Digital Health

A bright future for Ireland’s digital health ecosystem

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The future of healthcare is a connected one. Digital technology and cloud computing have made technological strides that mean integrated individually tailored healthcare is now a reality.

Apps can feed back data to primary caregivers in real time, digital medical records provide accurate and timely information, while machine learning crunches big data and blockchain technology protects it.

But to get to this point requires intervention and a road map that fosters innovation and investment. Strategic investment in the knowledge economy and sowing the seeds of a digital healthcare evolution requires the creation of policy and frameworks within which the research and start-up sector can grow.

Ireland’s world-leading position in the medtech sector has been carefully nurtured through a combination of state planning and partnership with multinationals, that now positions the healthcare and life sciences sector as one of Ireland’s strongest and most important business industries. It employs some 38,000 people in around 350 companies. That makes Ireland the largest employer of medtech professionals in Europe per capita. Ireland is also the second largest exporter of medtech products in Europe, with annual exports of €12.6 billion to over 100 countries globally.

 

Government policy supports Ireland’s digital health ecosystem

Ongoing digital transformation is supported at the highest level, according to Barry Lowry, Chief Information Officer at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

“Of course, when investors are looking at where to go, one of the key things they’re looking at is, well what is the digital ecosystem like in that country that we’re going to? Because that suggests there’s a market there, it suggests there’s a workforce there.

“We obviously want that European digital capability to be dominated disproportionately by Ireland and we’ve got a lot of the skill sets to make a really good contribution in that area. The key thing is national government policies are aligned with this.”

In its 2017 Sláintecare strategy, the Irish government outlined its healthcare vision for the next 10 years, including the implementation of connected digital health, stating: “Digital health solutions can support more efficient processes, empowering patients in managing their care and accessing their own medical records, as well as facilitating the provision of services in more appropriate care settings closer to the patient’s home.

“In the future, a coherent suite of eHealth solutions will underpin and support our overall vision for integrated, patient-centred care, population health planning and more effective and safe delivery of health services. Patients and health professionals will have ready access to clinical records and administrative information, which will enable better decisions to be made.”

It may seem to be easier said than done, when according to the Health and Information Quality Authority (HIQA) information is spread over 120 datasets across Irish healthcare.

But the government has set out a clear funding pathway for eHealth, Muiris O’Connor, the Department of Health’s assistant secretary at R&D and Health Analytics Division told a recent Enterprise Ireland-hosted conference on the eHealth Ireland EcoSystem.

Some €85 million is earmarked for 2019, €100 million for 2020 rising to €120 million by 2021, delegates were told.

 

Enterprise Ireland support for digital health

Enterprise Ireland has been supporting the ecosystem at its grass roots.

Procurement of innovation by State bodies has been boosted by Enterprise Ireland’s Small Business Innovation Research programme (SBIR), which aims to meet unmet needs across the public sector, including areas such as health and community engagement, by funding up-to-date trialling of new concepts and tech at an earlier point in the supply chain.

This allows innovation to be baked into the supply chain at a much earlier point in a product development cycle. In its five-year lifespan, it has funded 20 projects including the development of smart sensors by Danalto, Carra and mSemicon that are being deployed in gullies across Dublin City to measure and monitor flood levels.

Perhaps crucially for SBIR, IP is retained by the business, meaning a successful solution can be scaled and rolled out quickly.

Enterprise Ireland provides further sector-specific supports, such as Health Innovation Hubs Ireland (HIHI) scheme, Technology Transfer Offices (TTO), and the Technology Gateway Programme.

HIHI facilitates and accelerates the commercialisation of innovative healthcare solutions by offering companies the opportunity for pilot and clinical validation studies and the health service access to innovative products, services and devices that they may not otherwise be exposed to.

TTOs, which are embedded in university and college research institutes throughout Ireland, provide an invaluable resource in relation to research, development and innovation.

And the Technology Gateway Programme fosters greater cooperation between business and Institutes of Technology by offering funding rounds for capital expenditure for R&D.

But the ecosystem would be nothing without the skill sets to grow it, which is why this emerging sector is a national priority. The Irish Medtech Association, a key industry stakeholder in the Irish ecosystem, has reinvented its offering. It has a Connected Health Skillnet that offers learning, development and networking opportunities and is run in partnership with Biopharmachem Ireland and Technology Ireland.

The sector is also supported by a strong networking and collaborative culture, with Ireland being home to the European Connected Health Alliance, which actively promotes and supports the connected health agenda through its presence in more than 40 countries. ECH Alliance events are the perfect forum for investors, partners and start-ups to engage with leading experts from government, education, multinationals and the indigenous sectors.

 

Read more on the Irish companies succeeding in the Healthcare and MedTech sectors.

Consumer in Asia

Commitment is vital to maximising business opportunities in Asia

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Breaking into a new market can seem daunting. Exploring new territories may present challenges but is worth it to maximise new business opportunities.

Researching market opportunities and how to capitalise on them; identifying potential customers and partners; understanding local regulations, legal and geopolitical issues, as well as the unique business culture of the country or countries you are targeting, are the main challenges businesses face. But with challenge comes opportunity of a scale that Irish businesses can’t afford to ignore.

Irish companies have often looked west when in search of markets beyond the Eurozone. Expanding to the United States can seem relatively easy. They speak the same language and our traditional ties to the Irish diaspora creates a ready-made network for business opportunities. Asian markets have been perceived as more difficult, with greater language and cultural barriers to overcome.

 

Irish companies increasingly secure business opportunities in Asia

That perception has been blown away in recent years, as increasing numbers of Irish companies discover the incredible opportunities that exist in the world’s most populous and diverse continent. Exports to Asia by companies backed by Enterprise Ireland were valued at €1.97 billion last year, a 9% increase on 2016 results. We are dedicated to helping Irish exporters across all sectors overcome challenges to maximise business opportunities in Asia.

Speaking at an event focused on the market last year, Julie Sinnamon, chief executive of Enterprise Ireland said: “Probably the biggest common issue or challenge that people face getting into any of the Asian markets is the time it takes. Typically it takes quite a while for people to go and build the trust, to develop a position, to commit to the market. 

“Many companies think that they can go in maybe a couple of visits, get a massive order and come back out again. It doesn’t work like that. Being a big, established company doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to work in China or India or Japan, or elsewhere in Asia. It is vital that there is commitment from the senior team of a company to work things out when they don’t go to plan, which is not unusual in Asian markets that you haven’t been in before.”

 

Asian business partners value innovation

Robert Schoellhammer, chief Europe representative of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), says that an innovative approach to applying technology is a key quality Asian companies look for in business partners.

