This was another busy year for the Enterprise Ireland A/NZ team. The 12 months have flown by with the team continuing to help Irish companies to grow and scale in the market. The year has been marked by a host of different events and highlights from St Patricks Days to Fieldays.
Following covid the Enterprise Ireland A/NZ team was lucky enough to host a St Patricks Month of festivities. It was a pleasure to have Irish Minister of State Hildegarde Naughton T.D who visited for the full month following almost two years of having no visitors in market.
The St Patricks Month was marked by event such as the Online Energy Advisory Panel, the first meeting of our Digital Modern Workplace Roundtable and the announcement of Evercam’s exciting new partnership with Multiplex Australia. Shining a spotlight on the supports and continued success of Irish companies in the Australian and New Zealand market.
Minister for State Hildegarde Naughton also had the pleasure of opening new Australian offices for EI backed clients Frankie Health and Novareus. These offices will help these companies develop partnerships and service in the wider A/NZ region.
The month culminated in the Sydney Business Lunch on St Patricks Day. It was a pleasure to reconnect once again in person with our clients and wider business network.
The desire of Irish companies to come to the Australian and New Zealand markets was highlighted throughout the year by the continued success and attendance at panel events. The EI A/NZ team hosts panel events throughout the year in Wellington, Auckland, Sydney and Melbourne.
One of the standout panels of the year was the June Sydney Panel. Two innovative Irish companies, practical sales education programme Entrepreneurial Sales Institute (ESI) and data reconciliation platform Fund Recs presented their solutions to the panel and received invaluable feedback and advice on market entry and approach, channel strategy and current market conditions.
It was also a pleasure to have our Regional Director for APAC Mary Kinnane back in Sydney and in attendance, as well as the Consul General of Ireland to Sydney Rosie Keane.
This year was also marked by the inaugural meeting of our Wellington Business Advisory Panel at the Irish Embassy in Wellington.
The meeting saw two innovative Irish companies present their solutions to our panel of business advisors – Skillsoft, a global leader in eLearning, and Dotser Cloud Business Solutions who presented their event management software Super Show.
It was great to host the inaugural panel in the newly opened Irish Embassy in New Zealand. Many thanks to the panel who provided invaluable feedback and advice on market approach and strategy for New Zealand.
The Enterprise Ireland annual business results (ABR) highlighted that Irish Enterprise is going from strength to strength. The ABR for 2021 saw exports by EI-backed companies increase by 12% to a record €27.292 billion.
This is the highest ever level of export growth in a single year for Irish companies supported by EI, with exports growing across all territories and strong increases experienced across almost all sectors. Irish exports across Asia Pacific increased by 1% to €2.12 billion, with the region now accounting for 8% of global exports.
Despite the challenges of the global pandemic and travel restrictions preventing Irish companies from being able to travel to market in 2021, exports to Australia and New Zealand increased by 20%. This is a testament to the resilience of Irish companies in the region and the strength of Irish innovation entering the market.
On the 11th – 14th of October, the EI A/NZ team attended the first in person International Markets Week (IMW) post the pandemic. Following two years of virtual events it was great to reconnect with our colleagues from over 40 international offices and have in depth discussions with companies looking to start and scale in the A/NZ market.
IMW was a great week for the team and was marked by over 2000 meetings that took place between over 600 Irish companies. It was a pleasure to meet New Zealand Ambassador to Ireland Brad Burgess at the official launch of International Markets Week. Further highlighting the close trade relationships between our two countries.
In December the Enterprise Ireland A/NZ team attended Fieldays, the largest agricultural show in the Southern Hemisphere. The team lead a delegation of Irish Agri machinery and Agritech companies comprising of Abbey Machinery, Dairymaster, Dotser Cloud Business Solutions , Herdwatch, Keenan and Portwest.
The build up to Fieldays was marked by several events to showcase the strength of Irish Agri Machinery and Agritech exports in New Zealand. The highlight of these was the annual Enterprise Ireland Fieldays Agri Dinner. 150 people came together to celebrate Irish Innovation across New Zealand, including Ambassador H.E Jane Connolly and Irish Senator Barry Ward who had travelled over for the event.
This was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the best of Irish Agritech and Agri machinery. Fieldays attracts over 100’000 people over the three days and puts a spotlight on the strong relationship between the Irish and New Zealand Agri sectors.
The last year has once again seen several EI client success stories within the A/NZ market. A leading example was Enterprise Ireland backed digital health company, Meg Software, which launched with Calvary Healthcare Australia in June.
Following a highly successful six-month long pilot of MEG’s software, the decision was made to adopt MEG as the digital audit management system of choice, signing a two-year contract with Calvary to expand its use organisation-wide. The final rollout will involve 800 Calvary Health Care staff, across 95 facilities (including hospitals, community care and aged care homes) in multiple Australian states.
This was a great example of the adoption of Irish software based companies into wider organisations and the strength of Irish tech in the Australian marketplace.
With Christmas just around the corner it is great to look back on some of the highlights from the last year. From everyone one on the Enterprise Ireland A/NZ team we would like to wish you all a safe, happy and healthy Christmas and New Year.
