The National Competitiveness and Productivity Council (NCPC) in conjunction with South-East Chambers and South East Technological University (SETU) organised a regional seminar in April.
The theme of the seminar was Regional Competitiveness, Innovation and the South-East, and its purpose was to contextualise competitiveness issues at a regional level.
The key issues discussed related to housing, public infrastructure deficits, the challenges facing commuters, and the need to address the skills deficits posed by AI.
Representatives of local businesses and enterprises, Local Government officials, government agencies, public representatives, and education and research providers from across the region were among the attendees of the event.
This event was also attended by Metropolitan Mayor of Waterford City and County Council, Councillor Joe Kelly.
Presentations
The seminar drew on a series of presentations about the measurement of performance at a regional level, based on Eurostat data.
These presentations outlined the performance of the South-East region – relative to Ireland and the EU – based on the Regional Competitiveness and Regional Innovation indices. This demonstrated that the region performs well in many areas, including technological readiness.
The presentations were followed by a roundtable discussion involving a number of local business and enterprise owners, and executives, who were invited to identify the key issues in the region impacting them from a competitiveness perspective. Overall, the seminar was very well attended – with close to 60 participants.
There was exceptional commonality in the local competitiveness issues identified by the stakeholders in the region, both on the panel and among the attendees in the audience.
Banner image shows: Dr David Dempsey, Non-Executive Director, and Retired Ireland Country Leader Salesforce, Dave O'Connor, AVP, Head of International Operations, Sunlife, Tammy Darcy, Founder and CEO, The Shona Project, Cllr. Joe Kelly, Metropolitan Mayor of Waterford City and County Council, Prof. Frances Ruane, Chair of the NCPC, Críona Fitzgerald, Financial Services Consultant, and Gerard Arthurs, Lecturer in International Relations and Politics, Faculty of Business.
