An Irish region has one of the top 10 startup ecosystems in the world for food and AgTech companies, according to an authoritative new report.
The Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER), a detailed annual dossier which examines the support structures in countries around the world that enable start-ups to grow and scale, has ranked the Mid-East region of Ireland – consisting of counties Meath, Kildare and Wicklow – among the top-performing ecosystems across the globe.
The region’s inclusion in this year’s GSER 2019 report is a pilot project spearheaded by Meath Enterprise. The report was launched at The Next Web conference in Amsterdam this month.
Among the key findings of the report is that the Mid-East has a top 10 activation ecosystem when it comes to AgTech – the application of technology to food production – and food innovation, and it has already managed to create $150 million in ecosystem value.
The report also cites R&D tax credits, attractive corporate tax rates and low talent costs among reasons why the region remains attractive to entrepreneurs.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who was briefed on the report during a visit to Meath Enterprise’s Kells Tech Hub, said the government’s mission was to make sure that “the economic prosperity that we see today is felt in every part of the country, and is felt in every home. And that we build a society in which nobody is left out. What I have seen today in this centre really speaks to that mission and to that vision”.
He added: “It is great to see a local authority that is really leading out on enterprise development. Some have really embraced some of the newer roles that local authorities have and linking enterprise development with planning is very much one of those.”
Meath Enterprise, the Navan-based enterprise development company behind the Boyne Valley Food Innovation District, has partnered with Startup Genome, a research and advisory company based in California which delivers evidence-based strategy frameworks for startup ecosystems across all phases of development, in a bid to benchmark the Mid-East against more than 50 ecosystems globally.
Startup Genome’s GSER is the most widely read report on startup communities in the world and is downloaded hundreds of thousands of times each year, delivering analytics and advice to policymakers in 50 cities across 30 countries.
The project examines the relative strengths and weaknesses of the Mid-East region from the perspective of how well enterprise development and startup companies are supported.
The inclusion of the three counties in the report puts the Mid-East’s startup community on a global stage, according to Gary O’Meara, CEO of Meath Enterprise. He said the aim of the project and the ongoing partnership with Startup Genome is designed to help develop a structured framework with actions based on the region’s strengths and global best practice.
“This can help us to support and develop local entrepreneurship more efficiently and effectively going forward,” he said. “It also provides exposure for the region on a global scale through its inclusion in the 2019 Global Startup Ecosystem Report.”
He added: “The Startup Genome project is really about looking at other ecosystems and finding out what everybody else is doing, how you build clusters and how you develop a successful startup ecosystem so that you can get all the various elements and fine-tune the environment to help startups scale properly and make them work.”
Mr O’Meara said the GSER saw the Mid-East’s ecosystem benchmarked against 50 ecosystems around the world, from Silicon Valley to Tel Aviv. “It has put us in the top 10 ecosystems based on global rankings in terms of what we are already doing but also what we are planning to do, so as an emerging ecosystem in AgTech and food, we are regarded as one to watch out for.”
The data generated by the report will help drive visibility of startup enterprises in the three counties as well as focus on the region’s strengths and shortcomings, enabling local policy leaders to take informed action where needed.
Posted 23rd May 2019