Mr. Martin Robinson:

We have very strong working relationships with the key agencies North and South, including Enterprise Ireland, Invest NI, along with the LEOs in the South, the local enterprise agencies, LEAs, in the North and all the stakeholders that contribute to trying to grow the economy North and South. Those relationships are well established. We work very closely to signpost businesses to the supports that are available from the LEOs, the LEAs in the North, the councils and others. Likewise, they do the same for us. We run events and host conferences together and support one another in operating the programmes. Dr. Mathieson alluded to how, for example, we are taking a number of business owners from Northern Ireland to Cork in the next few weeks. We hope that will be the first of many such visits North to South and South to North. We have established that connection through our networks, our staff and by collaborative working. As the Deputy said, it makes sense for businesses.

We have lots of good examples where academics in the North are providing information and sharing technology and expertise through our innovation boost programme with businesses in the South, and likewise the other way around. Businesses in Northern Ireland are able to avail of some of the really clever expertise and technology that exists in the South. We have a network of specialist innovation experts who can enable those collaborations. Some of those collaborations have been fantastic. To give one example, we support a company that manufactures orthotics for amputees. It was able to link up with one of the institutions in Northern Ireland, which provided it with lots of technology around 3D printing. As a result of that, the company is able to take its products to market much more quickly, reduce costs and sell more effectively. That is just one small anecdotal example of some of the real successes we have had, not just in trade, which is critically important, but also in innovation, which the Deputy mentioned. We have built up, through our programmes, very strong examples of how innovation really drives business growth.

One of the areas in which we have been very successful is our synergy programme, where we have a strong focus on supporting clusters of businesses right across the island to see where the additional opportunities exist on all-island basis. Examples of that would be in the fintech sector where we have enabled businesses to take on a cluster manager to drive connectivity North and South and work with the academic institutions to ensure businesses in the sector, which is thriving North and South, can get the staff with the skill sets they need to build and grow their businesses. That is just one small example of where we are going is this area. Another example is where we have supported both the cyber organisations North and South to collaborate. They are doing some really interesting collaborative work by pooling their expertise, knowledge and skills to deliver for the benefit of manufacturing companies for which cyber concerns are a key issue. That is another small example of where collaboration on technologies and the transfer of ideas and expertise North to South are really paying dividends.