Galway is an excellent base for businesses of all sizes, from small start-ups to multi-nationals. Known as ‘The City of Tribes’, Galway provides a perfect venue for business to thrive with its unique culture, friendly people, and innovative tech and med-tech ecosystems. As well as this, one can’t help but admire the green sanctuary which can be seen all through the city, or the beautiful ‘old-fashioned’ cobbles streets that provide a special feel to an all-round stunning city.
Let’s take a look at 5 reasons businesses choose Galway as their location:
1. Transport
With exports being crucial for businesses in Ireland, it’s important that the infrastructure in the city where your business is located is of a high standard and easily accessible. Galway is relatively close to the three main airports in Ireland (travel times from Galway to Shannon, Knock and Dublin Airports are 1h10m, 1h20m and 2h10m respectively), and with the US preclearance facility at Shannon Airport, a nearby route to international markets is a real pull factor when moving a business location. It’s also only two hours away from Dublin City on the M4/M6 motorway, and with the opening of the new M18 motorway, it is now easier than ever to get to other cities from Galway.
2. Tech and Med-tech hubs
Galway is fast becoming a major technology hub with multi-national companies such as EA Games, Fidelity, Valeo, Aspect Software, SAP and the INSIGHT Research Institute at NUIG. There are over 35 multi-nationals Technology companies in Galway employing more than 5,500 people across a range of functions.
The medical technology industry is more vibrant, intensive and productive here in Ireland than in any other country in Europe, with 18 of the world’s 25 leading manufacturers of medical technology located in this country. Boston Scientific, Medtronic, and Met Life are just a few of the world-renowned med-tech companies operating out of Galway. A combination of multi-nationals and indigenous companies in this industry in Galway employ the highest number per capita of Medical Technology personnel in Europe.
3. Skilled workforce
Galway has two third-level education institutions, with the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) being the more prominent one, and the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) also just outside the city centre. Between the two, Galway has a student population of more than 22,500 and therefore a well-educated workforce drawn to the city by its fascinating culture and easy-going lifestyle. Other than universities, the array of talent that the cluster of Med-Tech and IT companies have created has had a knock-on effect and attracted more foreign businesses to move here alongside a thriving indigenous start-up community.
4. Start-ups
According to the Galway Chamber, “Galway was the third most popular county for start-ups with just over 1,000 new businesses registered during 2016.” This is an impressive statistic as the creation and development of start-ups add value and innovation to any city. A number of new co-working spaces have opened in the city over the last few years including the Porter Shed which is located in the Galway City Innovation District, providing start-ups and entrepreneurs with a trendy office base to work on their business plans and development. The AIB WorkBench, StartLab, and SuperPixel Labs are other innovative incubations now in the city.
5. Events and Networking Opportunities
There are loads of business events that take place every week in Galway covering a wide-range of topics from start-ups to how to scale your business, and this provides a real sense of success in the city. With guest speakers from founders of companies such as Fintrax, Creganna etc. about how they went about scaling their companies, provides smaller businesses and start-ups with the information and experience they need to develop their business to the next level.
Galway is a fantastic place to live, and provides an even better opportunity for business to thrive given its infrastructure, variety of industries, skilled workforce, wide range of start-ups and an array of events and festivals. We can’t recommend this beautiful city highly enough.
Lakeview Hill is situated in close proximity to many of Galway’s leading businesses. To find out more about the sites at Lakeview Hill, contact Martin Gohery on 091 – 790001.
