Socio-Economic Impact Study of Dundalk Institute of Technology

BiGGAR Economics Socio-Economic Impact Study of Dundalk Institute of Technology A report to 19 th February 2013 BiGGAR Economics Midlothian Innovation Centre Pentlandfield Roslin, Midlothian, EH25 9RE Scotland +44 (0)131 440 9032 info@biggareconomics.co.uk www.biggareconomics.co.uk

CONTENTS Page 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY... 1 2 INTRODUCTION... 4 3 ECONOMIC IMPACT METHODOLOGY... 8 4 CORE IMPACTS... 11 5 STUDENT IMPACTS... 18 6 TOURISM... 25 7 REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT CENTRE... 30 8 RESEARCH... 41 9 FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT... 49 10 WORKFORCE PRODUCTIVITY... 55 11 WIDER ENGAGEMENT... 60 12 SUMMARY OF IMPACTS... 65 13 BENCHMARKS AND CONCLUSIONS... 68 14 APPENDIX A CONSULTEES... 72 Abbreviations Centre for Affective Solutions for Ambient Living Awareness Dundalk Institute of Technology Foreign Direct Investment Full time equivalent Gross Value Added Higher Education Institutions Institute of Technology Regional Development Centre CASALA DkIT FDI FTE GVA HEIs IoT RDC Note on definitions: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross National Product (GNP) are closely related measures. GDP measures the total output of the economy in a period i.e. the value of work done by employees, companies and self-employed persons. This work generates incomes but not all of the incomes earned in the economy remain the property of residents (and residents may earn some income abroad). The total income remaining with Irish residents is the GNP and it differs from GDP by the net amount of incomes sent to or received from abroad. In this report, GVA is comparable to GNP.

1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report presents the results of a socio-economic impact assessment of Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) undertaken by BiGGAR Economics in Autumn 2012. The study considered the annual economic impact of DkIT, based on the year for which the latest data was available 1. The study found that DkIT delivered a substantial annual economic return for the Irish economy, in return for the state funding received. In 2010/11, DkIT received 37.3 million in state funding and generated 281.5 million in Gross Value Added (GVA) for the economy of the Republic of Ireland and supported 2,110 jobs. This means that for every 1 DkIT received in state funding, it generated 7.54 in economic impact. DkIT also delivers a substantial quantifiable economic impact at the local, regional and cross border level. In total the quantifiable economic impacts described in this report amount to: 164.6 million GVA and 1,290 jobs in Louth; 232.2 million GVA and 1,559 jobs in the North East; and 243.6 million GVA and 1,797 jobs in the cross border region. This scale of impact makes DkIT comparable to organisations such as Bus Eireann, who employ more than 2,600 people or Fyffes, who employ almost 1,890. It also means that DkIT supports significantly more employment than other regional employers such as Heinz (which employs around 280 people), Xerox (which employs around 650 people) or Vodafone (which employs around 1,200). DkIT delivered a wide range of social impacts and economic impacts that contribute to social cohesion, sustainability and long-term competitiveness that are detailed in the following sections: 1.1 Quantifiable Economic Impacts The quantifiable impacts considered in this report include: core impacts associated with DkIT s day-to-day activity, expenditure on supplies and capital projects and the expenditure of staff. These impacts contribute 60.3 million GVA to the Irish economy each year and support 789 jobs; student impacts generated by economic activity supported by student expenditure, part-time student employment and student work placements. Taken together these impacts contribute 28.4 million GVA to the Irish economy each year and support 599 jobs; tourism impacts as a result of people visiting students and staff and events that attract people who would not otherwise visit the local area. These contribute 1.5 million GVA to the Irish economy each year and support 43 jobs; 1 The main impacts have been calculated using the latest available financial information for 2010/11. For some impacts data for 2011/12 is available and where this has been used, it is highlighted in the text. Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 1

