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Engineering Sector in Ireland

Ireland is the European location of choice for a growing number of multinational industrial engineering and technology companies involved in manufacturing, research and innovation activities.

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Engineering Sector Profile

Over 200 overseas companies in the industrial technology sector employ more than 23,000 people generating €4.7 billion in exports annually. Sectorial growth over the last decade is seeing the expansion of operations to serve EMEA markets. The uptake of disruptive Industry 4.0 technology is being driven across the industry sector through government supported initiatives.

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KEY SECTORS

The Engineering industry in Ireland is strong and vibrant. It supports a very broad range of companies in various fields and is a strong contributor to Irish exports.

Principle industry sectors include Automotive, Aerospace, Chemicals and Advanced Materials, Industrial Automation and Engineering Services.

Automotive

Ireland plays host to both household automotive names such as Jaguar Land Rover and General Motors, as well as innovative tier 1 suppliers such as Valeo and Kostal. In recent times Ireland has developed its value proposition for some exciting automotive initiatives such as Connected Autonomous Vehicles, an area in which companies such as JLR, Valeo, Analog Devices, Aptiv and Cisco are heavily involved.

Aerospace

The Irish Aerospace industry numbers over 200 cutting edge multi-national companies employing 27’000 people. Ireland is internationally renowned as the leading location for Aircraft Leasing and has a world leading and business friendly aviation regulator in the Irish Aviation Authority

Chemicals and Advanced Materials

Chemicals manufacturing is at the heart of Ireland’s manufacturing industry. Companies in this sector produce finished products such as adhesives, sealants, paints, fertilisers, resins and other petrochemical products. The Irish chemical industry is viewed as being a high tech, high value sector.

Henkel Ireland, based in Ireland for over 50 years is a centre of Excellence within Henkel globally for the R&D and production of Acrylic,Anaerobic and Cyanoacrylate (Superglues) Adhesives.

Industrial Automation

Eight of the top 10 Industrial Automation companies have operations in Ireland, including Siemens, ABB, and Emerson. Engineering is an essential element supporting this increasingly important sector. Automation is central to all manufacturing and process control.

Engineering Services

The Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) services industry is expected to be one of the most dynamic industry sectors in the coming years. Multinationals such as Jacobs, Mott MacDonald, CH2MHILL, Aecom, Bilfinger and Wood Group are notable players in this industry and are spread across Ireland’s regions.

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

The Engineering sector in Ireland has a long history of leading the way in development and design. An impressive 42% of companies and over 1,000 employees are involved in engineering research and development. In order to support this critical function companies can avail of an R&D tax credit at 25% for all qualifying R&D activity. Strong R&D activities exist within companies as well as in collaborative projects with academic and applied research partners. R&D spend is more than €150 M annually.

TRACK RECORD

The Engineering sector employs over 23,000 people directly, and many companies such as Liebherr, Henkel, Element Six, Sulzer and Thermoking have a long-established base in Ireland. Ireland is quickly developing into a hub for cutting edge research and development in areas such as IoT, Industry 4.0, Connected Autonomous Vehicles and more. Ireland’s universities and institutes of technology have 45,000 students enrolled in STEM fields at any one time. Ireland ranks 1st in the world in terms of Productivity in Industry and in the Flexibility and Adaptability of its workforce.