EER continues to catalyse growth for Northern Ireland

More than one year after Northern Ireland Local Government Association (NILGA) and Invest Northern Ireland were awarded the European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) award, further events are being planned to support commercial and social enterprises in Northern Ireland.

Ken Bishop, Head of Programmes and Investment at NILGA and Andrew McCormick, Permanent Secretary of Invest Northern Ireland met with EER organisers and representatives from DG connect to plan out business-centred events.

Ken Bishop said: "The EER's been a call to arms - catalyst for growth. We now want to highlight the value of having goof relationships with our European cousins"

Together with Invest Northern Ireland, the government assoiation will promote economic growth in Northern Ireland, particularly in the North-West region, which is an area of high skills but in need of an economic boost.

One planned two-day event, likely to be in June, will engage European and regional politicians and SMEs to promote greater economic activity and cross-border cooperation with Northern Ireland.

Like in the original EER campaign launched in October 2014, these events will seek to challenge all parts of government and its agencies to promote growth as effective antidotes to cuts and austerity.

Northern Ireland won the European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) 2015, along with Portugal's capital city, Lisbon, UK's Northern Ireland and the Spanish Region of Valencia have been selected as the winners of the European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) for 2015.

A new call for entries has been launched. For more information see the EER website.