He says: “Applying innovation and technology might be second nature in Ireland, but it doesn’t mean it is elsewhere. Innovation can be country specific, so what might be innovative in Mongolia is very commonplace in Germany. Technology and innovation is really critical, and above all it is what our own clients across Asia Pacific are saying that they want to have.”

In South-East Asia, the 10 countries which form ASEAN have started to follow the EU model of multilateralism and breaking down economic barriers. David Daly, the European External Action Service’s head of division for South East Asia, says this will create long-term business opportunities for Irish companies.

“The EU has very close engagement with ASEAN at the very highest level,” he said. “We have experience – we have done things which have worked well and we’ve done things which have worked less well. We offer that experience freely to our ASEAN partners and I think they appreciate it.

“Working with ASEAN is a commitment to the long term – it’s not an issue of jumping in and out for a quick fix, we have established structures that enable us to have an engagement over the very long term.” 

More immediately, many young and innovative companies are already building Ireland’s reputation in these fast-growing markets.

“You don’t necessarily need to be a big, long-established company,” Sinnamon said. “One of the most exciting company meetings I was at recently in China involved a young tech start-up called Coroflo, which has created a monitor that measures the amount of breast milk a baby is getting.

“We visited the largest maternity hospital in Shanghai, where 100 babies are born every day. They were absolutely bowled over with this technology to make sure that a baby is being fed enough – they couldn’t believe the medtech technology available in Ireland.

“Another time, we were in the most iconic new building in Singapore and the owner brought us into what he called the brain of the building, where all the control happens, and he said, ‘Of course, the brain of the building is Irish’. He was talking about Cylon Controls from Dublin.

“Taoglas, a telecommunications equipment supplier, recently opened an office in Shenzhen, and the Chinese distributor who has worked with them said they have only one supplier globally with zero defects and it was Taoglas.

“It’s fantastic when you have companies on the other side of the world providing this sort of endorsement.”

There is more support and advice available than ever before to help Irish companies overcome challenges and build partnerships in Asia. Contact Enterprise Ireland for more information.

 

German life sciences market

Unlock the German market for your business

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Unlocking the German market requires a focus on demonstrating that your company adheres to the values the country is famous for – reliability and trustworthiness – almost as much as a keen price point. To expand in this key Eurozone market, you should also be able to challenge established supply chains.

The attractiveness of the German market to Irish business is evident in the numbers. It is the world’s fourth-largest economy and bilateral trade between the countries is worth around €39 billion annually. Germany is our third-largest tourist sector, and thanks to links in life sciences, medtech and biopharmaceuticals, Germany is our second-largest source of Foreign Direct Investment.

With a GDP growth rate of 1.6% in 2018, Germany has experienced nine years of continuous expansion of its economy and remains a stable option for companies planning to diversify markets.

Irish companies have a strong reputation in the German market

With historic trade and cultural links, breaking into the German market should not be seen as daunting, according to Deike Potzel, the German Ambassador to Ireland.

“Germany is very open to business to our friends in the European Union,” Her Excellency Ms. Potzel told delegates at Enterprise Ireland’s Ambition Germany conference. “Ireland has a really good reputation in Germany and the German market and I think Irish companies are in a very good position to take advantage of doing business in Germany.”

 

What should be your first steps, and how can you prepare for market entry?

Reliable market research is key, and Enterprise Ireland’s Market Discovery Fund has up to €150,000 available for companies to defray internal and external costs incurred when researching new markets for new or existing products and services.

As a mature market with well-established domestic and international suppliers, you will need to research it thoroughly to identify a niche. You will also need to assess competitors, both local and international.

If the German market is right for you, establishing the best route to market and understanding German business culture will help to avoid wasted sales efforts.

Working with a German distributor will get your product on the ground. But because the market is mature, your product may be competing with several similar offerings, and the largest distributors may have competing priorities for promotion.

While the price point of your product or service is important, in the German business landscape Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis – value for money – includes demanding expectations for quality, certification and after-sales support.

“Once you have a German partner they are very loyal,” says Robert Byrne, director of Burnside Eurocyl, the Carlow-based hydraulic cylinder manufacturer, which has been supplying Germany for decades.

“But they expect you to deliver and to do what you say. Do that and you will have a customer for life.”

 

Calculate the cost of setting up in Germany

Personal contact is valued highly. While it is possible to sell online or have a virtual office, establishing an independent branch office, permanent establishment or fully fleshed-out GmbH (or limited company) will build the trust required by German partners. You can expect set-up costs to range between €1,000 to €4,000.

Germany is the world’s number one location for trade shows, and attending fairs for your sector demonstrates that you are serious about entering the market. Remaining highly visible at these events for 12-18 months is advisable.

Enterprise Ireland has supported companies to attend the world’s largest medical trade fair, Medica, last hosted in Düsseldorf and attracting 120,000 visitors, and EuroTier in Hannover, at which the theme for 2018 was digital animal farming, attracting 160,000 visitors.

“You may be surprised by how well thought of we are,” says Liam Ryan, managing director of SAP Labs Ireland, and a seasoned veteran of the German boardroom. “Germans admire our ability to get things done, our ability to recover and to pull together. This goes a long way with them.”

The German focus on attention to detail and delivery on promise can be serviced by thinking outside the box. As Byrne noted: “We don’t sell by sending a sales rep to a German customer. We sell by sending an engineer or a designer.”

Do this and you could find that, for your business, ‘Alles’ will be ‘in Ordnung.’

 

Learn more on doing business in Germany with our Going Global Germany guide.

Electric vehicle

China’s fast-growing electric vehicle market is one to watch

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The carmaker of the future wants to partner with suppliers who can provide technology solutions for automated, connected, electric and shared cars.

How to forge those partnerships was the recurring theme at Connected Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) and Mobility, an event organised by Enterprise Ireland and facilitated by Carol Gibbons, the agency’s director of ICT Commercialisation.

High level panellists included Amer Akhtar, Founder of Foothill Ventures and advisor to Chinese electric vehicle maker NIO; Rahul Vijay, Head of Technology Deal Making at Uber; Anand Ramesh, Vice President of Cluster Computing at Renovo Auto, and Hariveer Dhingra, who heads up Global Digital Transformation, Corporate Venture Capital and New Ventures at Shell.

Participating in China’s fast-growing electric vehicle (EV) market makes sense but takes preparation, delegates heard.

Not alone does the country have the world’s largest EV market but huge government incentives are in place to ensure it stays at the forefront of innovation, and increasingly AI. “There’s a heavy component of government support in China, heavier than in any other country, and when China wants to do something, they make it happen,” said Akhtar.

 

Chinese OEMs are looking for technology partners

Increasingly, Chinese original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are seeking out technology partners, to get things done, he said. This is transforming traditional supply chain models built around Tier 1 suppliers and in-house R&D.

