MINUTES OF 9^th MEETING OF EDF ENTERPRISE SUB-GROUP ON 15 SEPTEMBER 2006

Attendees: Mark Sweeney, NICCI

Wilfred Mitchell, FSB

Brian Gorman, DEL

Philip Rodgers, DETI

Mark Pinkerton, DETI

Graham Davis, Invest NI

David Cochrane, DFP

John McKenna, Invest NI

Edel Lamb, DETI

WELCOME AND MINUTES OF LAST MEETING

1. Mark Sweeney welcomed members to the 9^th meeting of the Forum’s Enterprise Sub-Group. He advised that as this was his first meeting as chair he was keen to establish what stage the group was at on its various projects and plans for future work. He welcomed Graham Davis, David Cochrane and John McKenna and noted apologies from Seamus McAleavey, Mike Brennan, Patricia McKeown, Bernie O’Hare and Fiona Hepper.

2. The minutes of the 8^th meeting were accepted without amendment.

MATTERS ARISING

3. All matters would be dealt with in the agenda.

SUB-GROUP WORK PROGRAMME

AES Evaluation Report Update

4. Graham Davis, Invest NI, reminded members that Invest NI, in conjunction with DETI, has established an internal evaluation team to undertake a joint review of the success of the AES in achieving its objectives between 2003 and 2006 and to consider whether adjustments are necessary going forward. He noted that at the initial meeting of the evaluation team earlier in the year, it was recognised that the AES is an umbrella framework for a range of individual programmes and initiatives, many of which have been subject to independent evaluation in their own right. The first task of the group was to collate key recommendations from these investigations and then identify any areas under the AES which have not yet been subject to independent evaluation. This information would be combined with details of the research findings from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and other key sources. It is expected that the evaluations would be complete by the end of October 2006.

5. Graham Davis updated members on the progress of the review. The components of the AES which have been evaluated include: the Start a Business Programme; Investing in Women; Young Enterprise NI; Princes Trust; and Livewire. Evaluations which have been initiated are: Enterprise Shows; Go for It Campaign; and the Princes Trust.

6. Members were advised of the early findings of the review. They noted the successes of AES, which include the doubling of business starts in NI per year from approx 1500 to over 3000. Members also discussed the future of various schemes under the new councils and the usefulness of future investment for monitoring and following up the programmes. They also noted the opportunities for improving the scheme, for example, developing flexible training initiatives depending on the requirements of individuals and the potential benefits of including private companies in Enterprise shows.

7. Members asked what that the next steps for the review panel and the AES would involve and were advised that the next stages in the work will include: putting out a tender with the view of working out strategies for the next 3 year period; looking to the US, Far East and Northern Europe for examples of best practice; consulting with stakeholders; and producing an updated strategy document with new targets. It is anticipated that this would be drafted by December 2006 with a view to launching it in April 2007.

Marketing of Northern Ireland

8. Mark Pinkerton reminded members of the group’s objective to research and develop means of marketing NI as a quality place to live and do business. He noted that the presentations which would be given by David Cochrane, DFP, and John McKenna, Invest NI, should be considered in relation to the presentations given by Tim Losty on the NI Bureau in Washington and Stephen McArdle on Invest NI’s business information portal at the May meeting. He recommended that following all presentations members should consider whether these combined initiatives would deliver the outcome envisaged in the Action Plan.

NI Portal

9. David Cochrane updated members on the online facility, ‘Online NI’. This website has been developed as a means of connecting online services about NI and provides a useful mechanism for scanning information from 4000 diverse websites relevant to life in NI. It aims to fulfil needs of the public and business, but its main target is individuals. The site also offers a free email account to citizens, as part of its digital inclusion remit. Future plans for the site include posting an A-Z list of government services and offering a facility to search for government phone numbers. ‘Online NI’ has been very successful and receives approximately 40,000 hits per month.

10. Members agreed that the site is extremely useful and were impressed by its multi-dimensional aspects. However, they questioned the extent to which this resource encourages people to come to NI. They suggested that publicising the site may increase its success in this remit. David Cochrane advised that 6 months after the initial launch of the site a publicity campaign had been held.

11. Members also suggested that it may be possible to link existing sites that target businesses outside NI with Online NI. David Cochrane advised that he would be happy to add any further useful sites.

Invest NI DVD

12. John McKenna updated members on the rationale behind producing a DVD to support sales and marketing activities at home and across our global network of offices. He advised that although this is an expensive tool to create and maintain, it would be useful in a number of situations, including briefing visiting business people, giving seminars outside NI, and on a website.

13. John McKenna informed members that a local production company had been approached to prepare 60 minutes of high quality, professionally scripted material, which will include a generic 6-8 minute sequence that could be used as a short marketing tool in all instances. The DVD will incorporate all that is attractive about NI, such as the universities, centres of excellence and the quality of life and aims to capture the atmosphere, environment and heritage of the region. In an effort to curtail costs and to avoid duplication of effort, Invest NI plan to approach other public bodies, such as the BBC and NITB, to seek permission to use material that they already have and which would be of relevance to this exercise.

