MINUTES OF 10th MEETING OF EDF ENTERPRISE SUB-GROUP ON 21 NOVEMBER 2006

 

Attendees:        Mark Sweeney, NICCI

                        Seamus McAleavey, NICVA         

                        Wilfred Mitchell, FSB

                        John Rubery, NITB

                        Pamela Wilson, NITB     

Brian Gorman, DEL

                        Peter Jakobsen, DFP

                        David Cochrane, DFP

                        Fiona Hepper, DETI       

                        Philip Rodgers, DETI

                        Mark Pinkerton, DETI

                        Edel Lamb, DETI

 

WELCOME AND MINUTES OF LAST MEETING

 

1.     Mark Sweeney welcomed members to the 10th meeting of the Forum’s Enterprise Sub-Group.  He welcomed John Rubery, Pamela Wilson and Peter Jakobsen and noted apologies from Patricia McKeown and Mike Brennan.

 

2.     The chair noted that the minutes of the 15 September meeting had been agreed by email.

 

MATTERS ARISING

 

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

 

SUB-GROUP WORK PROGRAMME

 

Update on Tourism Action

 

4.     John Rubery gave a presentation on NITB’s work on Product Development Priorities for Northern Ireland Tourism 2007-2012.  The presentation highlighted the significant contribution of tourism to the NI economy and advised that the Assembly had recognised tourism as a priority.  It noted, however, that tourism in NI needs to be developed in order to catch up with other regions.  It outlined that the key challenges for tourism are to build foundations for the development of a long term, sustainable, tourism industry.  Members were advised that NITB is currently producing a paper outlining ways in which growth in the tourism industry can be optimised using existing resources.  Key issues include ways of marketing NI, in particular marketing it as more than a discovery destination in order to create a sustainable industry.  NITB suggested some ways of achieving this, including the development of signature projects and iconic images such as the Giant’s Causeway.  Members were advised that NI’s tourism industry must respond to a global market.  It must provide the ‘authentic’ experience that visitors seek.

 

5.     Members suggested that any tourism strategy should focus on all of NI.  They also noted the need for various bodies to work together in order to achieve growth in the sector.  This would include collaboration between NITB and other bodies, such as Invest NI and DEL, to ensure that the necessary infrastructure and skills are in place; collaboration between government departments and between the public and private sectors.

 

6.     Members requested further information on models of best practice that NI might look to.  The benefits of having a concentrated responsibility for tourism at a high level in the figure of a tourism minister, as in RoI, were noted.  RoI’s investment in infrastructure was also discussed.

 

7.     Members discussed ways in which the Sub-Group might usefully contribute to the development of NITB’s work on these issues.  It was agreed that current work on the Economic Impact of Tourism may be of interest to the group and would help frame future discussions.  It was agreed that the outcome of this research would be considered by the group at a future meeting.

 

ACTION:           DETI to bring the results of the research into the Economic Impact of Tourism to the Sub-Group when it has been completed.

 

Marketing of Northern Ireland

 

8.     Fiona Hepper updated members on the Sub-Group’s action relating to improving the marketing of NI as a quality place to live as a conduit to attracting entrepreneurs.  She reminded members that presentations have been given by Tim Losty on the NI Bureau in Washington, by Stephen McArdle on Invest NI’s business information portal, by David Cochrane on the online facility, ‘Online NI’, and by John McKenna on Invest NI’s production of a DVD for marketing NI at previous meetings.  It was noted that the Sub-Group had provided comments and ideas in relation to moving these four initiatives forward.  Members were asked to consider whether or not this action could be declared as completed.

 

9.     Members proposed that following the discussion on tourism it may be useful to link the two issues and that further work on marketing NI as a tourist destination would be useful.

 

10. Members questioned which bodies were responsible for promoting NI as a tourist destination.  It was noted that the remit of Tourism Ireland is to promote the island of Ireland as a destination.  It was agreed that it would be useful to consider ways of marketing NI as a distinctive destination.  Members proposed that this was an area to which the Sub-Group might usefully contribute.  DETI agreed that they would give further thought to this and would report back to the group.

 

11. In order to take this action forward, it was agreed that the Sub-Group should consider a paper on the role of Tourism Ireland, NITB and the district councils in promoting NI as a tourist destination.

