The Island of Global Innovation and Success

Mass delivery by drone—a dream of logistics operators—has long been thwarted by technical and regulatory challenges. While Alphabet-owned Wing leads the big US players seeking a breakthrough, one rival has just crossed the Atlantic to challenge them on their own territory.

Irish company Manna has completed more than 100,000 drone deliveries in Ireland. This year, it aims to reach 1,000 deliveries a day in its native Dublin. The company has now launched in the US, partnering with a real estate company to offer delivery to its developments in Texas.

The business has won investment from a strategic arm of Coca-Cola in its bid to disrupt the food delivery market. The company’s entry to the US was cited by Ireland’s Prime Minister Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, on a St. Patrick’s Day visit to Washington D.C., as “further evidence that our economic relationship with America is a two-way street.”

More than multinationals

Manna is just one of a new generation of startups helping Ireland punch well above its weight across the world. The country’s innovative verve is helping to drive the country’s diverse, dynamic culture. Today, one in seven people in Ireland profess a desire to start their own business in the next three years, according to a Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report.

Google established its first European operation in Ireland 20 years ago, and other major tech companies, such as Analog Devices, Intel and still-nascent Apple and Microsoft, had already invested in the country before then.

“Some of the biggest companies in the world have put initial European investments into Ireland, and that’s helped our local tech industry,” says Leo Clancy, CEO of Enterprise Ireland, the Irish government agency that helps innovative Irish businesses go global. While the multinationals remain, homegrown firms are now giving them a run for their money.

Where medicine meets technology

Dublin-based CliniShift is part of today’s thriving medtech ecosystem. The business has created software to streamline hospital staff rostering and internal communications and recently entered a major partnership with Northwell Health, New York State’s biggest health care provider.

Nova Leah, whose cybersecurity solutions protect medical devices from hacking risks, is also targeting the US market through a new Boston office. The company took its software from idea to commercialization with the support of Enterprise Ireland.

Irish medtech companies thrive in a cross-pollinating culture that sees many clinicians leave their jobs to explore business startups. The BioInnovate program, based at the University of Galway, enables them to complete a master’s degree in medical innovation.

A hub for unicorns

Fintech is thriving, too. Flipdish, one of a growing band of Irish tech unicorns, is built on technology that enables restaurants to run their own online ordering services. The company recently announced a deal to deliver its tech to French department store chain Galeries Lafayette.

Like Flipdish, Fenergo, which provides software solutions to banks, has an international outlook. Now firmly established in the US, it counts some of the world’s biggest financial institutions among its clients.

Another important aspect of the Irish startup scene is sustainability. This includes fast-growing green energy suppliers, such as Exergyn and Urban Volt, but also extends to the wider ESG agenda. Inclusio, which offers businesses a scientific way to measure their diversity, plans to boost its Dublin team from 35 to over 100 as a result of a €4.1 million ($4.47 million) funding round in early 2023.

Welcoming and outgoing

One effect of the country’s innovation activity has been a blooming international labor force, as Ireland has sought out people with the right skills. From a predominantly Irish working population 30 years ago, the country now has a significant foreign-born workforce, says Clancy, who regularly hears newcomers marvel at how easy they’ve found it to fit in. “The social welcome people experience goes back to our roots as a nation of migrants,” he says.

In turn, Ireland’s business community looks outwards to the rest of the world. Clancy’s organization has 40 international offices, that encourage international companies to source Irish innovation, and support Irish companies to scale internationally. While the US is a big focus, the UK remains the biggest market, taking 29th of Enterprise Ireland’s client exports.

“The UK, Europe and the US will remain the largest markets for us. The UK’s position has actually strengthened in the context of Brexit, while exports to the Eurozone have grown by over €3 billion ($3.3 billion) since 2017 to €7.9 billion ($8.7 billion) in 2022,” Clancy notes. “However, we’re also seeing very strong growth in the Middle East, Africa and India.”

Seed fund injection

Alongside an active venture capital and angel investor community, Enterprise Ireland, the No. 1 VC in Europe by deal count (according to Pitchbook) has a powerful role in nurturing this ecosystem, and made 3,774 direct investments in Irish companies in 2022.

Additionally, as a partner in local funds, Enterprise Ireland acts to stimulate local seed-stage investments. Its latest venture will see it partner with European and Irish investment funds to seed innovative startups. “The Irish Innovation Seed Fund Program is a €90 million ($98 million) fund that’s going to be injected at a very important time for global early-stage capital, given the shocks we’ve seen recently,” says Clancy.

2023’s general funding climate has been subdued at best, following a record €1 billion ($1.09 billion) injection in Irish SMEs for the first nine months of 2022. Ireland can point to a track record of resilience, however, having maintained growth above the European average throughout the trials of Brexit and the pandemic.

Clancy remains upbeat. “There’s a lot of very business-savvy Irish enterprises out there that want to partner in the US and elsewhere,” he says. “I think Irish enterprise has an awful lot more to give on the global stage and will be the prime driver of our economy in the future.”