Earlier this month, Tampa Bay EDC investors and our Global Tampa Bay partners from Pinellas and Pasco Counties traveled to Dublin, Ireland for several days of meetings to encourage further foreign direct investment in Tampa Bay. Our SVP of Economic Development, Mitchel Allen, met with 12 companies exploring business opportunities in Hillsborough County. Tampa Bay offers Irish companies an attractive gateway to the US that is more cost effective than other major metros. Ireland has become a strategically important international investment partner for our region, especially in target industry sectors like cybersecurity, financial services, healthcare, and aviation.Highlights of our whirlwind tour included a roundtable on collaborative opportunities for Irish and US Life Sciences and Healthcare organizations at world-renowned Trinity College, where leaders from Moffitt Cancer Center and Tampa General Hospital forged important connections with their
counterparts at Ireland’s largest medical center. We toured the college, its magnificent library, and visited the Book of Kells, a masterpiece of medieval art and Irish heritage. We had a trade relations roundtable at the capital with Verona Murphy, Ireland’s first female Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann (Head of the Council). And finally, we visited the Guinness Enterprise Center, a world-class business incubator that supports enterprises in Ireland and beyond.
counterparts at Ireland’s largest medical center. We toured the college, its magnificent library, and visited the Book of Kells, a masterpiece of medieval art and Irish heritage. We had a trade relations roundtable at the capital with Verona Murphy, Ireland’s first female Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann (Head of the Council). And finally, we visited the Guinness Enterprise Center, a world-class business incubator that supports enterprises in Ireland and beyond.Foreign direct investment missions like this one play a key role in the growth and competitiveness of our region and help elevate Tampa’s profile as a top destination for international business. We’re thankful to our EDC Investors who joined us on this trip and especially our Chairman, Archie Collins of Tampa Electric. I can tell you from nearly ten years of participating in these missions that the relationships forged on these trips and the foreign companies that have established a presence in Tampa Bay have helped to transform our economy to the highly diversified one it is today.
Craig