impacts generated by the activities of the Regional Development Centre amounting to 37.9 million GVA per year and supporting 616 jobs; impacts associated with research undertaken by DkIT, the direct impact of which is included in the core impacts above; impacts associated with inward investment attracted to the region over the past three years. The proportion of this that can be attributed to DkIT amounts to 3.9 million and 63 jobs for the Irish economy; or 16.3 million and 264 jobs for the economy of the North East 2 ; and workforce productivity impacts as measured by the earnings premium experienced by DkIT students and cost savings generated by enabling people to return to the labour market. These impacts amount to 149.2 million to the Irish economy each year. Other notable quantitative findings from the analysis include: since it was founded the Regional Development Centre has supported more than 800 entrepreneurs, incubated 87 knowledge based start-up enterprises and conducted 169 applied research projects for industry; in 2011/12 there were 4,734 students enrolled at DkIT and these students spent a total of 24.1 million during the year; for each student enrolled, DkIT generated a GVA economic impact for the Irish economy of 61,872; DkIT currently has approximately 500 international students and each additional international student who enrols at the Institute will contribute 7,225 to the Irish economy each year; in 2011/12 1,036 students from DkIT spent a total of 15,821 weeks on work placements applying their knowledge and learning skills relevant to Irish businesses; seven major events hosted by DkIT during 2011/12 were attended by more than 2,600 people and generated more than 9,000 overnight stays by visitors who would not have otherwise visited the region; over the past decade research activity at DkIT has increased significantly. Research income increased tenfold from less than 0.5 million in 2001 to 6.6 million in 2012 and research citations increased more than thirtyfold. 1.2 Qualitative Social and Economic Impacts DkIT also generates a range of wider benefits that help to enhance the competitiveness of the local, regional and national economies and improve quality of life for local residents. These include: improving the competitiveness of the regional economy by providing relevant skills to local industry, improving the image and reputation of the area, 2 The contribution of DkIT to the regional impacts of inward investment has been higher than to the national impacts because DkIT has played some role in helping to attract companies to Ireland but a far more significant role in attracting companies to the North East that had already decided to invest in Ireland. Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 2

providing customised industrial training for local businesses, promoting the development of the Dublin Belfast Corridor and increasing entrepreneurialism by promoting entrepreneurial attitudes amongst students and staff; improving the competitiveness of the Irish economy by helping to make Irish graduates more entrepreneurial; making Dundalk a more vibrant and attractive place to live by improving quality of life for local residents. This is achieved in a variety of ways including hosting of events that attract local visitors (e.g. Taste of Louth), encouraging students and staff to participate in volunteering activities, improvement of the quality of life for a variety of groups in the community such as elderly people (e.g. through the work of Netwell and CASALA), children (e.g. Parent and Toddler groups) and people with Intellectual Disabilities (e.g. students with intellectual disabilities registered on DkIT programmes); promoting cross-border reconciliation, by providing educational opportunities for students from the cross-border counties and working with companies from the North East region and Northern Ireland; enhancing the distinctiveness of region by supporting local culture and heritage; supporting sustainable development in developing world communities through a range of voluntary and research activities; and enhancing social inclusion in the local area by raising awareness of career and education options amongst local young people and enabling people from communities with traditionally low participation in higher education to gain third level qualifications 3. 3 80% of DkIT students are the first in their family to attend a third level institution. Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 3

2 INTRODUCTION This report presents the results of a socio-economic impact study of Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) undertaken by BiGGAR Economics in Autumn 2012. 2.1 Study Objectives This study was commissioned by DkIT to provide a better understanding of the Institute s economic and social contributions and impact to the region. The objectives of the study were to: measure the economic impact of DkIT; quantify, as much as can be practicable, the social impact of DkIT; provide a report that will give verifiable evidence of the impact of DkIT in the development of its region; and consider the economic and social impact of the RDC. 2.2 BiGGAR Economics BiGGAR Economics is a leading economic consultancy based near Edinburgh in Scotland, established in 2002. The consultancy has undertaken a wide range of studies for higher educational institutions including feasibility studies, business plans and economic appraisals of proposed investments, evaluations of innovation and commercialisation programmes and economic impact studies. Previous higher education economic impact studies undertaken by BiGGAR Economics include the University of Edinburgh, the University of St Andrews, Leiden University, Leiden University Medical Centre, Glasgow Caledonian University, the University of the Highlands and Islands and its network of academic partners, the University of Aberdeen, Robert Gordon University, the Moredun Group, the Roslin Institute and De Montfort University. BiGGAR Economics also worked with Universities Scotland on the economic contribution of the higher education sector to the Scottish economy, work that provided the evidence base on which higher education funding has been prioritised by the Scottish Government and for the identification of the universities sector as one of seven priority sectors in the Government Economic Strategy. BiGGAR Economics has previous experience of working in Ireland, completing projects for national agencies (including Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland), regional and local agencies (including the Western Development Commission and South Dublin County Enterprise Board) and higher education institutions (including University College Dublin). Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 4

