and

Agencies, have the commitment necessary to ensure that the mission and ambitious goals set out in

the Strategy are successfully delivered.

Heather Humphreys, T.D.

Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation

The Department’s Statement of Strategy 2018-2021 sets out seven high level goalsaimed at delivering

the commitments assigned to us in the Programme for Partnership Government 2016. This will be done

by the Department itself and through its Offices and Agencies. We have identified clear and measurable

targets across all areas and we will work collaboratively with colleagues across Government, business,

other stakeholders and at EU and international level to achieve these targets.

Our committed and talented team of staff are our key asset and will be crucial to the successful delivery

of our goals in the coming years. We are fully engaged with the Civil Service Renewal Plan, and are

focused on delivering high quality, responsive and relevant services for the benefit of all our

stakeholders.

The vision, mission and goals outlined in this Strategy will guide the annual business planning process,

across our divisions and business units. Progress on delivery will be monitored and reviewed on an

ongoing basis.

Dr Orlaigh Quinn, Secretary General

Department for Business, Enterprise and Innovation

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Our Vision We will make Ireland the best place to succeed in business, delivering sustainable full employment and higher standards of living across all regions of the country.

Our Mission We will lead on the creation and maintenance of high quality and sustainable full employment across all regions of the country by championing enterprise and innovation across government, by supporting a competitive business base to incentivise work, enterprise, trade, innovation and investment and by promoting fair and competitive markets as well as best business practice through the regulatory and enforcement work of the Department, its Offices and its agencies.

Our Values As a Department, we foster a culture of accountability, efficiency and value for money, which is rooted in a public service ethos of independence, integrity, impartiality, openness, dignity and respect. As Civil Servants, we espouse the highest standards of professionalism, honesty, objectivity and quality, which are central to fulfilling our roles in supporting the democratic process and serving the people.

Lead on creating and sustaining high quality enterprise

and employment across all regions of the country by

supporting a strong indigenous enterprise base, the continued attraction of foreign direct investment and a

strong entrepreneurial culture.

Lead a whole-of-Government approach to developing the most

competitive environment for investment, productivity and

sustainable jobs.

Lead a whole-of-Government approach to position Ireland

as a Global Innovation Leader, driving an internationally competitive research and development system, creating an

innovative enterprise base and building a better society.

Deliver positive workplace relations, well-functioning dispute

resolution mechanisms, robust enforcement of employment

rights and a safe working environment.

Ensure that our business regulation facilitates business

investment and development, competition in the market

place, high standards of consumer protection and

corporate governance and provides Ireland with a

competitive advantage in the global market.

Work ambitiously across Government with our EU and

international partners to achieve progress in EU and international fora, across a wide range of interests, including

Brexit.

Invest in and support our staff to further enhance

individual and collective capacity, ensure high standards of corporate governance and optimise all our

resources to deliver our Strategy, Mission and Goals.

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Introduction & Context

About Us

The Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation (DBEI) plays a key role in implementing the

Government’s policies of stimulating the productive capacity of the economy and creating an

environment which supports job creation and maintenance. The Department also has a remit to

promote fair competition in the marketplace, protect consumers and safeguard workers. Through its

Agencies and Offices, the Department’s remit covers a wide range of activity including;

▪Facilitating the start-up and growth of indigenous enterprises,

▪Attracting foreign direct investment,

▪Growing and deepening export opportunities,

▪Improving competitiveness and productivity,

▪Promoting innovation and growth through investment in research and development,

▪Promoting fair competition for businesses and consumers,

▪Ensuring fit for purpose, modern company law,

▪Safeguarding workers’ rights including their entitlement to occupational safety and health,

▪Supporting and facilitating a positive industrial relations environment,

▪Making evidence based policy, informed by research, analysis and robust evaluation,

▪Identifying the future skills needs of enterprise,

▪Providing appropriate and independent regulatory and enforcement capability, and

▪Representing Ireland’s interests in relevant EU fora, including the Competitiveness Council

(incorporating Internal Market, Industry and Research), and the General Affairs Council (meeting in

its Trade formation) and relevant WTO, ILO, OECD and World Intellectual Property Organisation

(WIPO) fora.