“The market now is very different because much of the car platform is really software, so right now 40% of the automotive R&D value is provided by partners, and that is moving in the next six or seven years to 55%,” he said.

Traditional OEMs don’t have the level of in-house resources or expertise to develop some of the mobility solutions companies such as Uber or Waymo has. That presents an enormous opportunity for partnerships with start-ups, and even large companies in tangential industries, he said.

Though people define Uber as a technology company, it defines itself as “a technology company that is into all kinds of businesses, doesn’t matter if it is food or health supply or freight or people, we like to move it,” said Rahul Vijay. “We need expertise in all these different vertical industries.”

 

Partners must be global and local

More than that, it wants partners who can be both “global and local”. That is, if Uber is launching an electric bike, it doesn’t want to put multiple modems on each bike, but one that will work with any carrier in the world, he said.

“It means that hardware vendor has to work with multiple different carriers to certify their hardware, but it has to be local too, because at the end of the day, some of these market specifications are very local.”

It isn’t just established players in China that present an opportunity for Irish suppliers. “A lot of Chinese start-ups are looking for partners that can help them expand internationally, to help them get out of the Chinese ecosystem,” said Shell’s Dhingra.

OEMs are looking to invent, partner with and buy in technology, and are doing all three at speed, delegates heard.

“Nio was founded in 2014 and has already launched and delivered two models, which is unheard of if you are a traditional automotive company. You can’t do that by inventing everything,” said Akhtar, who recommended that Irish suppliers move quickly to capture the opportunity.

“Get to market fast. Right now it’s a land grab in the EV space. There are about 200 start-ups that have filed licences for EVs in China alone, and many more around the world.”

 

Electric vehicle companies focus on UX

In the case of NIO, these companies are mostly focused on user experience and not so much on what a traditional OEM delivers – that is, getting people from Point A to Point B.

Focusing on UX means the car itself can be treated as a commodity.

“You can partner, you can buy, or you can build the user experience. It depends on the mission of the company. Ideally, you would do all three but you have a short runway and a limited amount of capital, so you have to put that to the best use,” he said.

The future is all about connectivity and autonomy, with the end result of saving lives on roads, but getting there presents different challenges, said Uber’s Vijay. “We can’t do it all by ourselves, so we need help to put these technologies on the road.”

That includes everything from mapping to leasing to trade finance partnerships, as well as connectivity solutions, such as the tablets it gives restaurants in Uber Eats, or the use of bikes to solve last mile delivery problems.

“We are looking at all modalities of transportation, and a partnership ecosystem that goes all the way from component level to hardware, software and beyond, making transportation as seamless as possible.”

EV makers such as NIO are driven by a World Economic Forum prediction that the digital transformation of the automotive industry will yield US $60 or $70 billion in value for the automotive industry, “but that’s dwarfed by the US $3 trillion societal benefit,” said Akhtar. “As companies think about innovation, it’s about how to get a piece of that multi-trillion market.”

 

Challenges and opportunities in China

Akhtar cautioned Irish suppliers looking to grow their car components market, not to make the mistake of ignoring China.

“In terms of scale it’s just massive, bigger than the US and Europe combined, so it’s a no brainer. Having said that, entry into China is not a no brainer. It’s a very challenging market to go into.”

Those trying should realise that very many Chinese OEMs have set up R&D shops in California, as have a lot of the new energy start-ups in this space, making it a good first port of call to build networks.

China is all about relationships, delegates heard. The right technology without the right contacts won’t work, said Akhtar.

“One approach I see and recommend, especially for start-ups looking to get on the radar of Chinese companies and OEMs, or even big Tier 1s, is to become a Chinese company. China is not one of those markets you dip your toe in the water for. You are either all in or stay out. The Chinese market, whether enterprise, automotive or consumer, does not take kindly to a company operating across the ocean that wants to sell into China. It’s almost a sign of disrespect, that you don’t understand the Chinese market,” he said.

“Equally, if you’ve already got funding in the US or Europe, as part of the deal, it makes it easier to sell into China if you also get Chinese funding, whether from a small corporate investment, or Chinese VC, or a Chinese government agency. When you’ve got that Chinese stamp of approval, it’s much easier to do business. It means you are now a recognised entity, and investors think you must be good. Go in blind and it’s hard for people to trust you.”

Learn more on doing business in the Chinese market with our Going Global Guide to Asia.

ProDig agri machinery

ProDig invests in the future as it continues to do the heavy lifting

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As the use of digital technology to improve farming efficiency increases, it can sometimes be forgotten that advances in more traditional areas of agriculture remain as important as ever.

Machinery is the original agritech. Innovations that reduce the physical workload for farmers are as old as agriculture itself and are vital to the sector’s profitability in every market.

ProDig Attachments prides itself on doing the heavy lifting. From its base in County Carlow, the company introduced its expertise in manufacturing machine attachments for the construction sector into agriculture 10 years ago and quickly built a reputation for the quality and versatility of its machinery.

Donny Nolan, co-founder and director of ProDig, explains: “ProDig has a strong focus on multi-purpose machinery. We produce attachments that will do the job of three traditional attachments, so the farmer only has to buy one. These attachments also make the feeding process easier, faster and more economical.”

ProDig’s product range includes shear grabs, shear buckets, bale handling attachments, folding grass forks, hi-tip buckets, and bag fillers – all of which are designed and manufactured at the company’s purpose-built factory.

ProDig agri attachment

Donny says: “Our products are pitched generally at the top end of the market. We don’t make cheap equipment. We manufacture on a quality basis and on the basis of a long lifespan for an implement, so we look at the mid to top range of the market. There are a lot of manufacturers in Eastern Europe, China and cheaper economies that we don’t really try to compete with. We look to create implements of top-end quality, innovative products.

“We distribute through importerships. We try to have one single point of importership in a region, whether that be a state in the USA or an entire country. For example, in Germany, we have one importer for the whole country and they in turn the distribute to the dealer network.

 

Strong export strategy

“We’ve got nine or 10 export markets and we also have some markets that we export to on a one-off sale. For some of our unique attachments, the likes of bag-filling units, we export to markets where we have one-off sales going direct to end-user customers. This would be to countries including India, Thailand and South Africa.”

It is a model that has served ProDig well. Consistently growing sales of its broad range of products in various export markets is testament to the quality and effectiveness of the machinery ProDig makes. Indeed, the company has big plans for further growth, spearheaded by a major investment to expand its manufacturing facilities at its Bagenalstown base in County Carlow.

Donny says: “We started an expansion plan in mid-2018 and that’s really kicking into place now. We’re expanding our existing production areas. We’re installing new capital items – new fabrication bays, new welding bays, some new machinery, some new robotic systems.

“It is quite a substantial investment. Over a three-year period, we’re looking at an investment of €1.5 million in the business.”

