Northern Ireland must rebuild its manufacturing industry and not rely solely on new technology to drive future economic growth, one of the UK's leading entrepreneurs has warned.
Inventor and multimillion pound entrepreneur Mr James Dyson believes Northern Ireland should build on its engineering tradition and create a strong export-driven economy.
"I do not believe that IT is the future, I believe it is part of the future but the biggest driver will be manufacturing. Northern Ireland needs a manufacturing industry, it needs engineers and, in order for the manufacturing industry to be successful, it must export.
"A great part of Northern Ireland's heritage is built on its manufacturing tradition and I believe it is absolutely possible for Northern Ireland to rebuild it," he said.
Mr Dyson is in the North today to take part in a conference on innovation at Queen's University, Belfast.
Best known for inventing the Dual Cyclone vacuum cleaner, DC01, Mr Dyson believes the UK government could do more to support manufacturers. It took James Dyson 15 years to make his vacuum prototype a success; introduced in the UK in 1993, it became the best-selling vacuum cleaner in less than two years. Today his company employs 1,800 people and Dyson has an annual turnover of more than £200 million sterling (€326 million).
He is aware that thousands of jobs have been lost in the manufacturing sector in the North in recent years with the closure of engineering companies such as Mackie International and the downturn in Harland & Wolff's fortunes.
But Mr Dyson believes that, if the political will existed to support manufacturing, the sector could be re-energised.
"The government is putting a lot of investment into new technologies but this is overshadowing the harder issues facing the manufacturing sector.
"The car industry in the UK is a good example of how an industry can be rebuilt. Ford invested in Jaguar and Aston Martin and it has been extremely successful for them. We need manufacturing to be valued at all levels. What we need is for the Government in the UK to support manufacturing through real measures," he said.
Mr Dyson believes there are several steps the UK government could take to help manufacturers.
"We need to give engineering the importance it once had in the economy and we must encourage manufacturers to invest in research and development. We desperately need the government to give manufacturers the same 200 per cent tax relief it currently gives to small businesses in the UK and finally, we need to lower sterling. Sterling's strength is killing exporters all over the UK," he said.
Mr Dyson hopes his first visit to Northern Ireland will help spur on people who have a business idea to make the jump. "I would encourage people to be entrepreneurs. Anyone can set up in business and compete with the multinationals."
