Major rise in investment by NI companies: report
Invest NI figures show promotion of thousands of new jobs
Nearly 5,600 new jobs were promoted by Invest NI over the past year, according to new figures.
In addition, it contributed to around £660m in investment.
Speaking at the agency’s end of year briefing, Alastair Hamilton, CEO, Invest NI said: “Our role is to provide support to businesses to help them grow, stimulating investment in our economy.
“During 2016/17 our offers of support totalled £152m, contributing to almost £660m of investment in the Northern Ireland economy. This support has helped businesses promote nearly 5,600 new jobs against a target range of 4,000-6,000. I am also pleased to report that our support in previous years has helped create 5,900 jobs this year across a broad range of sectors including agri-food, digital and creative technologies and advanced engineering and manufacturing.
“We also significantly exceeded our R&D investment target, delivering £203m of investment against a target of £100-£170m, due to a number of large R&D projects. We also saw a notable increase in investment by locally owned companies – £109m, a 93 per cent increase on the previous highest year.”
During the year, Invest NI also reported a 93% increase in local enterprises investing in research and development.