 

12. Members also suggested that in the future it would be useful to consider what small businesses can contribute to assist the expanding tourism sector.  It was suggested that some information on this could be gained by contacting NI Tourist Industry Confederation (NITIC) and the B&B Association.  It was also noted that the Sub-Group should consider whether training in the skills necessary to supporting this sector would be required.

 

ACTION:           Tourism Policy Branch, DETI, to produce a paper on the roles of Tourism Ireland, NITB and the district councils in promoting NI as a tourist destination; plus how the small business sector could be harnessed to contribute better to the growth of the sector.

 

Entrepreneurial Culture in NI and Attitude to Risk

 

13. Phil Rodgers reminded members that at the September meeting they had discussed possible research projects which could be taken forward under the broad theme of ‘Entrepreneurial Culture in NI and Attitude to Risk’ and had agreed that 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.

 

14. Terms of Reference for this research project had been drawn up and members were asked to provide comments.  Members suggested some minor changes.  Concerns were also raised about the narrow focus of the research but members were advised that this piece is part of DETI’s larger research agenda.  While this piece focuses on the private sector a second piece of research focused on entrepreneurial culture and the public sector will be carried out as part of DETI’s 2007/08 research agenda.

 

15. Members were advised that the current project would be completed by March 2007 and it was agreed that the results should be considered by members at a future meeting.

 

ACTION:           Members to provide any further comments on the Terms of Reference in writing to the EDF Secretariat by Tuesday 5 December.

 

Exports

 

16. Mark Sweeney directed members to the report produced by NICCI’s Exports Forum.  He highlighted that three key ways forward had been identified by the Forum: to increase awareness of the export opportunity and existing support; the consolidation of existing support; and, the development of an enhanced suite of SME targeted support tools.  Members were advised that one way of moving forward in these terms would be a website that provided information on all aspects of exports.

 

17. David Cochrane reminded members of the benefits of the ‘Online NI’ website, which provides links to existing online information online about NI and functions both as a topic based guide and search engine to all aspects of life in NI.  David Cochrane advised that he would welcome suggestions for new topics, such as exports, which would provide a series of links to existing resources online.

 

18. Members suggested that ‘Online NI’ could be developed further as a resource for business through collaboration with Invest NI and by integration with Invest NI’s business portal website.

 

ACTION:           David Cochrane to work with Alan Hingston, Invest NI, on ways of bringing the two websites together and to report back on progress at the next meeting of the Sub-Group.

 

Review of Northern Ireland Better Regulation Strategy

 

19. Fiona Hepper directed members to the papers on the Review of the NI Better Regulation Strategy.  She reminded members that in 2001 the NI Executive introduced a Better Regulation Strategy to minimise the burdens of red tape on business and that since then a number of Better Regulation initiatives have been taken forward by Whitehall departments.  This review has been carried out by DETI to ensure that NI businesses continue to benefit from UK policy in this area.  The review paper raises a number of concerns but overall it highlights that good progress has been made.  It also makes a number of recommendations, and Fiona Hepper advised that views and comments from the Sub-Group would be welcomed before the paper was finalised.  Members expressed overall support for the review and welcomed the proposed consultation with stakeholders.

 

Review of the Enterprise Sub-Group

 

20. The Chair advised that given that he was relatively new to the Sub-Group, this might be an appropriate point to review the group’s work programme and to assess if new members would benefit future progress of the group.

 

21. To enable a full discussion of this at the Sub-Group’s next meeting, the chair recommended that members consider the Sub-Group’s Terms of Reference.  It was suggested that at the next meeting each member should comment on what they consider to be the Sub-Group’s value and what they feel the most useful way forward would be for the group.  The Chair agreed to consider membership and in particular the issue of co-opting members with an enterprise/entrepreneurial background.

 

ACTION: Members to revisit the Sub-Group’s Terms of Reference and consider the way forward for the group.

 

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

 

Sub-group Report for September 2006 Plenary Meeting

 

22. Members agreed that a written progress report would be prepared for EDF members.  Given that discussion had focused largely on the marketing of NI as a tourist destination they proposed that this item be highlighted for discussion at the plenary meeting.

 

23. The Chair informed members that he would not be available to attend the December plenary and it was agreed that Wilfred Mitchell would speak to the Sub-Group’s report.

 

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

 

Date of Next Meeting

 

24. It was agreed that the Secretariat would liaise with members to arrange a date in February 2007 for the next meeting.

 

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