14. It is anticipated that the DVD will be finished in January 2007. Members agreed that this is a useful tool to market NI and that it would be useful in attracting potential investors.

Exports

15. Members noted the update paper in relation to the NI Chamber of Commerce’s work relating to exports. Mark Sweeney reminded members that the Export Forum was established in order to understand how to generate interest in exporting; to identify best practice; to identify areas which needed to be improved; and to identify what the customer valued. The Forum had reviewed the existing export support structures available to SMEs within NI and compared these with other regions of the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Also, working with Invest NI, it had identified a sample group of 100 SMEs, not previously involved in export but considered to have an exportable product or service. A telephone survey had also been conducted with this sample group to identify the perceived barriers to export and the services or incentives that would encourage them to export.

16. Mark Sweeney informed members that a draft report, reviewing the survey results and outlining a set of proposals aiming to encourage and support SMEs to engage in or grow their export activity, would be available within the next week. Members were advised that NICCI has determined that the key barriers to exports are: the difficulties in identifying customers; access to exporting expertise; and a lack of awareness of what help is available. In its report it will recommend a project to identify sources of information to increase awareness of SMEs. Recommendations will also focus on the role that Invest NI could play in providing seasoned experts and professionals to help businesses go forward.

17. Members suggested that the ‘Online NI’ site may be a useful tool to increase awareness of the opportunities for and mechanisms of exporting. It was agreed that it would be useful to discuss this further once the Exports Forum’s Report had been released and that David Cochrane should be invited to attend the meeting for discussion of this.

18. The Chair advised that the report would be completed within the next week and it was agreed that members would discuss the report at the next meeting of the Sub-Group. Members also suggested that this report may be of interest to all EDF members and could be presented at a plenary meeting of the Forum in the future.

ACTION: Chair to circulate copies of completed report to Sub-Group members in advance of the next meeting.

ACTION: Secretariat to invite David Cochrane to attend the next meeting for discussion of this report.

Entrepreneurial Culture in NI and Attitude to Risk

19. Phil Rodgers presented a paper which set out a number of possible research projects which could be taken forward under the broad theme of ‘Entrepreneurial Culture in NI and Attitude to Risk’. The paper outlined three research options as the way forward for a more detailed consideration of this issue: the impact of risk aversion on business start-ups; the impact of risk aversion on business growth; and, risk aversion in the public sector.

20. Members agreed that the immediate priority for research in this area should focus on the entrepreneurial attitude of existing businesses. It was agreed that, as a first step, DETI should pursue research which would develop robust measures that would enable tracking of the extent of NI’s entrepreneurial culture relative to other regions. Should the work identify ‘risk aversion’ as a relative problem in NI, a second phase of this work would then focus on examining the reasons why established NI businesses appear to be more risk averse than similar businesses in other regions.

21. It was agreed that DETI would draw up terms of reference for the project and circulate these to members for comment in advance of the next meeting.

ACTION: DETI Economists to circulate terms of reference for the research project to members in advance of the next meeting of the Sub-Group.

North-South Economic Co-operation

22. Mark Pinkerton updated members on ongoing work on North-South Co-operation, including: the establishment of an oversight group, which includes political, governmental and business representatives from both North and South; the co-operation of ITI, DETI, DEL, Forfas and DET in reporting to this group; and initiatives such as the North-West Gateway Initiative.

23. It was agreed that a paper would be prepared and considered by members at a subsequent meeting of the Sub-Group. This paper will offer an overview of the co-operative framework and will notify members of the work currently being done and indicate what additional work would be useful. It will suggest how the Sub-Group might usefully contribute to the development of this co-operation.

ACTION: DETI to prepare a paper on North-South Co-operation for a future meeting of the Sub-Group.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Assembly Economic Sub-Group

24. Members were advised that representatives of EDF were meeting with the Assembly Economic Sub-Group on 21 September and that Seamus McAleavey would represent the Enterprise Sub-Group. The Chair informed members that he had previously met with the Economic Sub-Group and updated them on the work of the Exports Forum, agreeing to forward a copy of the Export Forum’s final report.

ACTION: Secretariat to update Seamus McAleavey on the Chair’s meeting with the Economic Sub-Group.

Plenary EDF Meetings – Agenda Items

25. Members had nothing to add to the plenary agenda.

Sub-group Report for September 2006 Plenary Meeting

26. Members agreed that a written progress report would be prepared for EDF members. Given the scheduling of the September 2006 plenary meeting, it was agreed that this would be circulated to EDF members following the meeting.

ACTION: Secretariat to prepare draft report for clearance by Chair.

Date of Next Meeting

27. It was agreed that the Secretariat would liaise with members to arrange a date for the next meeting.

ACTION: Secretariat to contact members with a date for the next meeting.