Ongoing Progress but Challenges Remain……

The Department, together with its Agencies and Offices, and working closely with stakeholders and

across Government, has played a significant role in addressing the major challenges that have faced

us as a country over recent years. This collaborative effort has contributed to a turnaround in the Irish

economy, increasing the number of people at work and strengthening Ireland’s enterprise economy

and performance. Over this period, we have delivered significant success, as indicated by;

▪Since the first Action Plan for Jobs was launched in Q1 2012, 313,000 more people are at work

bringing total employment in the State to 2,192,000 in Q3 2017. The number of unemployed

people fell by 184,400 (-53%).

▪In the year to Q3 2017, total employment increased by 2.2%. Over the same period, part-time

employment declined by 13.1% while the number working full-time increased by 6.9%.

▪The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January 2018 was 6.1%, down from 7.4% in

January 2017. Long term unemployment accounted for 40.1% (65,500) of the total people in

unemployment in Q3 2017 compared with 49.5% a year earlier.

▪Over the year to Q2 2017 employment grew faster in the regions (3.0%) outside Dublin than in

Dublin (1.4%) with approximately 4 out of 5 jobs created in the regions.

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▪In the year to Q3 2017, GDP and GNP increased respectively by 10.4% and 11.0% in real terms.

▪Productivity (GDP per hour worked) grew by 2.4% in 2016 (latest available).

▪Record indigenous exports of €19.7bn in 2016 by clients of the enterprise agencies (latest available).

▪During 2017, IDA Ireland secured 237 new investments.

Notwithstanding these achievements, significant challenges present themselves, particularly in the

context of international developments in recent times.

Whilst continuing to face new and emerging challenges, our focus is on protecting and building on the

progress achieved to date and broadening its reach across all regions of the country, where the pace

of progress needs to be accelerated through targeted supports for enterprise and job creation.

The global economic environment is becoming increasingly complex. Economic uncertainty remains

high and there is a heightened emphasis on ensuring that Ireland’s interests are strongly represented

and robustly defended, and reflected in international decisions which support our jobs,

competitiveness and productivity agenda. International developments present us with many

challenges and opportunities in relation to competition for mobile investment and the development

and growth of indigenous business.

The decision of the UK to leave the EU and the related uncertainty present immediate and significant

challenges for Irish business and for all aspects of the Department’s remit and in our engagement at

the EU and the WTO. The UK’s exit from the EU will have short, medium and long term implications

across a range of policy areas which directly impact on job creation and retention, and it represents a

particular risk to some enterprise sectors. In many cases, these sectors are particularly labour

intensive, have lower profit margins, and have a strong regional footprint. This will require varied

responses from DBEI at a policy and an operational level.

Our Response

Our strategy is to minimise risks and maximise opportunities by ensuring the growth and resilience of

Irish enterprise post-Brexit working across four pillars as follows:

Helping Firms to Compete: We are working across Government to create the best environment

for business to grow, export and create jobs. Key elements include ensuring that firms have

access to finance, that our tax regime and infrastructure investment promote national

competitiveness, and that the Agencies are appropriately resourced to help business focus on

competitiveness at firm level.

Enabling Firms to Innovate: As part of our strategy to become a Global Innovation Leader, we

are targeting R&D funding through our Agencies to support innovation in new products and

processes which firms need to compete and grow and to invest in the next generation of

innovators.

Supporting Firms to Trade: We are supporting firms to start exporting, to grow their exports in

existing markets and to diversify into new markets and regions. We will continue to attract

overseas investment while working with EU partners to expand the portfolio of Free Trade

Agreements.

Negotiating for the Best Possible Outcome: We are working across government to ensure we

get the best outcome possible for business from Brexit negotiations. DBEI is leading on trade

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policy and on a range of Brexit research projects which will provide an extensive evidence base

and valuable analysis to inform and guide Ireland’s position within the EU-27.