As with the machinery it makes, ProDig has put considerable energy into planning and preparing its expansion plans and the company is confident that the demand for their machinery is there.

Donny explains: “All our existing markets are expanding all the time, as we are. Our German market is expanding, our New Zealand market is expanding. We have several markets that we’re looking to move into over 2019-2020. We’re currently looking at increasing our presence in the USA, and we’re planning to do feasibility studies on the French and Australian markets.

“This investment will give us an increased manufacturing capacity of 40% and this will help us reach these markets.”

 

Focus on R&D drives innovation at ProDig

For ProDig’s customers, the investment and increased capacity also means enhanced innovation to improve and create new machine attachments.

“As part of our three-year investment, starting from the middle of this year, we’re running a new R&D programme to look at several new products,” Donny says.

The focus of the R&D programme will be the same for ProDig as it has been for the past 10 years: to help farmers do the basics better.

Donny explains: “To innovate within those basic tools and come up with new ideas and faster solutions for the basics – the attachments, bailers and other tools – is vital. If you make the basics better, you make the overall better.”

Doing the basics better is very much in the company DNA at ProDig, while the company’s continuing growth and expansion plans demonstrate the importance of innovating and constantly-improving machinery for farming.

 

Learn more about Enterprise Ireland’s innovation supports. enabling companies to develop new market opportunities and maximise their business performance. 

Salaso CEO Aoife ni Mhuiri

Salaso: Using market research to hone your growth strategy

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Salaso CEO Aoife ni Mhuiri

Market research is important at every stage of building a business, not just when you’re exploring new markets and verticals. For Aoife Ní Mhuirí and Salaso, market research was vital when their precision exercise digital platform was inundated with requests from new customers over the last 12 months – and this is where Enterprise Ireland’s Market Research Centre proved so useful.

“The last year has been an absolute gamechanger in terms of digital health, we experienced a large increase in inbound customer queries because we had the digital platform to deliver to patients under COVID restrictions.” explains Salaso CEO Aoife Ní Mhuirí

“As a small company, we had to focus on the right opportunities and we found the Market Research Centre particularly useful in understanding these customers. More strategically it is has helped us hone our market expansion strategy in the US.”

 

The growth of digital health

In business for 10 years, Salaso is a well-established digital platform designed for health professionals to make precision exercise prescriptions easily accessible for patients. The idea was born out of Aoife’s experience as a working chartered physiotherapist and her interest in e-learning and digital technology.

“I did the Endeavour Programme back in 2011 at the Institute of Technology in Tralee (now Munster Technological University), and that was essentially the start of Salaso. The company’s aim was to use technology and multimedia to make exercise a core part of healthcare and this led to the development of the Salaso platform . Physiotherapists, occupational therapists, primary care therapists, nurses, physicians and so on can use the infrastructure to engage their patients in exercise and physical activity programmes in order to  improve outcomes both for the patient and the clinic, hospital or practice.”

The platform can be used in countless scenarios, as Aoife explains. “It’s really for every patient; one of our clients in the US said that our infrastructure will benefit every person coming through their doors – and that’s true. No matter who you are or what you do, there’s always an exercise programme that can benefit your health and wellbeing – whether you have breast cancer, you’re recovering from a stroke, you have a pain in your back, you want to play sport and need to recover from a hamstring strain, there’s always an exercise programme for you.”

“We like to think of ourselves as pioneers in precision exercise, delivering the smart infrastructure that allows practitioners select and guide the patient in choosing the right exercise, at the right time and in the amount of time the patient has to engage in exercise.”

 

US growth ambitions

Headquartered in Kerry with offices in the UK and the US, Salaso is going from strength to strength. “There are huge opportunities for our platform in the US due to the direction that healthcare is taking over there – it’s very much about keeping people out of hospitals and surgeries, and that’s what our platform feeds into. We have an office on the East Coast and also in Nevada, working to target the value-based care market on the West Coast.”

That opportunity has grown even more due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as Aoife explains. “The pandemic changed the delivery and the consumption of healthcare forever, which is a good thing for many people, as there’s easier access to the care that they need – because the technology is  available and the infrastructure is there in the hospitals. The behaviour has changed too, now that digital healthcare is accessible. Think of someone who’s had a stroke or suffers from Parkinson’s disease who needs to access care or follow-up physiotherapy – before they would have been reliant on someone driving them there, maybe a son or daughter who has to take time off work, now they can access the care they need from the comfort of their own home.”

This, coupled with the fact that patients are becoming more educated about the many different forms of healthcare, has resulted in Salaso becoming a much sought-after platform.

“More patients are also now more involved and informed about their options; if there’s an exercise programme that might help postpone a surgery or improve recovery, then they want to know about it.”

“All of the evidence shows that if you engage with prehabilitation before surgery, the outcomes post-surgery are better. Even if you look at an area like cancer, exercise not only improves quality of life but it can also have a positive effect on survivorship.”

As Salaso grew, so did its need for market research; as Enterprise Ireland clients, the company was able to avail of the Market Research Centre to help them recognise opportunities and understand new markets. “We used the Market Research Centre for accessing a lot of the reports for the overseas markets, the US in particular,” Aoife explains.

“The centre was very useful for segmenting the industry, as well as identifying the possible leads that we could go after. It also helped us in understanding the market in the US, how reimbursement worked, and what has changed in the last 12 months. ” says Aoife

“The centre was very useful for segmenting the industry, as well as identifying the possible leads that we could go after. It also helped us in understanding the market in the US, how reimbursement worked, and what has changed in the last 12 months. For instance, a year ago, tele-health wasn’t reimbursed, but during the pandemic, reimbursement for tele health was brought in temporarily, and now it appears to be here for the long-haul. Getting information on topics like this is so useful when navigating a complicated market like the US healthcare market.”

The pandemic has accelerated Salaso’s growth as a company but expanding too fast can have its pitfalls too – and again, the data provided by the Market Research Centre can be invaluable. “There’s great opportunity for us to expand right now but we’re still an SME with limited resources, so knowing the best use of those resources is critical for the future of the company. And that’s where market research really comes in for a company like us.”

Learn how Enterprise Ireland’s Market Research Centre can support your company’s export ambitions.

Diversity in Blockchain

Diversity key to blockchain success

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Some of the most senior figures in Irish blockchain are succeeding, not despite moving from a tech background but because of it, delegates at the Blockchain for Finance Conference heard.

Co-author of the recent Government discussion paper on the subject of blockchain, Mai Santamaria spoke at a ‘lunch and learn’ panel discussion about her background as a native of Barcelona who studied and qualified as an accountant. She worked for a number of banks and insurance companies before joining the Department of Finance over 18 months ago as a senior financial advisor.

