The new economic landscape created by Brexit will be a key area of focus for the American Chamber of Commerce in the coming 12 months. “When we look ahead to 2020, a central area of activity for the American Chamber will be the post-Brexit environment and what it means for Ireland,” says chief executive Mark Redmond. “We will place a very strong focus on Ireland’s position in the transatlantic relationship and the growing importance of this country as a bridge between the US and the EU.”
That role will be discussed at a conference hosted by the Chamber in Croke Park on March 5th next. “We are going to shine a spotlight on the areas of opportunity for Irish business,” says Redmond. “We have three great keynote speakers lined up. We will have Dr France Córdova, the American astrophysicist and administrator, who is the director of the US National Science Foundation; Jason Oxman, president and CEO of the Information Technology Industry Council, the world’s first and most prominent trade association for the technology industry; and Wall Street economist Joseph Quinlan, who will look at global trends and how they affect the transatlantic relationship.”
Activity will not be confined to Ireland. “Throughout 2020, we will continue to promote Ireland in the US as the centre of the transatlantic relationship. Ireland will be the only English-speaking, common-law gateway for US firms following Brexit and we will work to raise awareness of this fact.”
Talent development
Talent development and talent attraction will also remain centre stage in the year ahead. “We have a number of important events planned,” says Redmond. “We are stepping up the reach and scope of our Emerging Leaders Development Programme. This is becoming a full-year programme for developing the next generation of leadership talent. We are also introducing a new category in the US Ireland Innovation Awards. The award for Innovation in Talent Development will recognise organisations with real and substantial investment in talent development.”
We will step up our promotion of the regions and the very exciting clusters and ecosystems which exist around Ireland
Sustainability will remain a priority as well. "The Créafóg Awards celebrate best practice in sustainability," Redmond says. The word Créafóg means earth in Irish. This award is presented to American Chamber member companies that have demonstrated exemplary commitment and real excellence in terms of sustainability and environmental awareness. Awards are presented to companies in the southern, mid-west and west and north-west regions. This year's winners were PepsiCo, Beckman Coulter, and AbbVie."
Another key theme for 2020 will be the Chamber’s continued emphasis on regional development. “We will step up our promotion of the regions and the very exciting clusters and ecosystems which exist around Ireland, where multinationals, Irish companies, research centres and academia are collaborating in a variety of ways. We will play our part in the development of regional Ireland.”
American companies love the extraordinary diversity of the talent pool in Ireland. We will continue to encourage business to be as diverse as possible
The two-way nature of the relationship between Ireland and the US will also come in for attention. "Outbound investment from Ireland to the US is also very important and we will be supporting Enterprise Ireland in assisting Irish firms to expand into the US," he says. "Ireland is now the ninth largest investor into the US. We see lot of investment from Irish companies already there as well as new ones. We will lead a delegation to the Select USA Investment Summit in June 2020."
‘Networking initiative’
Here at home, the American Chamber Emerging FDI Programme run in association with IDA Ireland is aimed at those early stage US firms which have established a presence in Ireland to support their global growth. "We deliver a pro bono coaching service to these companies where a leader of an established company here offers 18 months' coaching," Redmond explains. "This is a peer-to-peer networking initiative to support the development of that cohort of companies. This is a very important element of the US-Ireland business story."
Redmond emphasises the importance of diversity. “American companies love the extraordinary diversity of the talent pool in Ireland. We will continue to encourage business to be as diverse as possible in terms of having people who are differently abled, different genders, ethnicity, sexuality and so on. We continue to see examples of how greater diversity contributes to better performing and more innovative organisations.”
The future looks bright for continued US investment in Ireland. “Despite the unfortunate redundancies we have seen in a few firms of late, we still see a remarkable appetite and ambition for growth among the companies here and an incredible pipeline of new investments coming down the tracks. Ireland is still seen as a very attractive investment location by American firms.”