AmCham Hosts its 2023 Mid-West Conference

AmCham’s 2023 Mid-West Conference took place in Analog Devices' ADI catalyst building in Limerick this week with more than 140 registered attendees from more than 50 companies.

The Conference featured an insightful panel discussion on the topics of innovation and talent, with contributions from Dave Riordan, Site Head, Eli Lilly and Company, Sara Cuddy, Director of People, Organisation & Transformation Culture, Digital Manufacturing Ireland and Sean O’Reilly, EMEA VP of Logistics, Dell Technologies.

Dave spoke about the need for greater collaboration across industry when it comes to innovation. He said in his experience he has seen the best results when industry has come together and collaborated with research centres, and that to continue to compete globally in this space, we need to follow a more coordinated and concerted approach. Sara encouraged companies to strategically look at their technology roadmap and work to identify what future skills will be needed in their organisation. She highlighted the importance of understanding the current skills matrix within the organisaiton and utilising micro credentials to ensure that employees can continue to meet skills requirements. Sean addressed the challenges that companies face around attracting and retaining staff, particularly within the younger generation. He highlighted the importance of creating clusters within organisations to give younger employees a space to voice their needs, and the responsibility of leadership to listen to and provide for these needs.

Shane Geary, General Manager at Analog Devices International, highlighted the importance of utilizing "people, planning and power" as a means to enhancing the Mid-West region as a hub for manufacturing. On planning he highlighted that businesses need certainty of timeframe, not certainty of process to support future investment and expansion. Speaking on power he highlighted the importance of unlocking the region’s potential for offshore wind. However, he noted that Ireland must be prepared to deliver clean, reliable and cost competitive power for industry in the interim.

Stephen Kinsella, from UCC noted that in planning for Ireland’s future, we need a greater focus on innovation, saying, “If you have a growth in people searching for ideas that will equal a growth in income per person.” However, he said we need transformational policy decisions to ensure this can happen, particularly when it comes to addressing supply bottlenecks in areas including housing, education and healthcare.

The second panel discussion on sustainability and regional development featured contributions from Glenn Gillard Partner, Sustainability Market Lead, Deloitte, Diarmuid Collins, Senior Director, Plant Operations Engineering, Edwards Lifesciences, Will Corcoran, Regional Manager for the Mid-West, IDA Ireland and Mary Considine, Chief Executive, The Shannon Airport Group.

Glenn recommended that when it comes to the sustainability agenda, businesses place a particular focus on the impacts that they want to make as part of our sustainability journey. He said that this will focus minds on the strategic opportunities for businesses in sustainability. Mary noted that there is a huge economic opportunity for Ireland is we can move quickly to utilise Ireland’s offshore wind potential. This would allow Ireland to not only provide secure and cost competitive energy for businesses, but also see huge economic benefits for the country at large. Will Corcoran, from IDA, said that 65 percent of SMEs do not have a climate action plan and recommended that larger businesses engage with companies in their supply chains in this regard. Diarmuid spoke about the investment by businesses in green energy and green infrastructure, noting the huge resilience that this provides for industry amid a dynamic energy environment.

AmCham Mid-West Chair Orlaith Lawler highlighted the world-class talent coming out of our third level education institutions in the Mid-West. Orlaith said that there are over 30,000 students currently enrolled in third level education in the region with Ireland ranking 4th out of 38 countries in the OECD for education.

A huge thank you to Deloitte for sponsoring out 2023 Mid-West region Conference.