Canadian Coral Movasseli is managing director of Girls in Tech Dublin, a global not-for-profit that runs a number of programmes designed to encourage more women to enter the tech sector. She previously worked for the Canadian government’s foreign office, as well as in telecoms and banking before coming to Ireland to work as a professional services consultant.

Laura Clifford, industry partnership manger at the ADAPT Centre based at Trinity College Dublin, told the audience how she had studied biology at university and how this led to work in the medtech and subsequently the tech sectors. She now drives fintech collaboration at ADAPT, acting as the broker bringing industry and academia together to commercialise academic research.

 

Great opportunities in blockchain today

“One of the reasons I’m focused on blockchain is because of the opportunity it represents for bigger things and further collaboration,” said Clifford, who, along with others on the panel, co-created Blockchain Women Ireland, an initiative designed to encourage women to participate in this still nascent but fast-growing sector.

Fellow panellist Emma Walker, who is managing director of Wachsman, a dedicated professional services firm for the blockchain sector, spoke of her background as a Spanish and sociology graduate. The opportunity she was given, at age 25, to set up the European office of what at the time, three years ago, was a two-person operation based in New York, gives some indication of the opportunities that exist in blockchain, she said. Today the company employs 120 people globally.

Speaker Luana Cavalcanti is a UX/UI designer at TradeIX, a blockchain technology company who started out in the hospitality sector working on cruise ships. She changed careers three years ago by retraining first in localisation and has progressed rapidly, thanks in part, she said, to mentoring she received by other women in tech.

 

Careers for professionals of all backgrounds in blockchain

People from all backgrounds are required in the fast-growing blockchain sector, and not just as technologists, but as people who can best communicate the use cases to a wide audience, delegates heard. 

“Blockchain is fragmented and, as it is emerging, questions are arising in relation to regulation, to interoperability with legacy systems, to transitions and how to manage them,” said Clifford.

It requires people with change management experience, who have transitioned initiatives before, as much as it does financial experts and tech experts, she said. “That’s why I got involved in Women in Blockchain,” she told delegates. “As you can see from the panel, not one of us has taken a linear path into the blockchain realm. It’s a very enjoyable space and I wanted to be part of that journey.”

The ‘penny drop’ moment came for her in relation to blockchain while attending an earlier conference, where a speaker called blockchain the ‘TCPIP’ of our day.

Realising that cryptocurrencies are simply to blockchain what email is to internet, “I thought, here’s an opportunity for me to be part of something and not feel like an imposter. It’s emerging. The barriers to entry aren’t there and I don’t have to try and retrofit myself into it,” she said.

Blockchain represents a paradigm change, said Movasseli, and as such it requires a diverse set of skills to drive it forward commercially.

To succeed, it requires diversity around more than gender, said Santamaria. “If you’re the kind of person that is driven by learning something new every day, you can’t go wrong with blockchain because you don’t stop learning,” she said.

It also offers a clear sense of purpose. “It really does feel there is a wider purpose to the blockchain project because it is all about collaborating to actually improve things.”

 

Enjoyed this article? Read more fintech insights here.

Irish fintech sector poised for growth

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Fintech brings together two areas in which Ireland has traditional strengths – technology and financial services, Minister Michael D’Arcy told delegates at Towards 2025: Trends in Financial Services and Fintech.

Introducing the panel discussion, part of Enterprise Ireland’s International Markets Week in October, Minister Darcy said fintech is a natural evolution for Ireland, thanks to these strengths, as well as a deep talent pool, and unfettered access to European markets.

The strengths give Ireland a platform to build on, enabling it to be at the forefront of fintech development globally.

 

Driving Ireland’s thriving fintech sector

Several recent developments support the position, he said, including the establishment in April of the Central Bank of Ireland’s Innovation Hub and industry engagement programme, designed to ensure evolving fintech and the regulatory landscape keep apace.

In June, Enterprise Ireland launched a €750,000 Competitive Start Fund for fintech and deep tech. Earlier this year Enterprise Ireland, an active investor in fintech, began a fintech census to accurately map Ireland’s fintech sector.

In May 2019, Ireland will host a meeting of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), at which global standards pertaining to blockchain technology will be determined.

The Department of Finance has a working group dedicated to blockchain and virtual currencies and is commencing work on a successor to IFS 2020 – the national Strategy for Ireland’s International Financial Services sector.

Panel members at the event included Mo Harvey, fintech and financial services lead with Enterprise Ireland for Asia Pacific, based in Hong Kong, and Mai Santamaria, member of the Department of Finance working group on blockchain and digital currencies.

Joining them in the discussion, facilitated by Eoin Fitzgerald, Enterprise Ireland Senior Development Advisor for fintech, was Denise Delaney of the Central Bank of Ireland, and Laura Clifford, industry partner manager at the Adapt Centre – the Science Foundation Ireland-funded centre for digital content technology at Trinity College Dublin.

 

Growing interest in blockchain

Growing interest in blockchain was a key theme. When Laura Clifford began talking to businesses just 18 months ago about the potential of their blockchain technology, initially none of the 13 she canvassed were initially interested in doing collaborative research. That rose to three, with two more now wanting to be involved. “Appetite is increasing for blockchain,” she said.

Mo Harvey’s experience in Asia backs this up. “When we’re in the market and we talk to major corporates, banks and insurers, invariably when we are bringing in our companies (blockchain) is one of the first questions asked about – the second is AI. When a company doesn’t answer in the positive, it’s a case of ‘Why not?’”

The Central Bank’s interest is in the application of technology, rather than the technology itself, said Denise Delaney.

“We are talking regularly to all the various kinds of firms that we regulate, so we know how the business models are changing and so we know what they are doing. For us, the difficulty is firms outside of the regulatory perimeter, because we’re not accessing them.”

It’s one of the reasons it has created its Innovation Hub, to provide a direct point of contact with the sector’s leading edge.

As well as being able to answer regulatory questions, the Hub allows the Central Bank to gain intelligence on where the market is going. “That’s really useful for us and for ourselves internally. We have to build up our own expertise. We have to be able to use that data, analyse it, to be able to assess authorisations, particularly when they start coming in different technologies,” she said.

 

Moving from fintech to techfin in Asia

The move from fintech to techfin is gathering pace, delegates heard. The activities of Chinese companies such as Alibaba, WeChat and TenCent is driving this, and in the process forcing regulators to play catch up.

With a recent survey showing two thirds of Amazon Prime customers would bank with Amazon, how do regulators view the fact that businesses that are not typically regulated, and which don’t even present themselves as financial services companies, are encroaching into the area? asked Eoin Fitzgerald.

“Once they come into that space, they will come into the regulatory space and then they will be like any other regulated entity and will go through the same processes,” said Denise Delaney of the Central Bank.

“The same principles of consumer protection and sustainable business models and resilience will apply to any firm that begins to fall into that, whether they are big tech or otherwise.”