2.3 Profile of DkIT Located mid-way between Belfast and Dublin, DkIT is a major provider of third level education in the North East of Ireland and one of Ireland s leading Institutes of Technology (IoT). The Institute was established in 1970 as part of a network of Regional Technical Colleges and today enjoys a strong reputation. In 2012 DkIT was named runner up for IoT of the Year in the Sunday Times University Guide 2013, having jumped six places from 19th to 13th in the Irish league table. Figure 2-1: Location of DkIT 2.3.1 Student Population In 2011 DkIT had a total student population of 4,734, making it mid-sized in comparison to other Irish IoTs. DkIT has a particularly strong access record, with around 80% of students the first member of their family to study at degree level. Around 11% of students are mature students (i.e. aged over 23) and around 10% of the total student body are international students (including those from other EU countries and from outside the EU). 2.3.2 Academic Provision There are four schools at DkIT: the School of Business & Humanities; the School of Engineering; the School of Informatics & Creative Arts; and the School of Health & Science. Additionally, the School of Engineering provides apprenticeship programmes and the Lifelong Learning Centre offers many parttime study options. Each of these schools offers a variety of programmes from Level 6 to 104. A breakdown of full-time undergraduate enrolments by each of the HEA coding groups is provided in Table 2-1. 4 NQAI Level 6 10: Higher Certificate PhD. Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 5

Table 2-1: Full-time enrolments by field of study Field of study Proportion of total full time enrolments Broad Programmes 0.1% Humanities & Arts 9.6% Social Science, Business & Law (includes social sciences and business and administration) Science (includes life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics and computer science) Engineering, Manufacturing & Construction (includes mechanical, electrical and civil engineering) 30.3% 14.2% 15.3% Agriculture & Veterinary 4.8% Health & Welfare (includes nursing and caring and therapy, rehabilitation and counselling) 18.8% Services 6.9% Source: HEA Key Facts and Figures 2010/11 The vast majority of enrolments at DkIT are on undergraduate degree programmes. A breakdown of enrolments is provided in Table 2-2. It should be noted that postgraduate research student numbers have increased significantly in recent years with almost 60 students currently registered at Masters or PhD by research programmes. Table 2-2: Full-time enrolments by level of award Level Proportion Number Total Undergraduate 97.8% 1,846 Honours Degree 42.5% 2,233 Ordinary Degree 51.4% 933 Diploma or Certificate 3.9% 35 Postgraduate 2.2% 97 PhD 0.2% 8 Masters by Research 0.5% 23 Taught Masters 1.5% 66 Source: HEA Key Facts and Figures 2010/11 2.3.3 Research at DkIT Research activity at DkIT has increased significantly over the last decade, with funding increasing from 0.5 million in 2001 to 6.6 million in 2012. Research activity at DkIT is undertaken within the Institute s 4 research groups, 7 research centres and two applied research enhancement centres 5. 5 Applied Research Enhancement Centres are funded by Enterprise Ireland to Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 6

The four research groups cover Creative Media, Enterprise & Innovation, Regulated Software and Electrochemistry. The seven research centres undertake research in Ageing, Health, Software Engineering, Energy, the Environment, Music and Humanities & Social Sciences and the two applied research enhancement centres operate within the fields of Health and Ambient Assisted Living. The impacts associated with this research activity are described in further detail in section 8 of this report. 2.3.4 Enterprise Support In 1989 DkIT established the Regional Development Centre (RDC) as the Institute s Innovation Support and Technology Transfer organisation. The RDC provides a commercially oriented interface between DkIT and the industrial, commercial and business life of the region by making the expertise, facilities and resources of DkIT available for the wider benefit of the regional economy. The RDC fulfils this remit through the following range of programmes and activities: business development support services aimed at innovative graduate led start-up enterprise; knowledge transfer services aimed at established enterprises and external organisations; support for the commercialisation of intellectual property (IP), aimed at identifying, protecting and exploiting IP developed through the Institute s research activities; and special development projects of a strategic nature undertaken on behalf of the Institute and in partnership with external partners and agencies. Incubation facilities at the RDC provide campus-based accommodation for new or start up technology or knowledge based businesses in their early developmental phases. As a result of repeated expansion and upgrading, the RDC now has 41 incubation units in Dundalk as well as 8 self-contained incubation units at the Millmount Development Centre in Drogheda. The impacts associated with the RDC are described in further detail in section 7 of this report. develop next generation technology platforms for the benefit of Irish industry and to provide expert knowledge and research capabilities for Irish based companies in search of innovative solutions. Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 7

