Sectoral opportunities for Irish companies in Australia
Telecommunications Technologies
Financial Services Software
Agribusiness
Utilities Technologies
e-Learning
Consumer Products
Sectoral Opportunities for Irish Companies in New Zealand
Telecommunications
Agri-business/Food Technologies
Sectoral opportunities for Irish companies in Australia
Enterprise Ireland's strategy is to assist indigenous Irish companies to target key growth sectors in the Australian economy. These areas include - Telecommunications (software and hardware), Financial Services (software), Utilities (software and hardware), Elearning, and to a lesser extent, Consumer Products.
As a general comment, due to its close proximity and linkages with other Asian economies, the Australian market does not provide opportunities for medium to low-tech manufacturers, where Ireland cannot compete with Asian suppliers. For the main part, therefore, Enterprise Ireland's activities are heavily focused on the high-growth IT sector.
Telecommunications Technologies
Recent analysis by Australia's Productivity Commission shows that about one third of Australia's record productivity growth can be attributed to strong investment in the use of ICT (the third highest investment in the OECD, at 11 per cent of GDP in 2001).
Australia is the second largest IT and telecommunications market in Asia after Japan. Australians are among the most technologically literate people in the world, with high penetration rates for new technologies. This represents a significant opportunity for Irish companies with solutions in this area.
Financial Services Software
Australia has one of the largest and most highly developed marketplaces for financial services in the Asia-Pacific and enjoys a global reputation for sophisticated and innovative financial services and products.
Finance and insurance is now the third largest industry sector, its contribution to the Australian economy in 2002 was around A$46 billion or 7.2% of GDP. This is more than twice that of the agricultural sector (3.5%) and around 40% greater than the mining sector (5%), two sectors that have traditionally made a strong contribution to Australia's economic fortunes.
These factors marry well with Ireland's position as a leading global provider of financial services technology solutions.
Agribusiness
Agribusiness is a very significant sector of the Australian economy worth in the order of AUD$100 billion per annum. It is a major employer and makes up the largest piece of Australia's manufacturing base. In terms of outputs and profits the agribusiness sector at its elite end consistently outperforms most other asset classes.
A number of Irish companies have had significant exports to the Australian agribusiness sector - particularly in the areas of agricultural machinery and parts, materials handling equipment, agricultural chemicals and veterinary pharmaceuticals. In additional to the more traditional areas, Enterprise Ireland is assisting Irish companies to explore new opportunities in areas such as agricultural biotechnology.
Utilities Technologies
The Australian energy market is growing at a rate of up to 5% per annum, with an annual turnover of approximately AU$100 billion. The market has doubled since the early 1980s and will increase by another 30% before the end of this decade.
To cope with this growth, Australian utilities need to invest in new infrastructure. This, coupled with the increased competition in this sector since its deregulation, has created a market of opportunity for suppliers to the utilities sector.
e-Learning
Growth in the elearning market worldwide has tapered off in recent years. Solid business cases and short-term returns on investment are the keys to securing business in Australia as in other significant markets (eg the USA, UK and developed Asia Pacific countries).
Despite gloomier times, industry experts project the elearning market globally will grow from US$6.6 billion in 2002 to US$23.7 billion in 2006, and will remain a source of significant opportunity for vendors and investors alike over the next five years.
The e-Learning market in the Asia Pacific region was worth US$812 million in 2002 and is predicted to grow by 5% in the current year. The Australian corporate e-Learning market is estimated to be worth in the region of US$65 million. Australia is one of the four countries expected to lead significant growth in the Asia Pacific elearning market in the next few years (the others are: Korea, China and Singapore).
A number of factors will continue to drive the growth of corporate elearning, including greater buyer dependence on internet technology for training, better linkage of online learning to evolving business processes, and greater demand for employee self-service. Availability of adequate infrastructure, wide geographic dispersion of employees and low language barriers are amongst the local growth agents for elearning in Australia.
IT e-Learning is expected to continue providing a significant contribute to elearning spend. Most governments across the Asia Pacific region are looking at elearning as a means to bridge the digital divide. However, by 2005-2006, it is expected that non-IT e-Learning (vertical industry specific, function specific and soft skills training) will be on a par with IT elearning in the relatively mature Australian elearning market.
Consumer Products
Although Australia is not a particularly lucrative export destination for Irish consumer products such as clothing, textiles and furniture (due to distance and cost of shipment, different climates, lifestyles and consumer tastes, and price competition from Asia), there are some niche opportunities.
Due to the high proportion of Australians with Irish heritage (40% of the population), there is a viable niche market for quality Irish giftware and food products with a 'nostalgia' flavour.
Sectoral Opportunities for Irish Companies in New Zealand
The two key sectors being targeted by Enterprise Ireland in New Zealand are telecommunications (software and hardware) and agri-business food sector (technologies).
Telecommunications
Australia's Telstra, US Bell Atlantic, AT&T, British Telecom, Sprint and Cable & Wireless all have affiliates in New Zealand. In November 2000 the Southern Cross cable went live. This is a highly sophisticated fibre optic system which links San Francisco, Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia and Fiji through a system capable of transferring the equivalent of two full-length motion pictures every second, and at a network availability rate of more than 99.999%.
New Zealand is a sophisticated, highly technologically aware nation and has one of the highest investments in information technology as a proportion of GDP in the world. New Zealanders are also proven early adopters of a whole range of technologies. This willingness to embrace the new along with the compact size of the country and demographics that mirror those of much larger markets make this an ideal place to test-market new technologies.
Agri-business/Food Technologies
New Zealand's temperate climate and fertile soil make the country ideal for almost every kind of land-based production - from sheep and cattle, to cropping, horticulture and forestry. The agriculture and forestry sector is one of the largest sectors in the New Zealand economy. Together with its support and processing components it regularly contributes more than NZ$20 billion per year, or about 20% of the Gross Domestic Product.
The agricultural industry is a major employer. In 1999 it employed an estimated 215,330 people, 11.4% of the workforce. Of these, around 34, 000 people were employed on sheep and beef farms, with a further 25 000 in meat processing. When all services, including transport, finance, farm supplies and wool processing, are taken into account, the sheep and beef sector employs around 116,300 people, or 6.2% of the total workforce.
The New Zealand dairy industry is also a large employer. Around 32,000 people are employed on dairy farms, and a further 14,200 in servicing the needs of producers. More than 7,100 people are involved in processing dairy products. When all services (including transport, finance, farm supplies) are taken into account, the total number of people employed by the sector is around 67,300, or 4.6% of the total workforce.
The sector's major exports include meat, wool, dairy products, wood products, horticultural products, and many specialised products that continue to develop niche markets around the world. The nation's meat processors annually produce 600,000 tonnes of beef and veal, 400,000 tonnes of lamb and 10,000 tonnes of mutton. The dairy sector exports over 300,000 tonnes of butter, 200,000 tonnes of cheese and 100,000 tonnes of casein products. The forestry industry produces the equivalent of 17 million cubic metres of wood and exported 12 million cubic metres in the 1999 calendar year. The horticulture industry produces and exports about 60 million cartons of kiwifruit and 19 million cartons of apples each year.
This represents a significant opportunity for Irish companies specialising in technologies for these industries - including quality control management systems, enterprise software and hardware technologies and clean-room technologies.
Click here to go to the Australia/New Zealand International Office