Enterprise Ireland accelerates focus on the Eurozone market with Ambition Germany event
Enterprise Ireland is accelerating its focus on the Eurozone market, which represents a potential export market of €38bn.
The agency which has set targets to increase Irish exports to the Eurozone by 50% by 2020, is hosting Ambition Germany on Friday, December 7, to support more Irish companies to start and scale in Germany.
Germany is the largest economy in the EU and Ireland’s largest export market in the Eurozone.
Ambition Germany is part of Enterprise Ireland’s push to accelerate the Eurozone as a priority market for Irish exporters and support Irish companies to diversify into new country markets as a response to the challenges of Brexit.
The one-day event in the Sheraton Hotel 9in Athlone will hear from Irish companies including Aerogen, Western Automation, Ireland’s Eye Knitwear, Kooba, and Burnside Eurocyl, as well as advice from experts on online selling, legal, tax & recruitment issues relevant to the German market.
Liam Ryan, MD of SAP Labs Ireland will also share insights on the German business landscape, while the German Ambassador to Ireland, Deike Potzel, will give insights on the political and economic outlook for Germany.
Enterprise Ireland client exports to the Eurozone region, which account for 20 per cent of all exports, saw strong growth of 9 per cent to €4.61bn in 2017.
Enterprise Ireland supported 89 Irish companies to export to the Eurozone for the first time in 2017.
Almost 300 new contracts were secured for Irish companies in the Eurozone with Enterprise Ireland assistance
In 2017, Enterprise Ireland client exports to Germany increased by 14 per cent to over €1.1bn with industrial, life sciences and construction seeing a 19% increase and software and services exports increasing by 22%.
If your company is considering expanding to Germany this event should be your first stop. The @Entirl German team will be there along with market experts and other Irish companies who have successfully made the move to Europe's largest market already. https://t.co/cYBHH6NGfW
— Roisin (@RoisinGreening) November 26, 2018
Germany offers a range of benefits for exporters such as zero currency risk, unfettered access, regulatory alignment and close geographic proximity to Ireland.
Enterprise Ireland Manager for Germany, Eddie Goodwin commented:
“The German market has been one of the most resilient export markets for Irish companies and was one of the fastest to recover from the last global financial crisis. Since then increasingly more Irish SMEs have recognised the potential across all major sectors and Brexit has certainly accelerated the trend of Irish companies targeting and winning new business in Germany.
There are now over 500 Irish companies exporting to the market and their exports grew 14% at last count. We would see this interest increasing further as Irish industry looks more and more to the largest economy in the EU.
"German business culture while different to Irish, with some recognition of the differences, can be complementary and German business is certainly open to working with Irish companies. There has never been a more opportune time for Irish companies to take advantage of the massive market of the largest EU neighbour.”