Collaboration with other Government Departments and Agencies, to ensure a whole of Government

response to mitigate risks and maximise opportunities from Brexit and other international

developments, together with constructive engagement at relevant EU and international fora by

Departmental officials, will be central to our response. We will work collaboratively to ensure the most

advantageous outcome for Ireland and for the EU to minimise the impact on enterprise, employment

and growth. We will also ensure that supports are in place to help firms to adapt to the challenges and

opportunities Brexit presents. Our approach will be underpinned by establishing the necessary

evidence base through research and analysis and by using extensive stakeholder engagement at

home and abroad to inform and validate our response to Brexit.

Globally, the area of corporate taxation has generated much discussion and activity in recent times,

and this is likely to continue. Proposals for reform of corporate taxation are emanating from the

European Commission in the form of relaunched proposals for a Common Consolidated Corporate

Tax Base (CCCTB), from the OECD in the form of their BEPS Actions and from the USA, where

widespread reform of the overall system of taxation has been enacted. Much of the discussion

remains at an early stage. We will continue to work collaboratively with colleagues across

Government to monitor and influence the debate and to assess the impact of proposals to our current

offerings. A key feature of the Irish business model is a business taxation regime that supports

entrepreneurship and job creation. The Government has made it clear that our 12.5 per cent rate of

corporation tax will not be changed.

There are significant challenges and opportunities presented for many businesses from the evolution

of the digital market, which has and will continue to change how business is done internationally. We

must build on our strengths in particular sectors, for example, the ICT sector, to take advantage of

opportunities.

We will continue to build on the strong culture of innovation and entrepreneurship to strengthen our

enterprise capacity and ensure the right mix between foreign and domestic enterprise.

We will support businesses to achieve greater diversification of export markets, reducing dependence

on individual countries. New and emerging markets present significant opportunities for trade and

investment growth and international trade agreements can be leveraged to create opportunities. We

will also intensify our focus on building and sustaining existing markets and use to our advantage our

location close to large, affluent markets, which offers opportunities to Irish companies to grow sales

and exports.

Investment in RD&I remain below comparator countries and the proportion of enterprises engaging in

research and innovation is too low. We want to see more Irish enterprises investing in research and

development, and more collaboration between foreign and Irish owned enterprises and between

enterprises, universities and institutes of technology.

Ireland’s unemployment rate, and size of the inactive population, remains a challenge, particularly

youth unemployment and unemployment at regional levels and we must work collaboratively to

achieve the targets to reduce unemployment to the levels set out in the Programme for Partnership

Government.

Ireland has a world class talent pool that is responsive to the changing and diverse needs of the

economy and this is a key strategic strength. However, there are skills shortages for business in

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certain areas and we will continue to seek to address these with our colleagues in the Department of

Education and Skills and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection and through a

modern work permits regime. Ireland also has a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem which supports

and attracts innovative start-ups that can scale up in international markets.

We will maintain our focus on competitiveness and we must respond collectively to indications of

upward cost and competitive pressures. We must ensure that productivity disparities are narrowed

across the economy.

We will also continue to promote our strength as a location for ease of doing business and one where

there are high standards of business regulation and corporate governance.

Our response to these challenges and opportunities will be reflected in the delivery across all goals in

our Strategy.

Programme for Partnership Government 2016 and Other Key Strategies

The Programme for a Partnership Government (PfPG), (May 2016) re-affirms Ireland’s strong

commitment and ambition for enterprise and jobs. It acknowledges the significant progress made in

the last five years and the importance of maintaining this progress and creating or rebuilding

sustainable sectors which can support continuing strong growth. It commits to an ambition of full

employment and implementing plans to deliver new sectoral and regional opportunities to underpin

that ambition and which can create the room in our public finances to meet urgent ambitions in other

areas.

