As the search for Ireland’s best enterprise towns of 2018 continues, we take a look back at 26 of Ireland’s historical enterprise towns and the businesses they were famous for.
 
Ireland has a rich history of enterprise and innovation. As the search for Ireland’s Enterprise Towns of 2018 gathers pace, we compiled this list of towns in Ireland that are famous for different enterprises.
To read more about the National Enterprise Town Awards 2018 go here.
DONEGAL
Killybegs is one of the fishing capitals of Ireland. People have eaten fish in Donegal since prehistoric times, and the evidence for sea-going boats is also ancient. By the Early Christian period, fishing was a vital occupation. Commercial fishing was well established in Donegal by the 1400s, a lot of it controlled by the Lords of Tirconaill, the O’Donnells. Today the Irish fishing fleet is made up of about 1,900 large boats.
MONAGHAN
Clones is famous for its Lace. Clones Lace is an Irish Crochet Lace and has been around since 1847. Cassandra Hand, the wife of the local Church of Ireland minister, introduced the lace, inspired by Venetian point lace, as a famine relief project to the drumlin region of west Monaghan and south east Fermanagh. Thousands of women and children, through their creative lace-making, saved their families from the clutches of death and disease during the Great Famine.
DUNDALK
Dundalk is now a high tech hub. However, it was once famous for shoe making. Arthur Halliday opened factories in the town and during their zenith in the 1970s, he employed over 1,250 people making shoes. Halliday was born in Bramley in Yorkshire where his family had a long tradition in shoe manufacturing. He died in 1984 aged 80.
SLIGO
Tubercurry is famous for tool making. The Gallagher family set up the Tool and Gauge tool-making factory which exported specialist tools across

Denis Hayes is the MD of IRDG (Industry Research & Development Group). Ahead of the Design Thinking Ireland annual conference, he describes why Design Thinking is used by all of the world’s top firms to drive innovation.
What is the IRDG? 
The IRDG acts as the voice of industry RD&I in Ireland, it supports members to avail of relevant funding opportunities for innovation, brings companies together to share learning and experiences, promotes collaboration between industry partners and the third level sector and facilitates best practice learning and innovation capability in organisations. This is where the likes of Lean Product Development and Design Thinking fit in.
“It made me realise that design thinking could be used as a strategic means to stimulate innovation.”
Design Thinking has been a fundamental part of your agenda for many years, why are you ‘believers’?
My own awareness of Design Thinking really grew about five years ago when in Sydney attending the annual conference of the Hargraves Institute. Design Thinking was a dominant theme at that conference among manufacturers, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies, all speaking about how they have integrated design thinking into their innovative approach. In particular, I met Darrell Mann who had been bringing this Design Thinking approach to many leading international companies. That experience made me realise that design thinking could be used as a strategic means to stimulate innovation. It was about using the approach and mindset of designers in the innovation process and how it could deliver powerful results.
Over 300 executives have been trained on the IRDG Design Thinking Programme / Masterclass which has been run twice per annum in partnership with Design Innovation Maynooth.
A special interest group (SIG) has been running for companies who are practising Design Thinking with visits to appropriate venues such as Airbnb, Dog Patch Labs, SAP, Fidelity Investments and later

Lending to the Irish tech sector to increase as Bank of Ireland bolsters its technology sector team.
The Irish technology sector is one of the most dynamic areas of the economy. At a recent event hosted by Bank of Ireland and supported by Technology Ireland and Gartner, Adrian Mullett, head of the technology sector at Bank of Ireland said lending to the sector in 2017 grew by 150% supporting the growth of software and services companies, including Roomex.com, Propylon, vStream and Storm Technology.
“Projected revenues of indigenous tech firms are set to grow by 20% in 2018 to €3.5bn,” says Mullett.
A dedicated technology team
“Given this growth, we are expanding our dedicated technology team, with two key appointments, so we can continue to provide the right guidance to our customers,” says Mullett. “A larger technology team will help us to serve technology companies better and capitalise on the growth in lending we have delivered.”
The technology sector team in Bank of Ireland has a strong relationship with Gartner to glean deep regional and global insights into every significant business function of the market.
At the event, the keynote speaker Sandra Notardonato, research vice president with Gartner, gave a global market overview that included the paths for Irish firms that want to break into other markets.
“For the first time in nearly a decade we see worldwide end-user IT spending in the technology sector increasing,” says Notardonato.
“Our annual CIO survey shows an increase in IT budgets in 2018, of which 25% is dedicated to digital initiatives.”
The spend on IT services is showing healthy growth, especially in Europe with Ireland, Switzerland and Germany leading the way, followed by southern Europe where countries are playing catch up after years of underinvestment.
“Automation is the most meaningful change to the IT services business model since off-shoring,” explains Notardonato.
IT outsourcing is also showing

Brendan Farrell, the chairman of the board at Voinext, discusses the changing face on online customer service, growing a global business from Gorey and the importance of starting lean. 
My background
I come from a design and innovation background but have been involved in building new businesses for the last 35 years.
The idea and the service
Voinext CEO Jim Tracey came up with the original concept for Voinext. A simple way for online customers to connect to a ‘real salesperson’ who could make sure you got the right advice, the right product, the right deal and then close the sale.
So the rules for Jim were simple. Firstly contacting your online supplier should be for free. When you go to their store, they should be able to tell if you are a new or existing customer and serve you better. It all about the customer experience. Unlike the impersonal world of internet shopping that exists today. Jim wanted his online business to be customer-centric.
“The service allows your online customers call you for free, directly from your website to your phone.”
The value proposition 
We seem to have hit on a service that fits with just about any business with an online presence. Hotels, car hire, software, manufacturing, plant hire, property and finance companies, the list is endless and growing fast.
I suppose that it proves that, globally businesses still need to talk with their customers, and even in an online world voice is still the best for customer experiences for closing a sale.
“Who would have imagined that a Gorey based SaaS Company with its software team based in Minsk would be supplying free call service to a premier restaurant in Bali?”
The toughest part of starting a business
You need a ‘launch’ product. Any seasoned entrepreneur will tell you that the most important thing is to prove that your

We are entering an era where real farm expansion can be secured without the need to buy land. This is good news for young farmers. 

The upcoming review of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will, almost certainly, bring changes to the supports available to farmers across the European Union. More support will be given to farmers who are actively producing food.
This will give Irish farmers real business development opportunities. Adding to this, are the recent tax changes to facilitate the development of long-term, land leasing opportunities in Ireland.
“Young farmers may be particularly drawn to the possibility of forging a joint venture agreement with an older landowner.”
As a result, we are now entering an era where real expansion can be secured at individual farm level without the need to actually buy land.
The business options to make this happen are extremely diverse. Young farmers, for example, may be particularly drawn to the possibility of forging a joint venture agreement with an older landowner.
Proper planning is everything and the potential for new and flexible farm development programmes will be encouraged. 
A good farm adviser can work with a farmer to help them come up with the development opportunities that best suit their individual needs.
Having a viable business idea is one thing – actually putting into operation is something else entirely. So if you are committed to growing your own farm business, why not contact your local Bank of Ireland branch and let them help convert your plan into a profitable reality?

Related Resource

Need to expand, invest in new equipment or simply need development funding for your farm?