Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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254. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will report on the recent event, Ones to Watch: Connecting Irish Innovation to UK Industry, hosted by Enterprise Ireland as part of the State visit by the President of Ireland to the United Kingdom. [18685/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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This inaugural Ones to Watch event held on Wednesday 9^thApril 2014, at the Irish Embassy in London focused on supporting Irish High Potential Start-Up (HPSU) companies aiming to accelerate their sales growth and consolidate relationships in the UK market. The event followed on from the HPSU Showcase held in Dublin Castle on 19^thFebruary 2014. These early stage companies have been supported through investments from Enterprise Ireland in 2013 and represented the latest wave of innovation across all sectors, from retail and health care to HR and cleantech.

A significant number of Enterprise Ireland HPSU clients have indicated that the UK is a key priority for them. Enterprise Ireland both at home and overseas, work in partnership to actively support businesses to develop new market entry and sustainable market growth strategies. The objective of this event was to help ensure that Irish companies are thoroughly prepared and capable of success in this highly competitive global market.

The event had 2 elements to support this objective:

1. A workshop attended by 40 HPSU’s who have identified the UK as their key export market. The workshop provided practical assistance on the development and implementation of a UK market entry strategy; and

2. An evening networking event attended by 160 guests, which included 60 of the HPSU client companies’ key UK customers and partners; Strategic UK experts across a range of disciplines who can assist companies in their UK market development; Leading British Investment institutions.