Specifically, the PfPG targets

▪200,000 extra jobs by 2020, including 135,000 outside of Dublin

▪a reduction in the national unemployment rate to 6%

▪facilitating the return of at least 70,000 emigrants

▪prioritising balanced regional development, and aims for an unemployment rate in each county

that is within one percent of the State average by 2020

The PfPG also highlights the importance of quality employment, collective bargaining, well-functioning

dispute resolution mechanisms and a safe working environment. These areas will feature strongly on

the Department’s agenda over the period covered by this Strategy Statement.

A list of the PfPG actions for delivery by DBEI can be found at Appendix 1.

Enterprise 2025, which was adopted by Government in November 2015, set out a long-term strategy

for the development of enterprise and job creation. A review of the strategy was completed in

February 2018 in the context of significant global changes that are likely to have implications for

Ireland’s enterprise prospects. Enterprise 2025 Renewed – building resilience in the face of global

challenges was adopted by Government in February 2018. Although the fundamentals of our

enterprise strategy remain sound – based on export led growth, underpinned by innovation and talent,

the renewed policy provides important direction for our ambition over the period of the new

Departmental Strategy.

Innovation 2020 was adopted by Government in December 2015 and aims to build on the significant

successes of the Government’s Science strategy over the past 10 years which has seen Ireland

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dramatically improve its performance globally. DBEI has lead responsibility for overseeing the

delivery of Innovation 2020.

In addition to Enterprise 2025 and Innovation 2020, our Strategy is underpinned by a number of other

key Government frameworks such as the National Skills Strategy, Ireland Connected, Trading and

Investing in a Dynamic World (2017)and Foodwise 2025.

The strategies of our Offices and Agencies, which will be key in the delivery of our goals and

objectives, are aligned with this Strategy. A list of our Offices and Agencies is set out in Appendix 5

of this document.

Change in Functions Since 2016-2019 Strategy

Since our 2016-2019 Strategy was published:

▪A number of functions have transferred from the Department to the Department of Employment

Affairs and Social Protection, with effect from 1st September 2017, principally in the area of

employment rights policy and legislation, responsibility for the Low Pay Commission and for the

National Minimum Wage.

▪Whilst individual elements of the Digital Single Market Strategy are led by various Departments,

leadership responsibility for coordinating the Strategy has transferred from the Department of

the Taoiseach to the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, with effect from 1

September 2017. Whole of Government Focus

Delivering a supportive environment for enterprise and jobs requires a sustained cross Government

focus on addressing challenges over the coming years. Through a partnership approach with

Government Departments, enterprise, representative bodies, the enterprise development agencies

(Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland), Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) and

others, we can deliver a step change in the performance and international competitiveness of our

manufacturing and services sectors. The PfPG strongly endorses this cross-Government approach.

Examples of cross cutting areas of interest and collaborative effort with other Government

departments across a wide range of aspects of our work are set out in Appendix 2.

Internal Change

In recent years, the Department and its Offices have undergone significant internal changes, both

structurally and technologically, to better align our service delivery within the resources available. We

will continue to invest in and support our staff and keep reform central to our service delivery and

quality customer service. We are fully committed to the ongoing programme of change in the Civil

Service which seeks to build capacity to respond to existing and future challenges, and to improve the

performance of the Civil Service and its staff. In this regard the Department will commence an

Organisational Capability Review in Q1 2018.

Measuring Success

The overarching goals in this Strategy are set out in the following pages. Our Strategy sets out a

number of key outcomes for each overarching goal. Measurement of economic, enterprise and

innovation performance is complex and no one measure shows the complete picture. It is also

important that we focus on a number of overarching metrics complemented by firm level performance

metrics to assess overall performance. Relevant metrics from Enterprise 2025 and Innovation 2020

are set out in Appendix 4. Consultation

As part of the development of the Statement of Strategy 2016 -2019, we carried out an extensive

consultation process with a wide range of targeted stakeholders including employer, employee and

consumer representative bodies, state agencies, research funders and professional bodies. We also

received input from other Government Departments and consulted with the Joint Oireachtas

Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. The Department also has a number of important

ongoing engagement forums in place for consultation with stakeholders on a wide range of issues, in

particular with business at this challenging time. A list of the stakeholder forums that the Department

has an involvement with is in Appendix 3.

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