While everybody is aware of the scale of companies such as AliPay and WeChat, some of Asia’s predominance is down to the fact that the market is bigger, “it’s easier to do the 1 billion transactions”, said Mai Santamaria.

Neither do such companies have to contend with legacy systems. “Sometimes that’s the elephant in the room,” she said.

Moreover, with China, “we’re not really talking about private sector banks. We’re probably talking about publically owned banks,” she said. That makes direct comparisons difficult.

The other side of that coin is that Irish companies benefit by not having to go out and compete with a giant like WeChat or AliPay, she pointed out.

In Asia, ecommerce giants are applying for virtual banking licences, “so they are bringing themselves under the regulatory area, very much so, in partnerships,” said Mo Harvey.

This presents significant opportunities for Irish companies in areas such as digital onboarding and risk monitoring, she said.

The fact that Ireland is a small country is to our advantage, said Santamaria. “What I have seen in the blockchain work in the last six months is that when we get our heads around it, and sit around a table, we get to do things and we do them fast enough. That is where there is opportunity for us.”

This is particularly so because of the increasingly rapid pace of technological change. However, the challenge for fintech is that it is hard for the decision makers, those with the purse strings, “to understand what you are selling,” she cautioned.

“You can’t ask someone to look at potentially what it could do for them, if they don’t understand it. We take for granted that the tech is moving fast and getting complex, so the challenge is simple: as a seller of fintech or regtech, you need to be better at making sense of that message.”

For the future, the opportunity is clear, said Mo Harvey. “We are known as a tech hub, we are also known as a financial services hub. The opportunity is there to build on that. The foundations have been laid, the blocks have been built. Let’s see where we can go with that. Let’s be ambitious from an Irish perspective, as to where we sit on a global stage. That’s the opportunity.”

 

Read more about the Irish companies growing exports in the fintech space.

XOCEAN marine vessel gathering data

XOCEAN fills ocean data deficit with unmanned robot fleet

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In his previous life, James Ives was a customer of ocean data – but not a particularly satisfied one. As head of a marine energy company for more than 10 years, Ives relied on high-quality, accurate ocean data but found the process of getting that information both time-consuming and expensive.

“There is huge growth in the marine sector and the foundation of that growth is data. As a customer,” he says, “I thought there had to be a better way.”

Ives, who comes from an engineering background, decided his hunch was worth following. Last year, with the help of Enterprise Ireland, he set up his own ocean data services company: XOCEAN.

Based in Carlingford, Co. Louth, the company offers a range of turnkey data collection services for industrial, environmental and other commercial interests including data harvesting, fish stock monitoring, hydrographic surveys, environmental analysis and met ocean data.

“The big difference between XOCEAN and most other ocean data service providers is that we use marine robots known as Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs),” says Ives. “This approach offers three major advantages. First, it’s safer, as no humans have to go offshore. Second, it’s more efficient as our USVs can operate and collect data non-stop, 24/7. And thirdly, it’s around one-third the cost of conventional methods.”

The company’s XO-450 model looks like a miniature catamaran. It’s about the same size as an average car (but around half the weight) with a solar hybrid power system that provides a range of around 1,500 nautical miles, operating continuously for up to 18 days at a time. The system includes a wave-piercing hull design to ensure stability for a payload of up to 100kg of sensors and other equipment necessary for commercial ocean data capture.

 

XOCEAN’s journey to commercialisation

XOCEAN began with a planning and innovation stage, followed by building and testing the prototypes. According to founder Ives, the company is now transitioning into phase three, which is commercialisation of the product.

“At the moment we’re focused on industrial users including companies in the oil and gas sector and government agencies responsible for monitoring fisheries and the environment,” he says. “Our sweet spot is the continental shelf region where most ocean-based economic activity takes place, for example offshore wind farm developments.”

“We’re in discussion with some very large companies and there is a lot of excitement in the market, so things look bright,” he says. “Clients have told us that we’re just what the market needs, which is great to hear.”

The XOCEAN story took off when the company was taken into the High Potential Start-Up (HPSU) portfolio at Enterprise Ireland.

 

How XOCEAN was supported by Enterprise Ireland

“The funding is the obvious one but where Enterprise Ireland really adds value is in the expertise and experience they offer,” says James Ives. “When you go to them first with your idea, they really ask questions and challenge your business plan – it’s such an important and valuable way of knowing if the plan is viable. After that, if the potential is there, you have access to their support and that can make a difference for start-ups.

“Our decision to base the company in Ireland was a conscious one, and it was facilitated in no small way by Enterprise Ireland’s support,” he adds. “They are also great at opening doors and providing introductions, which has been a massive help in gaining traction in markets like Canada and the UK.”

XOCEAN’s successful start, he adds, is down to his “fantastically talented” team – and an urgent need for more and better-quality ocean data.

“According to the OECD, the ocean economy has the potential to double in value to $3 trillion by 2030,” says Ives. “So, the potential is vast but it’s all underpinned by a need for sensible development and that is dependent on a supply of high-quality, accurate information. More data leads to better decisions and that is crucial to the development of the marine environment.”

As an example of how the company works, in summer 2018, XOCEAN partnered with Ireland’s Marine Institute to collect data as part of the management of Irish fish stock resources. “The USV travelled 100 nautical miles out into the Celtic Sea and performed an acoustic survey that generated 110 gigabytes of high-quality data,” says Ives. “That information is now being used to provide a better understanding of our fish stock levels.”

In October and November last year, XOCEAN successfully completed demonstrations of their USVs over the horizon bathymetric survey capability. Surveys were performed in Carlingford Lough and the Irish Sea, controlled over a satellite internet connection by a team of USV Pilots in XOCEAN’s Operations Centre. XOCEAN’s XO-450 was demonstrated to be a robust platform for multibeam echo sounder surveys.

With the company also exploring international markets, it’s interesting to note that all missions are managed from XOCEAN’s base in Carlingford. While the USVs are designed to be transported by road, they can also be packaged up with a bespoke trailer and shipped anywhere in the world.

“We’ve been well received everywhere we’ve gone,” Ives says. “I think the international market recognises that Ireland is a hub for technology and innovation. Irish companies have a great reputation for innovative thinking, for hard work, for being easy to work with.”

 

For more information, visit xocean.com.

 

 

Meet the Irish companies adding value to North American health systems

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Enterprise Ireland’s North America Healthcare Forum offered a wealth of advice for companies with plans to sell into the continent’s top health systems.

Innovative healthcare solutions providers shared insights at the initiative, which brought together leadership from the US and Canada’s healthcare sectors.

