By Business & Finance 
The launch of the Business & Finance FDI 100, an annually updated index highlighting and honouring the decisions of multinationals to invest in Ireland, takes place in The Westbury Hotel on February 18th.
With a spotlight on job creation, innovation, thought leadership and the most vital contributions to the Irish economy, the index represents some of the most extensive profiling of Ireland’s largest multinationals.
Recent statistics released by the IDA reports that more than one-in-five private sector jobs in the economy (direct and indirect employment) are as a result of IDA supported foreign direct investment.
Foreign direct investment is growing in all regions, which is contributing to a strong overall national performance. Almost 19,000 jobs were created last year by IDA client companies in regions all over Ireland, with over 9,000 jobs created outside Dublin.
The number of investments secured during the year rose from to 213 from 197 in the previous year and the number of new name investments went to 94 from 88 in the previous year.
In other positive news, Ireland has been ranked first out of 109 states when it comes to foreign direct investment and the annual Global Talent Competitiveness Index has found Ireland ranks 16th in the world in terms of its record of attracting skilled workers, down from 10th last year.
Even through challenging times, Ireland has continued to attract high-performing industries to its shores and these large multinationals are maintaining a key presence here. FDI continues to be a driver of economic growth and job creation, both directly and indirectly, and Ireland is determined to remain a location of choice for enterprises.
SPEAKERS AND SPONSORS
Title sponsor of the event on February 18th is HP. HP creates technology that makes life better for everyone, everywhere. Through its portfolio of printers, PCs, mobile devices, solutions, and services, the company engineers experiences that amaze.
Gary Tierney, HP
Gary Tierney, managing director, HP, said: “Ireland has traditionally been a strong performer in FDI, from a HP perspective we have made a continuous inward investment over the past four decades. The evolution of the HP business in Ireland is a great example and a practical case study for Ireland Inc. and is a positive reflection of the work of IDA Ireland.”
Airline sponsor of the FDI 100 launch is United Airlines. With the world’s most comprehensive global route network, including world-class international gateways, United is focused on being the airline customers want to fly, the airline employees want to work for and the airline shareholders want to invest in.
Business & Finance is delighted to announce Johann Butting, managing director, EMEA at Dropbox as a guest speaker at the event.
Dropbox is now the biggest sharing and collaboration network in the world, with over 400 million users. Butting, an engineer turned businessperson, has a passion for building things, regardless of whether that’s great technology, or great companies.
