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Why Ireland for engineering investment

  • Ireland is the European location of choice for growing numbers of industrial engineering and technology companies in manufacturing, research and innovation

  • Principal industry sectors include automotive, aerospace, chemicals and advanced materials, automation and industrial technology

Source the skills you need to make your investment in Ireland a success

Connect with us

Source the skills you need to make your investment in Ireland a success

Connect with us
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Leading Industry Names

Ireland’s strong and vibrant engineering industry supports a broad range of companies across many industries. It includes names like Liebherr, Henkel, Element Six, Sulzer and Thermoking. The sector contributes more than €5.6 billion annually to Irish exports.

  • The top eight industrial automation companies
  • Four of the top 10 global engineering design firms
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A Proven Track Record

Ireland has been attracting engineering companies for more than 50 years. Recently, many have expanded their operations to serve EMEA markets. Ireland is also developing into a hub for cutting-edge fields such as IoT, Industry 5.0, Connected Autonomous Vehicles and more.

  • 250+ industrial technology and engineering companies in Ireland
  • 23,000+ people employed in the engineering sector
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Cutting-Edge Research

Ireland is an attractive location for researching new technologies, with 42% of engineering companies in Ireland already engaging in R&D activity. Ireland’s industry-led research centres specialise in areas like advanced materials, smart manufacturing and industrial automation.

  • Active R&D in emerging technologies
  • World-class research centres with strong industry focus
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Strong Talent Pipeline

Engineering companies locating or expanding in Ireland can avail of skilled talent including recent graduates and staff already working in the sector. Ireland’s EU membership provides unrestricted access to a labour pool of more than 240 million people.

  • 45,000 third-level students enrolled in STEM fields at any one time
  • Ireland ranks first in the world for productivity in industry (OECD)
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Ready for Disruption

As Industry 5.0 trends reshape engineering and manufacturing, IDA Ireland client companies are already working on R&D projects in augmented reality, industrial IoT, robotics and automation to enhance and optimise their manufacturing operations.

  • Government support for feasibility investigations to digitisation projects
  • 25% tax credit for all qualifying R&D activity

We selected Dublin because of its global business environment, talent, ability to support European languages, excellent long-term cost structure, and quality of life for employees. Dublin is a vibrant, multicultural and creative city. These qualities align well with our brand and culture and we think Dublin will be a great fit for us.

See similar companies in Ireland

United Technologies
Jaguar
Honeywell
Pilz
Enernoc
GM
Ingersoll
Henkel
Abbott
Airbus Helicopters
Aptiv
GE
ElementSix
Valeo
Liebherr
Siemens
Schneider
DuPont

Success Stories: Hear from leaders calling Ireland home

A proven path

See all Success Stories
ServiceNow
Qualcomm
AbbVie
AWS
Vanta
Qualtrics
Company makes Ireland one of its largest international sites

Company makes Ireland one of its largest international sites

We think that Ireland has really become the gateway to the European Union. There’s so many things that US companies gain from their relationship with Ireland.

Ireland is a strategic IT and engineering hub for chip giant

Ireland is a strategic IT and engineering hub for chip giant

Ireland is one of Qualcomm’s fastest growing R&D Centres, and the availability of talent and motivated people… are making meaningful contributions in terms of our technology roadmap.

8 diverse sites across Ireland employing 2,500+ people

8 diverse sites across Ireland employing 2,500+ people

Ireland plays a critical role in supporting AbbVie's international operations. Our new AbbVie North Dublin (AND) facility will be a key node in AbbVie's global Operations network, serving as a European hub bringing together our Dublin-based supply chain, engineering, quality assurance and manufacturing teams for the first time.

Cloud leader has invested $2billion+ in its Irish operations

Cloud leader has invested $2billion+ in its Irish operations

There is an abundance of talent in Ireland which helped us to exceed our talent growth targets ahead of schedule. Ireland is a great place to do business, the country’s creative culture and diverse pool of technical skills make it an ideal location for our rapidly expanding business

Vanta is a startup focused on automating cybersecurity compliance

Vanta is a startup focused on automating cybersecurity compliance

We have a talent pool that allows us to serve a large population in a very effective way, both with language and specialisation skills like sales or customer success.

Qualtrics Chooses Ireland for its Skills Base

Qualtrics Chooses Ireland for its Skills Base

Ultimately, what you want is a geography where you can build an office that has broad market coverage. For a company going into Europe, Ireland has the lowest cost to set up a business, with a broad pool of talent from across the EU

Find your European home