3 ECONOMIC IMPACT METHODOLOGY This section describes the methodology that has been used to quantify the economic impacts of DkIT described in the following sections. 3.1 Sources of Impact The sources of economic impact considered in this report include: core economic impacts including the direct employment and gross value added generated by DkIT, the impact of DkIT s expenditure on supplies, the impact of staff spending their wages and the impact of capital projects; student impacts including the impact of student spending, the impact of student part-time employment and the impact of placements students undertake as part of their course; tourism impacts including the impact of family and friends visiting students and staff and delegates attending conferences and other events at DkIT; Regional Development Centre impacts including the impact of business development support for graduate businesses, new business incubation and innovation support, enterprise support for established enterprises and applied research undertaken at DkIT; research the role of DkIT s research in providing a basis for future regional and national economic development; FDI impacts the role of DkIT in helping to attract foreign direct investment to the region; workforce productivity the value of the additional life-time earnings of graduates from DkIT, savings in the public sector made through the increased employability and productivity associated with continued professional development programmes; and wider engagement the social impacts associated with DkIT s business, international, community, public sector and cultural engagement. 3.2 Study Areas The impacts are measured at four geographic levels; Louth the County Louth; North East the counties of Louth, Meath, Westmeath, Cavan and Monaghan and North County Dublin; the Republic of Ireland (including the North East); and the cross border region the North East and Northern Ireland. 3.3 Estimating Economic Impact Economic impact is reported using two measures: Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 8

Gross Value Added (GVA) a measure of economic output, the monetary contribution that an organisation or an activity contributes to the economy. This measure is used rather than turnover or income to avoid double counting of impacts (for example, to avoid counting bought in supplies as part of DkIT s costs and as part of the impact on suppliers); and Employment (jobs) measured in full time equivalent (fte) jobs created or supported. The types of quantifiable impacts that are considered in this report are categorised into three types: Direct effects the economic activity directly supported by an organisation or activity (e.g.. staff employed by DkIT); Supplier multiplier effects purchases of supplies and services associated with the direct impact and all the resulting purchases of supplies and services down the supply chain that has occurred because of the original purchase. These multipliers are also referred to as Type 1 multipliers and are calculated using the Input-Output Tables for Ireland 6 ; and Income multiplier effects the expenditure of employees supported by the direct effect and the supplier effect. The combination of the income multiplier effects and the supplier multiplier effects is referred to as Type 2 multipliers and are calculated using the Input-Output Tables for Ireland. 3.3.1 Calculating Gross Economic Impact The details of how each impact has been calculated are explained in the subsequent chapters of this report. The impacts were calculated based on the latest data available from DkIT at the time of writing. In most cases this was for the academic financial year 2010/11. The starting point for the estimates of impact in this report are turnover, income or spending figures. Employment figures are used where available and derived from turnover figures when not, using turnover per employee ratios. Similarly, GVA is derived from turnover using GVA to turnover ratios. In many cases, these figures have been obtained from the Central Statistics Office Yearbook 2011, for broad industrial groups. 3.3.2 Calculating Net Economic Impact After the gross economic impact has been calculated, in GVA and employment terms, other factors need to be considered to calculate net impact: Leakage for each of the four study areas, account is taken of economic activity that leaks out of the area; Additionality only impacts that are additional and attributable to DkIT have been included; impacts that would have occurred regardless of the presence and actions of DkIT have been excluded; and 6 CSO 2005 Supply and Use and Input-Output Tables for Ireland, 2009 Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 9

Multipliers applying the appropriate multipliers to the gross impacts captures the subsequent spending rounds. The multipliers used in this report are for the Republic of Ireland and are calculated using the input-output tables for Ireland, for the appropriate sectors of the economy. In order to use these multipliers for different study areas they need to be adjusted to reflect the relative size and population of the area concerned. The assumption for the Island of Ireland is larger than the multipliers for the Republic of Ireland and this takes into account cross border trade in the supply chains. The assumptions are presented in Table 3-1. Table 3-1: Multiplier assumptions for the study areas Louth North East Republic of Ireland Northern Ireland Island of Ireland % of ROI multiplier 25% 33% 100% 66% 113% Source: BiGGAR Economics Assumption Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 10

