Enterprise Ireland has invested more than €200 million in Irish firms in the Border, Midland and Western Region (BMW) in the past four years, the agency's chief executive said yesterday.

Mr Dan Flinter, at the BMW regional assembly in Ballaghadereen, Co Roscommon, said the investment was made to support innovation, business development and the internationalisation of Irish firms.

"This investment has in turn leveraged more than €800 million in associated investment by companies, the third-level education sector, community enterprise groups and the venture capital community.

"The focus of Enterprise Ireland is on working with existing Irish companies in the region to increase their levels of competitiveness and innovation, and in ramping up the numbers of new start-ups with the potential to rapidly grow export sales," he added.

Mr Flinter said 58 per cent of employment in manufacturing and internationally traded services in the BMW was accounted for by indigenous companies. "This is very significant in national economic terms when compared with the country as a whole where the indigenous sector accounts for 52 per cent of employment."

Mr Flinter said start-ups were critical to the region's future and that, working with others, Enterprise Ireland had contributed to setting up 19 community enterprise centres and six third-level campus-based innovation centres.

"It is our intention that these facilities will act as a catalyst to encourage entrepreneurship and the translation of intellectual property from within the colleges into commercial reality. To date we have supported the establishment of 35 high-potential start-ups throughout the region," he said.