Industry key to growth of €1.4bn marine economy

Linking Ireland’s ever- expanding blue economy to established industry can unlock significant potential for further growth, according to the head of the Marine Institute. Huge scope exists for established companies in the areas of pharmaceuticals, medical-technical, information and communications technology and software to identify niche opportunities in the ocean economy, chief executive Peter Heffernan said.

A wide-scale study on the country’s maritime economy due to be published at Seafest — a major festival to be held in Cork on July 11 — will include plans to establish such links.

“There are going to be niche opportunities for those [sectors] and particularly in areas of convergence where quite disparate sectors have the ability to overlap and come up with very innovative products and services together and working across those industrial boundaries on a very small island like Ireland,” he said.