Northern Ireland

A growing number of international companies are investing in Northern Ireland to serve Europe and beyond. These investors have found a well motivated and highly educated English-speaking workforce; a competitive business environment; the fastest growing economy in the UK; a world-class infrastructure and a supportive partner in Invest NI.

Northern Ireland is home to leading multi-national companies, such as Nortel Networks, Seagate Technology, Liberty Mutual, Abbey National, Halifax and Prudential. Almost 300 companies employing nearly 55,000 people have set up operations in the country and more than three quarters of these have or will make further investments.

The environment for FDI from the mid-1990s has changed significantly in response to sector dynamics. Overcapacity in manufacturing and the growing importance of technology, knowledge and services is driving the growth of knowledge-based projects. Northern Ireland is a European leader in the call centre industry.

Whether face-to-face or electronic communication is needed, Northern Ireland’s exceptional transportation and communications networks make it fast, easy and cost-effective to connect with the rest of the world. The country has an education system long recognised as the best in the UK. Employment costs are highly competitive and up to 32% lower than in the US and 25% lower than the EU average.