Cork 2023: Developing the multinationals of the future

“In 2022, we saw a five per cent growth in employment across our client company base,” said Martin Corkery, regional director for the south for Enterprise Ireland.

“In the last 12 months, a number of clients have also been acquired which has been really positive for the companies and is a testament to the innovation, potential for further growth and wealth of talent coming through in these Irish businesses.

“It is also a testament to the value that is put on the region as a place to do business. really positive for the companies with really good transactions occurring.”

It’s a good time to be a Cork-based company with all types of companies, from start-ups to multinationals, hitting major milestones.

Corkery said that the key to this was that it enables new FDI in the region, so companies like GlobalShares and Workvivo being acquired by JP Morgan and Zoom, respectively, are of major benefit. It means they can continue growing and scaling in Cork and enable different growth trajectories.

While FDI and acquisitions are helpful, Enterprise Ireland has a greater ambition to create the multinationals of the future.

“In many of those instances, the founders can either go again and start up another enterprise or invest in other enterprises and help them grow and scale,” he said. “One of our key objectives is to see more of our indigenous client companies grow and scale and be the multinationals of the future.”

The journey to create these multinationals is long, but the region is well-placed to deliver on this. An important expansion area is renewables and sustainability, a topic that has been front and centre for many years.

Corkery states that Cork could lead in driving the renewable energy agenda from a national energy and industry perspective. The indigenous supply chain is one area where innovations, products, and services will emerge.

This is helped by the likes of Amarenco and Ørsted having operations in Cork and a good base to build upon, in particular, the sub-supply

“The focus is on greening Ireland’s energy infrastructure, and that’s the short to medium term, but the longer term is it’s going to be an export commodity,” he said.

A major opportunity it sees on the enterprise side is selling into the renewables sector. It’s become a significant growth area for companies, and providing services that augment the sector brings opportunities.

“There are companies that aren’t necessarily in the renewable business selling into that sector,” he said. “It’s not just in Ireland; there’s a worldwide investment going on here.”

There’s a real opportunity for companies to grow their business, and we have seen it in our ABR (Annual Business Returns) survey, which was launched in April. The biggest growth area was in companies selling into that market segment. We’ll see that grow again over the next few years.”

The other related area is battery storage which is seeing substantial financing across the board. The race to develop better storage capabilities has seen major investment throughout Europe in developing new facilities to develop these technologies. Selling to these rather than building directly is where many of Enterprise Ireland’s clients are seeing major growth.

This is before you even get to Cork’s wheelhouse of life sciences and cybersecurity, the latter seeing significant growth in recent years.

As cyber-attacks and incidents become more noticeable than ever, start-ups like GetVisibility, which uses AI and machine learning to create concise and accurate data security and compliance reports, and TrustApp, the payments platform, continue to gain traction.

“They’re exciting companies starting to make waves in their fields,” he said. “It always goes back to regional strengths, so the work Tech Industry Alliance and cybersecurity has done has unearthed and brought opportunities to the region and those particular areas.”

A big part of Enterprise Ireland’s success, and that of companies across Cork and Ireland, has been down to the active role of Enterprise Centres. Organisations like Ludgate in Skibbereen, Mitchelstown Enterprise Centre as well as the Rubicon and Republic Of Work in Cork City have done major work in ensuring that companies have places to work, collaborate, and develop.

“Enterprise Ireland has put a lot of investment into Enterprise Centres around the country and Cork county in the last 20 odd years,” he said. “They played a massive role during Covid in offering support and services to business as everyone was working in that unknown environment, and they continued to be a vital player.”

“They don’t just offer offices but services to help those companies grow. That’s where we see the real benefits arising from enterprise centres; it’s the support, the services they offer and advice they give to micro and SMEs that are really important in helping those companies succeed.

“They have played a major role in developing the economic infrastructure in the county and region.”

That all ties into the collaboration mindset prevalent throughout the Cork region. Corkery mentioned that all the public organisations in the city and country meet regularly, including the heads of MTU, UCC, ETB, Cork City Council, Cork County Council, Chamber the IDA and Enterprise Ireland.

Bringing those minds together ensures that collaboration stays strong and everyone works to their strengths.

“We meet regularly, and there’s that shared experience that goes across the table,” he said. “This collaboration is hugely beneficial as we all work towards a purpose of developing the region's economy.”

Cork wouldn’t be in its position if it didn’t have that support and collaboration across all levels. No matter what stage a business or organisation is at, it has a wealth of resources and opportunities available to them that will help them progress and develop.

“We’re lucky to have a solid and stable startup ecosystem to help and support the companies. Organisations like the local enterprise offices, IGNITE out of UCC, New Frontiers out of MTU, and Dogpatch accelerator in the Republic of Work, play a critical role in advising and mentoring founders,” he said.

“There are several programmes and accelerators there to help and support those emerging enterprises and entrepreneurs in the region and ultimately give them the best chance of success.”