Invest NI is pledging to support thousands more indigenous businesses as well as attracting a third more foreign direct investments (FDIs) in the next three years.
It also envisages that 65% of future investments will be to businesses located outside of the greater Belfast area (up from its current level of 56%).
As part if this, the agency will move from a four-region operating model to five and will increase the number of regional-based staff by 40%.
It also propose to introduce a new regional property programme so that it will have strategic sites, business parks and advance office buildings to facilitate expansion by existing clients and have turnkey solutions available for potential foreign investors.
The plans were laid out in the organisation’s new ‘Our Future in Focus’ document, which is the first three-year business strategy it has published in a decade.
The strategy was formally launched at the start of a two-conference in the Belfast ICC, attended by more than 800 delegates including more than 50 staff from Invest NI’s overseas offices and a number of major recent investors in the region.
Among the key commitments in the 2024-2027 strategy - which are largely build around Economy Minister Conor Murphy’s four key pillars of promoting regional balance, increasing the proportion of working age people in “good jobs”, raising productivity and reducing carbon emissions - are:
- Win at least 60 new to Northern Ireland FDIs (up 33%)
- Increase sales per employee in its client portfolio to £245,000 (up 14%)
- Support at least 450 local companies that are new to Invest NI (up 25%)
- Increase expenditure in R&D in the agency’s client portfolio to £750 million (up 21%)
- Support 5,000 productive investments in businesses across the north (up 12%)
“These targets are a floor, not a ceiling, and are the minimum numbers we are seeking to achieve over the next three years. They are designed to strike the right balance between ambition and realism.”
He added: “As the title suggests, this strategy is about the future development of the business enterprises, both large and small, that are the backbone of the Northern Ireland economy.
“The strategy is also about the future of Invest NI and our commitment to work closely with our existing client companies, new local start-ups, and international investors to deliver higher levels of investment and the economic and social benefits that flow from this activity.
“But the task ahead cannot be achieved by Invest NI alone. Collaboration is key and well defined, purposeful, and mutually beneficial partnerships will be essential.
“In this context, we are committed to working with our key stakeholders to create an environment where collaboration, innovation, and investment flourish and where everyone succeeds from working together.”
Mr Donoghue also addressed issues following an independent review by former BBC chairman Sir Michael Lyons, which concluded that “dysfunction and division” at leadership level within Invest NI were harming its economic performance, and which made 35 recommendations for change within the organisation.
He said: “Much has been said and written about Invest NI in the last three years or so, much of it criticism, some of it deserved, some of it not.
“We have gone through an internal transformation of the organisation, comprising significant changes in leadership, organisational structures, values, behaviours, attitudes and psychology.
“Collectively and cumulatively these changes will bring about a progressive transformational and organisational culture. The intention here is to move the organisation away from being a frequently criticised, sometimes bureaucratic, risk-averse grant-giver to a mindset where we are an internationally respected, competitive adviser and advocate, investor and business partner.”