Mr. Martin Robinson:

In reply to Deputy Tully's point about promotion and uptake of the processes, as I said, we run campaigns, including through regional radio and media, to get the message out there regarding the programmes we have. We work closely with our partners and delivery agents right across the country to do that. Increasingly, however, we are encouraging companies to come via our website. We have done a lot of work on the website to make it easier for businesses that come to it to become aware of the supports and, probably more importantly, to be able to access those supports and give us the information to enable us to tell them what we believe we have that is available to them or, in some cases, what our economic development partners elsewhere throughout the island have available. It is to enable companies to navigate where the support that best suits their needs is most available. In our particular case, we will follow that up directly with businesses in terms of understanding their needs and then signposting them to the best support we have available through some of our key programmes.

Those programmes all serve particular reasons. For example, one of the things I have not mentioned is some of the very good work we do on what we call investor readiness. Those are typically very early stage but high-growth potential companies, which are critical to the success of our economy and future growth. We talked about that need to internationalise, go beyond the island and sell overseas. We have a broad range of programmes and support available to provide specific advice to help companies understand where equity investment can enable them to drive growth going forward. We do that through one-to-one clinics to help them to become investor ready. We then run a number of events and programmes that help bring the community together. This is about bringing those communities that want and are ready to receive investment together with those investors who have the capital and money available to enable them to realise their ambitions and drive their plans forward. Our venture capital conference is one example of that. The next one will happen next month in Belfast. We expect that to be strongly attended. Our Seedcorn competition is particularly important in that scenario, where we take businesses and do it on a regional basis. The outreach is there and is heavily promoted in each of the regions throughout the island, where early stage high-potential companies are able to get advice and support to enable them to compete, ultimately, for a prize fund of €300,000 in total across different categories, which include regional winners and a sustainability competition.

Those are also very important programmes to give businesses access to the skills they need, whether that be through trade support programmes, such as Acumen, or innovation supports, such as our innovation boost businesses explorer programme, which we have just developed, to help smaller businesses that may not be quite so sure about what this innovation thing means and how they take advantage of it. We explain it to them in very simple terms. It is about trying to find ways for them to see how they can improve, in many cases, their processes, products and services, reduce their energy costs, improve their productivity and identify new opportunities. We then help them plan what that could be like for them. Critically, as with all supports, it is backed by very practical support to do something about it, including taking the steps, getting the expertise and giving financial support to enable them to embark on an innovation journey and plan, or undertake that journey to look to the cross-Border market as a first step to off-island exporting.