These included RelateCare, a healthcare communications consultancy and outsourcing organisation that began nine years ago as joint venture between the Cleveland Clinic and call centre specialist Rigney Dolphin. Today RelateCare works with a number of US hospital groups to ensure people get into hospital efficiently.

 

Resources needed to conquer North American health systems

For chairman and founder Frank Dolphin, the key to entering the US market is to ensure you have enough resources. “If you want to build a business, it’s going to take time, a lot of commitment, and a lot of investment,” he said. “It’s long haul, not short. You have to put down roots there.”

Don’t be put off by the perceived level of differences between North America and other markets, advised Mark McCloskey, president and founder of healthcare company Oneview, which sells its patient engagement and clinical engagement software globally. “Health systems around the world are similar. There are different nuances but the main role is to get patients in, make sure you treat them well and don’t readmit them,” he said.

Oneview specialises in products such as ‘room ready’ applications that speed up turnaround times when hospital rooms are vacated, as well as mobile apps for procedures such as patient discharge or appointment scheduling.

Aerogen, a medtech company that delivers liquid drugs into aerosols, followed the same market entry strategy in Canada as it does everywhere. “We make sure we fully understand the opportunities, what the customer needs and how the hospitals are reimbursed or paid. Then we choose our distributors very carefully, agree targets and a business plan, and work hand in hand with them. For us that has been a recipe that has worked really well,” said Eileen Duffy, the company’s senior vice president of global sales and marketing.  “We only enter a market where we have full regulatory approval across all of the segments.”

Her advice is to “make sure you put investment on the ground. Don’t launch until you are ready and can afford to launch, and stay very close to both your customers and distributors.”

 

Get to grips with reimbursement models

Getting to grips with payment and or reimbursement models is vital, agreed Aoife Ni Mhuiri, founder of Salaso, a provider of digital solutions for online care management of patients.

“Understand, too, where the hospitals are in relation to value based care versus fee per service journey,” she said.

With the move towards value payments, or a bundled payment type model, you can successfully sell once you demonstrate that your technology can increase the capacity, or efficiency, of the service that is being delivered by your customer’s clinic.

Genesis Automation is a Cork company headquartered in St Petersburg, Florida, whose enterprise traceability and analytics platform empowers hospitals and suppliers to improve patient safety and optimise their inventory.

It is quickly growing its staff numbers in the US. Finding talent is an important challenge to get right, particularly as hiring the wrong sales people can be expensive both in terms of real cost and opportunity cost.

“We’ve made mistakes on that front, and as a result have got a lot more scientific in our approach to hiring people,” he said.

Candidates at the company are now interviewed by three people, with a HR person providing a final check.

 

Differences between states

Don’t underestimate the differences between states, said Frank Dolphin, particularly as they relate to state taxes and regulations. “It’s like operating in the EU. Just as the next country has a different set of rules, so too does the next State in the US. When you come here, you can make the mistake of thinking it’s like the difference between counties at home, it’s not.”

US candidates are particularly good at writing impressive CVs, or resumes. Learning how to read and interpret them is a skill, which adds to the hire cycle, said Dolphin,

Oneview takes a particularly innovative approach. “We get our customers to interview some of our hires,” he said. “They’ll give you very honest feedback and will tell you if the resume isn’t what the person is saying.

Aim to enter a health system and grow within it, said Aoife Ni Mhuiri of Salaso. “We were very fortunate to be one of the companies involved with Northwell Health through their partnership with Enterprise Ireland. Northwell is now also one of our investor companies. One of the reasons we wanted to work with them is because they span every single sector of health care. We started in one area, neurology, and are slowly spreading through their system.”

 

Building partnerships

Such partnerships are invaluable. “Our original relationship with Cleveland Clinic was marvellous, which was facilitated by Enterprise Ireland,” said Frank Dolphin. “Partnering with an organisation like the Cleveland Clinic means others will give you a second look.”

Learn to navigate within the hospitals and the health systems, identifying the decision makers “and helping them to navigate their way through the system too, so they can sell it for you across the service. It’s not as simple as getting the right person and Bingo, you’re in. You might get part of the contract, but then you’ve got to grow within the system,” said Frank Dolphin.

Before embarking on any pilot, agree the key performance indicators that will move you into implementation in advance, warned Mark McCloskey.

“Be wary, make sure you get a firm commitment.” Get a champion too.  “We’ve been to final stage meetings in hospitals that have had 20 people around the table, every one with a different opinion. Make sure you have a champion from the C Suite with a very strong voice at the table.”

 

Before you take your business stateside visit Enterprise Ireland’s dedicated US Market page.

Ambition Benelux: How we got up and running

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There’s an interesting Dutch saying for doing business that describes the appetite in the Netherlands for making something out of nothing: “Let’s make land together”.

It’s what the Dutch excel at and applies equally to trade and business. Where there is a market opportunity, chances are a firm from the Netherlands and Benelux region will be on it from the outset.

It should come as no surprise. The Benelux economies are some of the most open and easily accessible in the Eurozone, and also among the most lucrative.

 

Benelux as a gateway to the Eurozone

The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg often present themselves as the gateway to Europe, in both a physical sense in shipping and logistics, as well as in areas such as data and financial services. And they have good reason to, with 200 million consumers living within just 500 miles of Benelux cities.

With a very compact and centralised population of their own serviced with excellent infrastructure, the opportunity has not gone unnoticed by Irish companies keen to diversify and take operations into the Eurozone.

At Enterprise Ireland’s Ambition Benelux event, companies that have entered the region explained why – and how – they chose to launch to secure the growth their companies required.

Gone are the days when a company could simply open a virtual office. Now companies must decide whether a branch office of their Irish company is best to get boots on the ground, or whether they need to set up a company in the usual manner in the export country. Either way, Irish companies have prospered by making their foray through a distribution agent or local partner, which provide useful market introductions and a real face-to-face contact point for clients and customers.

 

Parkpnp’s journey into Benelux

In some cases, the move is strategic from the get-go. In just 14 months, Parkpnp, a marketplace for renting unused car parking spaces, has expanded from Ireland into both Belgium and Netherlands with ambitions to enter a further eight European markets in the next two years.

For Jason Popplewell, Parkpnp COO, it became clear that branching from the Irish market to the UK or US would see his fledgling firm bump into larger and more established competitors in the sharing economy, so Europe was a logical choice.

“About six months ago, we acquired a company in Belgium called Sharemypark but they were just doing residential car parking spaces. It was a great match for us to bolt onto our system and it’s going very well.”

With a presence in Belgium, the company then moved into franchising their model.

“We sold our franchise into the Netherlands, and that launched around four months ago, and that’s going very well.

“Ultimately nothing beats feet on the ground.”

