Northern Ireland investment summit shines light on innovation

Last week’s Northern Ireland investment summit achieved many things, but one of its most beneficial was to put an international spotlight on the innovation and creativity of our local entrepreneurs.

Innovation is the lifeblood of a strong economy, and one of the key themes of the summit was industry’s responses to the twin challenges arising from our carbon-based history.

It is barely a 100 years since the exploitation of oil saw extraordinary innovation drive a new industry that not only fuelled every aspect of our lives – land, sea, air and space travel, heating, fertiliser, plastics and so much more – but simultaneously created vast wealth, mirrored by colossal societal problems which are now demanding innovation and creating new industries to resolve them.

Climate change and plastic pollution are global problems but tackling them is ushering in huge opportunities for innovators, as last week’s summit showed. Addressing these challenges has already sparked creativity and is driving growth, making it the perfect focus for investment.

Innovation can be found in all walks of life, with some leading to whole new industries; others to new ways of living. Local businesses are to the fore in many related sectors, such as wind and solar power generation, bio-gas, battery storage and much more, whilst our creative sector is also innovating, whether it be Derry Girls or An Irish Goodbye, who’s Oscar-winning creators were featured at the summit.

Overlapping our own NI investment summit in Belfast was the Resource and Waste Management Expo in Birmingham, and I was fortunate to be able to attend both. I attended the summit as policy chair of FSB NI, and the Expo in my role as MD of Environmental Street Furniture Ltd (ESF) – a Northern Ireland company that exports to around 30 countries worldwide. Again, innovation was to the fore, but some was around the new exploitation of old ideas, as much as breaking entirely fresh ground.

Back in the 1960’s during a Boxing Day walk on Wimbledon Common, Elisabeth Beresford heard her daughter call it “Wombledon”. Her innovative imagination quickly got to work and, before long, “The Wombles” were born – going on to achieve success on television, film, recording and much more. The Womble motto - "Make Good Use of Bad Rubbish" – was an environmentally friendly vision ahead of its time in normalising the ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ message. More than fifty years on, that innovation still has value worldwide. Locally, ‘Wombles’ operate in Causeway Coast and Glens where local young people are deployed to keep the area clean, especially in the north coast resorts. Nationally, this is replicated over 180 times, where local groups meet every weekend to collect for the Wombles.

Such is the strength of the ‘Wombles’ message about recycling resources, that ESF secured the rights to launch 'The Wombles Collection' at the Birmingham Expo last week, as it embodies our dedication to creating environmentally friendly street furniture.

The green economy is one in which Northern Ireland has true potential to lead the world, but it's not just about business; it involves local and regional government, acting in concert not only to shape the future we want to see, but supporting the creation of successful new industries. It was clear from the Summit that green technology is not just an industry; it's a movement whose future is so much more robust because we are all pushing in the same direction.

The summit also highlighted Northern Ireland’s strong pool of relevant supporting talent - in engineering and technology; talent that needs to be harnessed to provide opportunities to thrive in the green tech sector through collaboration between educational institutions, businesses, and government bodies - aligning training programmes and incentives for those interested in sustainable technology. It also recognised the importance of collaboration between businesses, large and small, encouraging partnerships that allow smaller enterprises to bring their innovative ideas to the fore, pairing up with the international market access of larger businesses.

By fostering an ecosystem that supports these collaborations, we can simultaneously drive innovation and growth, while aligning with the global shift towards sustainability. It's not just a trend; it's a necessity, and by embracing green technology, we are not only securing a better future for Northern Ireland, but we’re also contributing to the global effort to combat climate change.

So let’s not underestimate the power of green technology to transform Northern Ireland. The summit has laid the foundation, and it's time for all of us to come together and lead the way towards a greener, more prosperous Northern Ireland. The future is bright, and I am excited to be a part of this journey.