MINUTES OF 12^th MEETING OF EDF ENTERPRISE SUB-GROUP ON 20 JULY 2007

Attendees: Mark Sweeney, NICCI

Seamus McAleavey, NICVA

Joanne Stuart, Attrus Ltd.

Ian Murphy, Invest NI

Paul Brush, Invest NI

Bernie O’Hare, DEL

Peter Jakobsen, DFP

Fiona Hepper, DETI

Phil Rodgers, DETI

Edel Lamb, DETI

Apologies: Wilfred Mitchell, FSB

Patricia McKeown, NIC/ICTU

WELCOME AND MINUTES OF LAST MEETING

1. Mark Sweeney welcomed members to the 12^th meeting of the Forum’s Enterprise Sub-Group. He welcomed Joanne Stuart of Attrus Ltd.

2. The chair noted that the minutes of the 26 March meeting had been agreed by email.

MATTERS ARISING

3. The Chair informed members that he reported on the recommendations of the NICCI Exports Forum report at EDF plenary on 1 June. EDF members were supportive of the recommendations and it was agreed that the relevant Government Departments (particularly DETI / Invest NI) would consider the recommendations more fully and provide a response. The Chair referred members to the response provided by Invest NI.

4. Members felt that while the paper addressed specific areas, a more detailed paper would be useful. The issue of how to measure progress in implementing the recommendations should also be included in this paper.

ACTION Invest NI to provide a revised response by 15 August 2007.

SCENE SETTING: THE IMPORTANCE OF ENTERPRISE

5. The Chair reminded members that it was agreed at the last meeting to dedicate a meeting to each substantial topic and that this meeting would focus on the Accelerating Entrepreneurship Strategy (AES). Members were directed to paper 3 on key relevant figures.

6. Members noted ERINI’s research on Enterprise and Small Business Performance in Northern Ireland and it was agreed that a copy of this research would be forwarded to members when it was complete.

ACTION DETI Economists to forward ERINI research on Enterprise and Small Business Performance in Northern Ireland when it is complete.

7. Members discussed DETI’s project examining attitudes to risk and were informed that the project takes a staged approach. It will initially look at existing businesses, but in the future the public sector and business start ups will also be addressed. It was also noted that FSB are carrying out a survey on risk and attitudes to risk throughout the UK.

ACTION Phil Rodgers to engage with Wilfred Mitchell on FSB’s survey on risk.

8. Members also discussed the importance of schemes that assist smaller companies to win large public service contracts – in some cases partnering with others to bid for work they might not secure alone. It was noted that the procurement directorate already encourages SMEs to bid for Government contracts but members felt that more might be possible in this area. Members agreed that it is important to maximize the purchasing power of the public sector for the benefit of SMEs and that this should be considered as part of the future work on AES.

STIMULATING ENTREPRENEURSHIP / EVALUATION OF ACCELERATING ENTREPRENEURSHIP STRATEGY (AES)

9. Paul Brush gave an overview of the AES and the evaluation recently conducted by Price Waterhouse Coopers. The evaluation looked at all components of the Strategy and concluded that good progress has been made. Indicators show that people are now more disposed to entrepreneurial lifestyles and that the Strategy has increased the overall volume of business starts. The evaluation concluded that all the existing strands of the AES were still needed but that it may not be appropriate for Invest NI to retain responsibility for all of these (eg. Entrepreneurship Education). The evaluation also recommended refocusing the Invest NI contribution on growth, exports and tangible outputs. An action plan will now be produced, setting out the timescale for development of the next Phase.

10. Members discussed ways of potentially strengthening the AES following this evaluation and agreed on the following issues:

- Progress made by the AES is currently measured by a range of indicators, including the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). The evaluation states that more focus should be placed on outputs. Members agreed that SMART objectives should be set and that it is necessary to clarify what the measures of success would be for Northern Ireland. The three end objectives are exports, innovation and increased salaries and these should be reflected in any new AES performance measurement framework. There should also be SMART indicators developed around the more long-term elements of the Strategy (eg. Education, Youth, etc). In this context, it would be useful if the revised AES considered ERINI’s research on ways of tracking success. Members considered that the AES should incorporate more explicit indicators and ways of measuring progress across all strands of the Strategy in the future.

- The AES is led by Invest NI and at present is not sufficiently cross-governmental. Elements of the Enterprise agenda are influenced by the activities of other Departments and greater impact could be achieved if these were recognised and incorporated more formally in the next Phase. Members agreed, therefore, that the AES should be broadened to consider Enterprise across Government and how this could be best achieved should be considered.

- The original focus of the AES was on business starts. Members consider that the revised AES should also prioritise growing existing businesses and increasing export potential.

- In order to achieve a longer term cultural shift, the AES needs to focus on education at every level. The education system from primary school to university needs to be infused with entrepreneurship,. For example, careers advice should include an entrepreneurship option and incentives should be offered.

- It is crucial that input from the business community and private sector is maintained and strengthened. Innovative ways of assisting medium to large businesses in facilitating staff setting up their own businesses should be considered. Members discussed the ‘Transform’ scheme, through which members receive a percentage of their salary for up to one year while establishing their own business.

ACTION Paul Brush and Joanne Stuart to discuss input that business can make to the development of the AES.

11. It was agreed that the recommendations agreed by the Sub-Group and outlined at this meeting would be reported at the September plenary and the endorsement of EDF members sought.

ACTION Enterprise Sub-Group Chair to report recommendations to plenary EDF and ask the relevant Government Departments to engage with the development of a new AES as appropriate.

12. Members also discussed the development of an enterprise framework for Northern Ireland. The purpose of this is to set within a single framework the various enterprise and entrepreneurship related programmes and strategies already in place across agencies and Departments. The development of the framework will include, as a first step, an account of all cross-governmental activity and therefore will be stage one of the way forward with a new AES. The final piece of work would ultimately merge as the final (new) ‘AES’.

ACTION DETI to provide update on the Enterprise framework at the Sub-Group’s Winter 2007 meeting.

13. It was also noted that given that the next Invest NI Corporate Plan is due to commence in April 2008, it is important to establish the future direction of the Entrepreneurship Strategy by this date. The Strategy will be published later in 2008.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Sub-group Report for September 2007 Plenary Meeting

14. Members agreed that a written report on their discussion on the AES and the group’s recommendations would be prepared for EDF members.

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

Date of Next Meeting

15. It was agreed that the Secretariat would liaise with members to arrange a date in late September / early October 2007 for the next meeting.

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