Kieran Donoghue, CEO
£631m to be invested in NI economy following Invest NI support
Every £1 of Invest NI support will contribute to £7 investment in our Economy
Our end of year performance results are a measure of our in-year activity to help stimulate economic growth, and of our progress towards the outcomes in our 2024-27 Business Strategy.
Our focus is to support businesses to make investments to improve their sales, skills, level of innovation, productivity and profitability.
These investment projects range from small innovations to large scale R&D; from improving the skills of employees to recruiting 100s of new staff; and from selling to the Republic of Ireland or GB, to as far away as Australia.
Boosting business investment
Supporting more companies to invest in initiatives that will improve the productivity of their business is the central thread that runs through our current Business Strategy.
By investing in efficient, automated and digitally-enhanced products, systems and processes businesses can become more profitable and in turn our economy grows.
In 2024-25 we offered advice and support, including £88m of assistance, to businesses to support 2,062 investment projects. These projects will see £631m invested in our economy, 20% over our target for the year.
The majority of the investment projects we supported were by locally owned SMEs.
We also continue to support companies to increase employment, with a focus on projects that will pay salaries above the NI Private Sector Median (PSM). Our support will see 3,020 new good quality jobs created across the region.
The percentage of these new jobs above the NI PSM increased from 51% in 2023-24 to 73% in 2024-25.
Accelerating innovation & skills
We have two innovation led goals over the course of our 2024-2027 Business Strategy – help more companies recognise when they are innovating; and help stimulate more investment in R&D and innovation across more companies. This will help to increase their competitiveness, productivity and enhance the quality of their product and service offering.
Through Innovate NI we are building more awareness of the importance of innovation and recognising companies that innovate through an accreditation programme. In 2024/25 593 companies were awarded bronze, silver, gold or platinum accreditation, up by almost 80 per cent on last year.
Through programmes such as Innovation Vouchers, the Technical Development Initiative, Grant for R&D and our new Business Innovation Grant we supported 726 innovation and R&D projects. These projects represent £245m of investment.
This support included helping 51 companies to innovate for the first time. These companies include:
A knowledgeable and skilled workforce is also vital for every business.
In this context, we supported businesses to invest £31m in their workforce including to strengthen their leadership and ensure that employees were trained in new technologies. As a result, these businesses will have the skills needed to navigate challenges and capitalise on opportunities.
Driving global ambition
Our work in this area has two objectives – increase the number of external sales and exports by NI companies; and attract more companies to locate in Northern Ireland using both financial and non-financial supports.
Our teams here at home and around the world are assisting more companies to sell their products and services into new markets. Compared to last year we supported 20 per cent more companies to export for the first time, and 25 per cent more to export to new markets.
Our team in Düsseldorf, for example, helped energy services company Joulen with market research, due diligence, and to navigate the complexities of the German business landscape. This advice and guidance helped the company win a £4m contract, its first major export deal.
Our programme of trade missions and exhibitions has also helped companies find new distributors and to secure new business internationally. In September 2024, along with then Minister for the Economy, Conor Murphy, we led 12 NI companies on a five day trade mission to Chicago and Toronto. Less than six months later, four of the companies on the mission had secured new business contracts worth over £200,000.
We also attracted 19 new inward investors to the region, generating £44m of investment into the economy. The new investors came from GB, Ireland, India, Canada, the US and Cayman Islands. Some investors were supported financially while others received guidance, advice, data and analysis, peer introductions and information on NI as an investment location.
We also supported over 80 existing inward investors with 126 business expansion and development projects – for example an R&D project, a skills investment or to build out their team further – that will generate £223m of investment.
Developing and achieving sustainability
Businesses here are already making their mark in the Green Economy by developing cutting-edge and sustainable products and services.
We are also helping companies contribute to Northern Ireland’s Net Zero targets by providing support including technical consultancy and grants to invest in energy efficient equipment and resource efficiency. Our support has stimulated £19m of investment in energy and resource efficiency initiatives, more than double our target for the year.
Maximising the impact of City & Growth Deals
Last year we helped 190 businesses to engage with City & Growth Deals and Complementary Fund projects.
The Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre (AMIC) is currently working with a group of materials handling businesses on automated welding solutions to improve productivity. The Centre is also helping Angoka with a £2m project to develop a cyber security solution for the advanced manufacturing sector.
Promoting people and places
Our Business Strategy and Regional Property Programme are designed to help drive greater levels of investment into our regions. It is a long-term commitment to driving better and more equitable economic outcomes for all.
The Department for the Economy has defined regional as outside the Belfast Metropolitan Area (BMA) and we now measure our regional impact on this basis. Our target is to deliver 65 per cent of our investments outside of the BMA by the end of our Business Strategy in 2027.
In 2024-25 59% of the investments we supported were outside the BMA, just 1 percentage point short of our target for the year.
Monitoring our impact
The performance outlined above reflects one year of activity, but the impact extends beyond a specific offer of support for a specific investment project.
We measure this wider, long-term impact by collecting performance data from our client portfolio across exports, external sales, sales and jobs.
Our current client portfolio comprises more than 1,500 companies that employ almost 130,000 people and generate annual sales of almost £29 billion and exports of £10 billion.
Opportunities and challenges
We are already working towards our year two targets and our pipeline of investments is encouraging.
In 2025-26 we aim to support 1,650 investment projects, totaling £575m of investment.
We are alert, however, to the volatile nature of the global economy at present and the challenges facing businesses. These international challenges combined with national public sector budget constraints which are impacting infrastructure investment – water, power, transport – could have a limiting impact on economic growth across Northern Ireland.
Our own Invest NI budget constraints could also put some of our ambitions at risk. We remain committed to our Strategy and goals, but are forecasting some possible shortfalls against our three-year targets.
On the positive side, we see more of our client companies exporting and undertaking R&D, innovation, automation and embracing new technology such as AI. We will continue to provide the support businesses need, both financial and non-financial, to help them enhance productivity, increase their profitability and to contribute to the positive economic and social outcomes sought by public policy.
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