Expansion of Japanese firms will see 150 jobs for Ireland

JAPANESE firms are to create 150 jobs in Ireland — 100 in Cork and 50 in Dublin — Taoiseach Brian Cowen disclosed during a government trade mission in Japan.

Trend, a global leader in internet content security, is to grow its Cork-based Europe Middle East and Asia (EMEA) operations centre and expand its workforce, recruiting 100 people over the next three years. Gala, an online community firm is expanding its European HQ with the creation of 50 jobs

The Taoiseach also announced three research and development (R&D) investments — in automotive technology from Alps Electric, imaging techniques from Shimadzu and a combined investment from Sony, Toshiba and IBM researching the Cell Broadband Engine.

Trend plans to establish a new European anti-malware service, supporting TrendLabs’ global threat research and support in other regions. As a result the Cork office will increasingly play a strategic role in its parent company’s global business. As part of these ambitious expansion plans Trend will grow many of the existing functions and teams including its existing technical customer support.

The Taoiseach stressed Ireland’s commitment to R&D when he addressed a number of seminars at the Enterprise Ireland trade mission to Japan.

Speaking in Tokyo, the Taoiseach said the presence of so many Irish firms engaged in the pharma, life sciences and functional foods sectors highlighted an economy that has evolved rapidly in recent years.

Nine of the top 10 medical technology companies have significant Irish operations while 13 of the world’s top 15 BioPharmaChem companies are located in Ireland, the world’s fourth largest exporter of pharmaceuticals. Their impact has been extremely positive for Ireland and they have spawned a strong group of Irish-owned firms now trading successfully with the best in the world, he said.