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Why Ireland for engineering investment

  • Ireland is the European location of choice for growing numbers of industrial engineering and technology companies in manufacturing, research and innovation

  • Principal industry sectors include automotive, aerospace, chemicals and advanced materials, automation and industrial technology

Source the skills you need to make your investment in Ireland a success

Connect with us

Source the skills you need to make your investment in Ireland a success

Connect with us
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Leading Industry Names

Ireland’s strong and vibrant engineering industry supports a broad range of companies across many industries. It includes names like Liebherr, Henkel, Element Six, Sulzer and Thermoking. The sector contributes more than €5.6 billion annually to Irish exports.

  • The top eight industrial automation companies
  • Four of the top 10 global engineering design firms
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A Proven Track Record

Ireland has been attracting engineering companies for more than 50 years. Recently, many have expanded their operations to serve EMEA markets. Ireland is also developing into a hub for cutting-edge fields such as IoT, Industry 5.0, Connected Autonomous Vehicles and more.

  • 250+ industrial technology and engineering companies in Ireland
  • 23,000+ people employed in the engineering sector
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Cutting-Edge Research

Ireland is an attractive location for researching new technologies, with 42% of engineering companies in Ireland already engaging in R&D activity. Ireland’s industry-led research centres specialise in areas like advanced materials, smart manufacturing and industrial automation.

  • Active R&D in emerging technologies
  • World-class research centres with strong industry focus
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Strong Talent Pipeline

Engineering companies locating or expanding in Ireland can avail of skilled talent including recent graduates and staff already working in the sector. Ireland’s EU membership provides unrestricted access to a labour pool of more than 240 million people.

  • 45,000 third-level students enrolled in STEM fields at any one time
  • Ireland ranks first in the world for productivity in industry (OECD)
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Ready for Disruption

As Industry 5.0 trends reshape engineering and manufacturing, IDA Ireland client companies are already working on R&D projects in augmented reality, industrial IoT, robotics and automation to enhance and optimise their manufacturing operations.

  • Government support for feasibility investigations to digitisation projects
  • 25% tax credit for all qualifying R&D activity

We selected Dublin because of its global business environment, talent, ability to support European languages, excellent long-term cost structure, and quality of life for employees. Dublin is a vibrant, multicultural and creative city. These qualities align well with our brand and culture and we think Dublin will be a great fit for us.

See similar companies in Ireland

Schneider
Liebherr
DuPont
GM
Airbus Helicopters
Aptiv
Enernoc
Abbott
Siemens
Jaguar
United Technologies
Ingersoll
ElementSix
GE
Honeywell
Pilz
Henkel
Valeo

Success Stories: Hear from leaders calling Ireland home

A proven path

See all Success Stories
Zendesk
Cadence
HPE
eSentire
Vanta
Supermetrics
Dublin site is a regional hub for product development

Dublin site is a regional hub for product development

Dublin is such a hub for big tech companies that you might think ‘if we come to Dublin, we’re going to be competing with all of them, we won't be able to get good staff’. But I think the opposite is true. Because we’ve got such a base of well recognised brands in Dublin, that actually brings qualified people from all over Europe here.

Cork facility designated as European R&D Centre of Excellence

Cork facility designated as European R&D Centre of Excellence

The timing and scale of this Cadence investment is a real boost to Cork’s growing reputation as a specialised R&D hub. Due to our proximity to the University College Cork and Munster Technological University as well as to Ireland’s largest ICT research centre, The Tyndall Institute, the region provides an amazing engineering and computer science talent pool to draw from.

50+ years for HPE in Ireland

50+ years for HPE in Ireland

Ireland has an incredible technology-focused economy and a highly skilled workforce, and our investment in the country will further develop the country as a critical market for HPE’s global business, as well as benefitting our customers, partners, team members and the citizens of Ireland.

 eSentire's Cork site has become a service delivery centre of excellence and now employs 52 people

eSentire's Cork site has become a service delivery centre of excellence and now employs 52 people

There’s a global shortage of cybersecurity professionals, it’s well documented that it’s very hard to hire and retain cybersecurity professionals. We’ve been able to hire very high-quality talent, who are doing a great job. There’s a very strong work ethic and culture here, eSentire has several very, very strong partnerships, and I emphasise the word ‘partnership’. A good example is Munster Technological University: they have what I would describe as the leading programme in cybersecurity in Ireland, hands down.

Vanta is a startup focused on automating cybersecurity compliance

Vanta is a startup focused on automating cybersecurity compliance

We have a talent pool that allows us to serve a large population in a very effective way, both with language and specialisation skills like sales or customer success.

Ireland’s attractiveness helped by how it brings people from across Europe to work

Ireland’s attractiveness helped by how it brings people from across Europe to work

Dublin is ideal for the rich pool of talent, with significant technology literacy: people who have extensive experience either selling similar solutions, or – equally importantly – selling to similar types of customers. That really accelerates our ability to identify and hire the talent, bring them into the business and get them to a point of productivity very, very quickly. You don’t get that in other places.

Find your European home

Find your European home