Ashleigh Lezard

Northern Ireland has a new economic development agency. Invest NI brings together all the functions carried out by the Industrial Development Board, the Local Enterprise Development Unit, the Industrial Research and Technology Unit Business Support Division of the Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment (DETI) and the tourist accommodation support functions of the tourist board. The agency will have an annual budget of Ł200m.

In a joint statement, chairman Fabian Monds and chief executive Leslie Morrison said: “We need to internationalise our thinking, aspirations and economic processes to achieve the critical mass that a small economy, if inwardly focused, cannot provide.”

The agency is targeting certain sectors for new inward investment – such as information and computer technology, health technologies and electronics. Despite worries in investment consultancies such as Ernst & Young that these sectors are reaching saturation point in Europe, Mr Morrison is confident they are the right target areas. He said: “Our research shows that 80% of all mobile investment is in these sectors. Northern Ireland competes well because we match up to the requirements of quality and cost advantage. We have a skilled workforce available and a large availability of property at a competitive cost.”