Regions must act cohesively to attract future investment or risk condemning themselves to long-run decline, the IDA¿s chief executive Mr Sean Dorgan warned today.
Speaking at a conference in Waterford's Institute of Technology, Mr Dorgan said the IDA's future strategy is to attract more value-adding projects requiring skilled graduates as Ireland moves away from being a low cost centre of manufacturing.
He said Ireland's days as a low cost manufacturing centre are now over and this era must now be followed by a move up the value chain and greater inward investment. "We want in future to create more great ideas of our own rather than covert the ideas of others" he said.
Mr Dorgan highlighted the need for a more equitable distribution of investment across the regions and the creation of "clusters of excellence" to attract IT companies and venture capitalists.
Telecoms infrastructure, waste management and a clean environment were among the areas Mr Dorgan said regions should focus on to attract investment.
He said the IDA strongly believes that regions must act cohesively and commit to the emerging spatial strategy. "The traditional expectation of regions to have someone else, outside the regions, deliver the resources and results is no longer valid."
"Frequently in Ireland, too frequently in fact, competition and ambition tends to be local. We want our town or our county to succeed. While this is laudable, it is not likely to be successful when competition for investments is global."
He said that it is now up to the regions to formulate their own strategies and the IDA's role was to support such efforts.
Despite the sluggishness of the global economy Mr Dorgan said the IDA is continuing to see good prospects in areas such as pharmaceuticals. He said the IDA is confident of winning some valuable investments over the next year."
Referring to the forthcoming referendum on the Nice Treaty, Mr Dorgan said the result will be seen by investors as indicating the degree of Ireland's engagement in the EU. "Business and especially inward investment is totally tied to our future in Europe" he said.