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Peter Curran, our Head of Dual Market Access Unit, outlines below the new tariffs announced by the US administration.

Peta Conn, Director GB and Europe, highlights some of the activities that Invest Northern Ireland’s GB and Europe team have been involved with during the last year.

In today’s fiercely competitive global marketplace, productivity is vital for business survival. Businesses with higher productivity levels and lower costs per unit of output are more competitive in both domestic and international markets. 

Productivity is also crucial for wider economic prosperity. A country with higher productivity usually has more export potential, job creation, and sustainable growth.

Northern Ireland lags behind the UK and the Republic of Ireland’s productivity levels. According to the Productivity Institute’s ‘NI Productivity 2040’ insights paper, the failure to

Discover the unique advantage of Northern Ireland's dual market access—trade seamlessly with GB & the EU. Learn how to grow your business today!

Northern Ireland is uniquely positioned to become a global leader in green manufacturing, technology, services, and supply chain innovation. Rachel Sankannawar, Head of Green Economy Development at Invest Northern Ireland, explains why businesses should embrace the green economy and how Invest NI is helping them succeed.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving and as his tenure as US Special Envoy for Economic Affairs draws to a close, Invest NI’s Director of Trade & Investment, Anne Beggs writes in the Irish News about Joe Kennedy III’s catalytic impact on businesses right across Northern Ireland and laying the foundations for a legacy of growth opportunities.

Steve Harper, Invest Northern Ireland’s executive director, international and skills, sets out Northern Ireland’s unique competitive position.

John Hood, Invest Northern Ireland’s Director of Food & Drink reflects on a challenging year for businesses and provides a flavour of how the agency will continue to support the sector in 2020.

The Graduate to Export programme for international marketing students was recently launched. The programme allows Northern Ireland companies to enhance their export capability with a graduate assisting them with a market research project. As part of the programme we will be following the stories of three of the graduates to get an insight into their experiences.

In the first of a two-part feature, we look at how NI companies are taking huge steps to help the fight against COVID-19.

Each year we report our end of year performances figures, highlighting in particular our progress against our 4 year Business Strategy targets which were set as part of the draft Programme for Government.

The sudden contraction of export markets, loss of supply chain and government decisions to lockdown whole countries and close all but essential businesses has sent shockwaves through economies right around the globe as COVID-19 has moved from continent to continent.

The immediate global impact of COVID-19 on businesses has been huge, both financially and operationally. It has caused disruptions to global and local supply chains, including the supply of essential raw materials and energy. 

 

In this feature we look at the activity we undertook during 2019/2020 to support business growth, future investment and job creation across Northern Ireland. This activity will drive our outcome performance in future years.

In recent months, much of the world has had travel and business restrictions in place in the fight against COVID-19.  Countries in Asia were among the first to go into lockdown, and are now amongst the first to emerge. As the restrictions ease and Asia moves to a ‘new-normal’ there are business opportunities for Northern Ireland companies to expand in the region.

COVID-19 has brought many challenges, but there are also opportunities and some Northern Ireland SME businesses are looking to take advantage of this.

This year, I had the opportunity to sit on the panel for the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise. Now in their 54th year, the Queen’s Awards are considered by many as the highest UK official award for businesses and are awarded for outstanding achievement in the categories of innovation, international trade, sustainable development and promoting opportunity through social mobility.

In the 2020 edition of the Belfast Telegraphs "Top 100 Northern Ireland Companies" Kevin Holland comments on how 2020 has been a year of change for NI businesses.

The trading environment for many NI businesses will change from 1 January 2021 as a result of the end of the EU Exit transition period. Whilst many points of detail have still to be confirmed, a clearer picture is starting to emerge.

Despite the impact of COVID-19 on global markets, we have started planning and laying the foundations for our recovery, with exporting set to play an important role.

The £2m COVID-19 Business & Financial Planning Grant will support micro and SME businesses to engage an experienced consultant to carry out a review and health check of the business and develop a strategic recovery plan with financial forecasts.

The UK's immigration system is changing – from 1 January 2021 an entirely new immigration regime will come into effect.

Leaving the EU Single Market means that there will be changes in how cross border trade in services will be conducted. 

The issues for services trade have not had as much focus as goods trade. In this feature, we highlight some of the common issues which services businesses need to consider and act upon in the weeks ahead.

Northern Ireland’s tech start-up sector has seen significant growth in recent years, particularly in the fields of Fintech, cyber security, health tech and more. We recognise the importance of maximising and supporting this growth so that start-ups can rapidly scale in global markets. In light of COVID-19, this is particularly important.