 

Booming sectors in Benelux

The boom in data centre construction in the Netherlands in particular, and the wider cleanbuild, pharma and life sciences sector has seen Irish design and construction expertise in demand. The trend has seen firms like Dublin-based RKD Architects move into Belgium and in a client-led sector, having a local presence has been vital for winning and expanding their order book.

Director, Geert Douterlungne said: “At the end of the day, it’s just an extra 10 minutes in the plane from Dublin. Clients want to meet, and given the location, you can be there to resolve any issue quickly.”

But entering a new market may force a company to learn some hard lessons, said Jim Costello, founder of Forest Produce, a horticultural giftware company. Entering the floral and horticulture market in one of the most competitive markets of its kind in Europe saw Costello quickly realise that competing on price points would not be an option.

 Getting a foothold in the market required Forest Produce to bring a USP to the table.

“The Dutch are very competitive and will outsource to a cheaper alternative very quickly. But what we have found though is that Dutch customers appreciate innovation. If you have something novel that they like they will pay good money for it,” said Costello

“You have to have something cutting edge. If you have something that is unique, be it a service or solving a problem, that is what we have found is the way to get and keep your company relevant in the Dutch marketplace.”

Darren Fortune, managing director of Wicklow-based Ventac, a specialist acoustic solutions company in the automotive industry said they opened their first overseas office in 2011 near Eindhoven.

“The UK was our biggest market but we knew that the bigger volume was Europe itself, so we wanted to break out.

“We went to Enterprise Ireland and did a lot of market research. We felt that the Netherlands was a great start, as it was easy access and the language barrier was negligible. Enterprise Ireland introduced us to people in our sector and, because the Netherlands is big into sector clusters, we were able to get into the automotive sector very quickly.

“The legal stuff scared me a little bit but it was much easier than we anticipated. We rented an office for €8,000 a year in a business centre with around 30 other firms and we were up and running.”

It’s a much-trotted out axiom in the age of the multinational: think global, act local. But with Benelux, it is possible. Fortune added: “It’s an hour away and they want to do business. What more could you want?”

 

Learn how Enterprise Ireland’s Market Research Centre can help you assess new market opportunities with bespoke business intelligence.

US visas

US visas: Organising troops on the ground for your business

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The skills and experience of senior personnel are crucial to the success of a new operation in the United States. But before you start deploying manpower stateside, you will need to get your immigration visas in order.

US immigration laws are highly complex and change regularly, so specialised legal advice is an absolute necessity. What follows is a sketch of the various visa options available and the requirements each entails.

No visa

The Visa Waiver Programme (VWP) allows you to travel to the US without a visa for ‘limited business purposes’ but does not allow you to take up employment. The VWP is intended for short, infrequent trips, of no more than 90 days duration, and is good for visiting trade shows, attending conferences, and for preliminary market research and pre-investment activity.

If you cumulatively spend more than 50% of your time in the United States in one year, you will almost certainly be denied further entry under the VWP. If you are denied an Electronic System Travel Authorisation (ESTA) at any time for whatever reason, you will require a visa for all future travel to the United States.

To travel to the US under the VWP, you must apply online for an ESTA in advance. To obtain an ESTA authorisation, you must possess a return, or onward, travel ticket indicating that you are not planning on staying permanently.

B for basic

If you cannot avail of the VW programme, you will need a visitor visa. The B-1 visa is for temporary visitors on business and the B-2 visa is for tourists. B-1 visas for Irish citizens are usually valid for 10 years but only allow holders entry into the US for a maximum of six months. The same restrictions on business activity apply to B-1 holders as to those on the VW programme: you are not allowed to take up employment in the US.

A B-1 visa application will probably require an interview with an American embassy official, during which you will be asked to provide evidence of the purpose of your planned visit and of the ties you have in Ireland – economic, family and social – to ensure that you won’t ‘overstay’.

L for longer

If you are setting up a US operation, you will need to be in the United States for a substantial period of time, so one possible option is an L-visa.

An L-1A visa is for managers and executives who previously worked with a foreign company and are transferring to the United States to work, for at least one year, with a new subsidiary company, or an affiliate company, or an American parent company. L-1A visas can be extended for up to a maximum of seven years.

An L-1B visa is for employees with specialised knowledge (SK) of a foreign company’s business systems and processes. An L-1B visa allows a maximum stay, including extensions, of five years. Generally, L-1B visas are more suitable for established US companies than for foreign start-ups trying to get a foothold in the American market.

Before applying for an L visa at the US embassy in Dublin, you must first gain petition approval from the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS).

E for easier

An E visa is for employees of foreign businesses in which the employee is a citizen of a country with which the US has a significant trade treaty. The employee must be entering the US to engage in ‘substantial international trade’ or to ‘develop and direct the operations of an enterprise that has, or is, investing in the United States’.

E visas are issued for a maximum of five years but, typically, for those employed by smaller organisations, they are usually granted for an initial two-year period, with renewals up to a maximum of five years at the discretion of the US Consulate.

The E-1 visa is for those who come from countries in which 50% or more of national trade is with the US, so it is not suitable for Irish citizens.

The E-2 visa is the closest thing to a ‘US start up visa’ for Irish entrepreneurs. E-2 applicants must be of the same nationality as the foreign entity that employs them and they must be engaged in an executive or supervisory capacity or have special qualifications essential to the enterprise.

There is a minimum investment requirement, usually at least US$100,000. E visa applications are more straightforward than L visa applications, with the process conducted at your local US consulate.

H for highly-skilled

H visas are for people who belong to speciality occupations. Applications must be approved by the US Department of Labour and petitioning companies must prove that the foreign employee will be paid a fair wage and will not displace US workers.

The H-1B visa is for highly-skilled workers who have a university degree or equivalent. A H-2B visa is for technical workers, such as employees posted to the US to install new machinery and teach Americans how to operate it. A H-3 is a training visa for employees availing of upskilling courses unavailable in their home country.

O for OMG

The O-1 visa is for individuals with extraordinary ability and/or achievement in the sciences, education, business, athletics, or the arts. The visa is initially granted for up to three years and can subsequently be extended for one year at a time, with no upper limit on the number of extensions that may be granted.

Another visa that applies to a small minority of applicants is the EB-5, which is for those who make substantial investments in the US economy, generally in excess of US$1 million.

Green for Go

Foreign nationals can be granted permanent residence, known as having a Green Card, based on continued employment in the US, or by showing you have a job offer.

Once you are granted a Green Card you are subject to US income tax assessment. Additionally, Green Card residents must maintain their status, for example, showing that they intend to be long-term residents of the US, although they may be temporarily resident elsewhere.

Employers may ‘sponsor’ a Green Card applicant by presenting evidence of a job offer. Often, applicants must already hold a temporary, unexpired visa, such as a B-1.

More information about the visa application process is available here.

The Irish-American law firm O’Brien & Associates runs regular updates on US visa requirements here.