CLUSTERING high growth sectors on an all-Ireland basis is "crucial" to maximise prosperity, a cross-border body has said.
InterTradeIreland has launched an overview of business sectors to highlight how economic opportunities could be be created by greater cross-border cooperation.
Its study is the first of its kind and maps geographic concentrations of firms in the same sector across Ireland.
It found some sectors, especially in the manufacturing industry, were ubiquitous across Ireland such as the making of food products and metal fabrication.
Others had areas of high concentration but these were spread across the country. These include the making of drinks which had significant clusters in Belfast and Dublin.
The film industry also had dispersed but significant concentrations in parts of the north and Galway.
Some sectors were ubiquitous in Northern Ireland but not the Republic including financial services; vehicle and trailer manufacturing and the making of electrical equipment.
Those concentrations with a cross-border element clothes manufacturing, publishing and the making of rubber and plastic products.
The report looks specifically at the pharmaceuticals, medical devices and software sectors.
In pharmaceuticals, it said there should be better co-ordination of research centres, education and training.
It made similar recommendations for the medical devices industry which it said could benefit from greater sharing of health information and analysis.
On software, it recommended the development of an internship scheme to operate across Ireland.
InterTradeIreland strategy and policy director Aidan Gough said: “The small size of the island and the proximity of businesses to one another and to other potential partners such as research institutes give rise to potential ecosystems with distinctive benefits related to economies of scale and scope or diversity.
"Our report sets out how potential benefits in areas such as research and innovation, goods and services markets, labour markets and infrastructure can be optimised through closer co-operation."
While many of the current sectoral ecosystems have developed organically, InterTradeIreland suggested policy interventions could "shape their growth and development, which leaves open the scope for proactive activity by agencies to redefine ecosystems on an all-island basis were the economic case is justified in terms of additional economies of scale and scope".
“There is scope within the medical devices industry, for example, where pooling our research and industry expertise would be of great advantage in maximising the significant opportunities for this developing marke," added Mr Gough.
"To maximise opportunities within the pharmaceutical sector, we would recommend developing an all-island inter-operable clinical trials co-ordination network.
"In terms of the software sector, developing an all-island internship scheme for software skills would help to address the immediate skills gap in that sector, particularly for growing firms.”
He added: “This study has provided the validation for the case for all-island clusters and short and long-term initiatives have been identified that will benefit particular sectors. InterTradeIreland will now work with policy makers on both sides of the border and other industry bodies to deliver on the opportunities from all-island sectoral ecosystems.”