4 CORE IMPACTS This section describes the core economic impacts of DkIT. The core impacts included in this section include: direct impact associated with the turnover and direct employment of DkIT; supplier impact generated by DkIT s expenditure on goods and services; income impact generated by DkIT staff spending their wages in the economy; and impact of capital project spend. 4.1 Direct Impact The direct impact of DkIT is the value added to the economy as a result of day-today operations and the number of people directly employed by the Institute. The direct GVA of an organisation can be calculated by subtracting the total amount spent on goods and services from total income. In 2010/11 the total income of DkIT was 50.8 million and 9.1 million was spent on non-staff costs. Therefore the direct GVA of DkIT was 41.7 million. DkIT directly employs 588 members of staff, 506 full-time equivalents (FTEs). Table 4-1: Direct Impact Assumptions &Total Impact Income of DkIT Amount spent on supplies Source DkIT Draft Financial Statement 2010/11 Value 50.8m 9.1m GVA ( ) All Areas Income, less Supplies 41.7m Employees (FTEs) All Employees DkIT HR department 506 Figures may not sum due to rounding 4.2 Supplier Impact The supplier impact measures the DkIT s effect on the economy as a result of its expenditure on goods and services. This effect occurs because when DkIT purchases supplies, it increases the turnover and helps to support employment within supplier businesses. In 2010/11 DkIT spent 9.1 million on supplies. The first step in calculating the supplier impact was to analyse this expenditure to find out how much additional turnover it generated in different sectors of the Irish economy. The GVA impact of this additional turnover was then calculated by dividing the amount spent in each sector by the turnover/gva ratio for that sector. The total number of jobs supported was then calculated by dividing the additional turnover by the turnover/employee ratio within each sector. In this way it can be estimated that the supplier impact of DkIT in 2010/11 was 3.3 million GVA and 82 jobs. The next step was to estimate how much of this impact occurred in each of the study areas. This was done by multiplying the total impact by the proportion of suppliers based in each area, using data provided by DkIT (Table 4-2). Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 11

Table 4-2: Location of suppliers by study area Louth North East Republic of Ireland Cross Border % of supply expenditure 25% 36% 47% 20% Source: DkIT Procurement Office The effect of subsequent spending rounds was then captured by applying appropriate multipliers for each sector to the direct impact as described in section 3.3.2. This results in a supplier impact of 3.2 million GVA and 81 jobs to the Irish economy. A breakdown of this impact is given for each of the study areas in Table 4-3. Table 4-3: Supplier Impact & Assumptions Expenditure on supplies 2010/11 Louth North East Republic of Ireland Cross Border 9.1 million Total GVA ( m) 1.0 1.5 3.2 3.1 Total Employment (FTE jobs) 24 37 81 79 Source: BiGGAR Economics 4.3 Income Impact The income impact measures the effect of DkIT staff spending their wages in the economy. In 2012 DkIT employed 588 people. Of these around two thirds live in County Louth and a further 15% live elsewhere in the North East. A breakdown of staff by location is provided in Figure 4-1. Figure 4-1: Residence of DkIT staff In 2010/11 DkIT paid 33.8 million in salaries. Of this 21.0 million was paid to staff in Louth, 26.4 million to staff in the North East, 30.4 million to staff in Ireland and 29.8 million in the cross border region. Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 12

Table 4-4: Staff salaries by study area Louth North East Republic of Ireland Cross Border Staff salaries by location ( m) 21.0 26.4 30.4 29.8 Source: DkIT Human Resources Department In order to calculate the impact of this expenditure, it is first of all necessary to make assumptions about where staff spend their income. Such assumptions can be made based on a survey of staff spending; however, such a survey was beyond the scope of this study and would not have been a good use of resources, since previous research is available on which assumptions can be based 7. The assumptions take account of this previous research on household spending and factors such as the size of the economy in each study area (because this influences the opportunities people have to spend their income) and where staff live (because this may make it more convenient for people to spend their income in one area compared to another). It is for example assumed that staff who live in Louth will spend a higher proportion of their income in Louth than staff who live in Dublin or elsewhere in Ireland because they will spend longer in the area and have more opportunities to spend money there. The assumptions on staff spending are given in Table 4-5, which shows, for example, that staff who live in the rest of the North East spend 15% of their salaries in Louth. Not all expenditure made by staff will be retained in Ireland because some will be spent on foreign holidays or goods and services imported from overseas. In order to account for this, it is assumed that 25% of income is spent overseas 8. This is a conservative assumption so if the actual amount of income retained in the Irish economy is higher than this, then the impact described in this section could be somewhat higher than estimated. Table 4-5: Staff expenditure by area Louth Rest of NE Rest of ROI NI Overseas Total Louth Residents 35% 10% 20% 10% 25% 100% Rest of NE Residents 15% 20% 30% 10% 25% 100% Rest of ROI Residents 10% 0% 60% 5% 25% 100% NI Residents 0% 0% 10% 65% 25% 100% Source: BiGGAR Economics assumption By applying the assumptions in Table 4-5 to the salaries of staff living in each area it is possible to calculate how much additional expenditure occurs in each of the study areas. This additional spending is equivalent to increased turnover in businesses in these areas. 7 Including, for example, staff surveys undertaken of Irish Government Departments that had relocated outside Dublin, as reported in Moving West: An Exploratory Study of the Social and Economic Effects of the Relocation of Public Sector Offices to Towns in the Western Region, Western Development Commission, December 2008. 8 In 2011 CSO figures for imports gives a total of 15.9 billion for ready to use consumption goods, equivalent to 20% of total personal consumption in the economy of 81.3 billion. An assumption of 25% has been adopted to allow for the consumption of imported services, including holidays. Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 13

