Development Agencies and Incentives

Development Agencies and Incentives
Government Development Agencies in Northern Ireland
For a company wishing to locate in Northern Ireland, your first step will usually involve contacting one of the development agencies through a local office. See Useful Contacts.

Industrial Development Board
With overseas offices throughout the US, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, Invest Northern Ireland is the main agency charged with encouraging inward enterprise investment in Northern Ireland. Current target sectors include financial services, software, contact centres, telecoms and life & health sciences.

Invest Northern Ireland can co-ordinate all aspects of setting up a business, from site location and manpower training to financial assistance and staff housing.

In order to make an initial assessment Invest Northern Ireland requires a brief written narrative and outline financial forecast. Following this, if it is decided that the project merits Selective Financial Assistance Support, a business plan should be prepared. This should include specific figures on company performance before and after the investment and should highlight impact on company growth.

Standard qualifying criteria for Selective Financial Assistance involve confirmation that:
the project is commercially viable
the investor has the capability to deliver and implement it
it will boost the competitiveness of the company and that of the local economy
there is a clear need for public sector support for the project
the project will not result in significant job displacement in the UK

Northern Ireland continues to attract major international investors including DuPont, Fujitsu, Bombardier, Seagate Technology, Halifax and Prudential.

Grants and Incentives
There are three major categories of grant potentially available to the inward investor:
Capital grants towards provision of buildings and equipment
Employment grants - to provide revenue inflow during the start-up period
Interest relief grants to reduce interest on non-government loans.

Movement of Goods and Services
As a member of the EU, Northern Ireland provides resident companies with direct access to a market of over 375 million people. Note: there are no tariffs payable on the movement of goods or services within the EU.