The US West Coast is a good home for Irish tech innovation and innovators

As Ireland’s second largest export market, the importance of the United States for the economy here should not be underestimated.

reland’s deep cultural and historical ties to the US mean our two nations share a warm friendship, making this dynamic market a natural choice of location for many ambitious Irish companies looking to grow and scale.

As a result, Ireland was the ninth largest source of foreign direct investment into the US economy last year, worth $240.1 billion.

The markets in the United States are huge and widespread. And in terms of geographic locations, there are several key regions where pioneering Irish innovators are looking to locate in order to realize their ambitions.

California is a significant landing point for Irish companies entering and expanding into the US on the west coast, particularly in the technology sector.

For example, Enterprise Ireland’s client companies currently have 131 office locations throughout California and directly employ 8,522 people.

And Irish companies have also found success in neighboring states along the west coast, all the way to Washington state, where the largest city, Seattle, is home to major global organizations like Microsoft and Amazon.

Recognizing the importance of the West Coast to Irish business, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar TD, is embarking on a West Coast trade mission beginning April 25 in Seattle.

This trade mission will also include Silicon Valley, San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles with 29 Irish companies participating.

With San Francisco known as the digital capital of the world and Seattle as the cloud capital of the world, the focus of the trade mission is naturally on digital technologies and Ireland’s relative strength in critical areas of digital technology.

This visit reflects the impact of Ireland’s game-changing and disruptive innovators in the marketplace.

They have contributed to our excellent trade relationship with the US, which has continued to grow despite the difficulties of the past two years. Enterprise Ireland client companies establish approximately 80-90 new presences in the US market each year, with a growing proportion of these offices ending up on the West Coast – and this pace of investment and development has continued over the past two years despite difficult global conditions Circumstances.

Today, the strong influence of Irish innovation on US marketplaces is a testament to Irish companies’ determination to compete, adapt and innovate at all costs.

As a result, these agile innovators and entrepreneurs have maintained their competitive advantage and continue to successfully optimize US marketplaces.

Irish firms that had a presence in the US prior to the pandemic have continued to grow despite the challenges of the past two years. For example, Taoglas, headquartered in Dublin, first opened its US offices in San Diego in 2011.

Since then, the company has continued on an impressive growth trajectory to become a dominant player in the IoT antenna and RF antenna markets, which it is today.

Over the past year, Taoglas has increased its employment by over 40 percent in both Ireland and the US.

The US plays a significant role in its global growth trajectory – driven by our California-based US headquarters and supported by its offices in Minneapolis and Florida.

As the world opens up again, these opportunities are even more apparent to ambitious Irish companies.

Emerging growth areas on the West Coast include telecoms and ICT, which are gaining prominence with the rollout of 5G.

In addition, post-pandemic solutions for the modern digital workplace are increasingly in demand, such as B. Workplace AI and sales and marketing technology to help companies better reach their customers.

Ireland’s reputation for excellence in innovation and leadership in a changing world is growing tremendously in the US.

On the West Coast in particular, the strength of the Irish diaspora and our reputation for creating solutions to global problems have made scaling and growing your business in this vast market more accessible and attractive than ever.

Jack Callaghan is Senior Vice President (Digital Technology) of Enterprise Ireland