The additional turnover in businesses in each study area can be converted into GVA by dividing it by a turnover to GVA ratio for the whole economy. The employment impact of this expenditure can then be calculated by dividing the GVA of the expenditure by the average GVA per employee for the Irish economy. Multipliers have then been applied to GVA and employment effects, for each of the study areas. In this way it has been estimated that DkIT staff salaries generated 13.6 million GVA in the Irish economy and supported 221 jobs. A breakdown of this impact for the study areas is given in Table 4-6. Table 4-6: Income impact Louth North East Republic of Ireland Cross Border Total GVA ( m) 3.1 4.5 13.6 7.0 Total Employment (FTE jobs) 50 73 221 113 Source: BiGGAR Economics 4.4 Capital Project Spend The expenditure of DkIT on capital projects such as new buildings supports economic activity in the construction sector. The increased turnover in the construction companies that work on these projects generates jobs and GVA in the economy. In 2010/11 DkIT spent 1.1 million on capital projects relating to refurbishment of its buildings and facilities during that period 9. The value of these projects is equivalent to expenditure in the Irish construction sector so the GVA impact of the spending can be calculated by dividing total expenditure by the turnover/gva ratio for the construction sector. The employment impact of the expenditure can be calculated by dividing the additional turnover by the turnover/employee ratio for the construction sector and multiplier effects have been calculated by applying the appropriate multipliers. In order to estimate the impact that occurs in each of the study areas it is necessary to make assumptions about where capital expenditure occurs. It has been assumed that one third of the suppliers for these capital projects were based in Louth, one third are based in the rest of the north east and one third are based in Northern Ireland. By applying these assumptions it can be estimated that the capital spend of DkIT generated 1.0 million GVA in the Irish economy and supported 7 jobs. A breakdown of this impact for the study areas is given in Table 4-7. Capital spending in 2010/11 was considerably lower than has been the case over the last 15 years. Over the period 1995 to 2010 DkIT s capital investment programme amounted to 150 million, an average of 8.3 million per year. This level of expenditure would have generated 9.1 million GVA for the Irish economy and supported 61 jobs, around nine times the impact in 2010/11. 9 DkIT draft financial statement 2010/11 (total additions to land and buildings) Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 14

Table 4-7: Capital project spend impact Total Capital Spend 2010/11 Louth North East Republic of Ireland Cross Border 1.1 million Total GVA ( m) 0.2 0.5 1.0 0.8 Total Employment (FTE jobs) 2 3 7 5 Source: BiGGAR Economics 4.4.1 Catalytic Impact The impact described above is generated by project financed directly by DkIT. One of the wider impacts of this expenditure however is to help leverage additional investment from other organisations. An example of this is the Creative Spark building that has recently been constructed next to the DkIT campus. Creative Spark cost 1.5 million and opened in September 2012. The building was created to provide dedicated creative training and workspace for the creative enterprise sector. Although the Creative Spark project was not funded by DkIT, consultations undertaken as part of this study confirmed that it is expected that graduates from the School of Informatics and Creative Arts will become an important source of future tenants for the building as follow-up to the support and incubation in their early stage development in the Regional Development Centre. Without DkIT then this supply of potential tenants would be limited, which would make it much more difficult for the Creative Spark building to succeed. While it is difficult to attribute the future impact of Creative Spark to DkIT, partners such as the Louth County Enterprise Board and Louth County Council recognise that DkIT will contribute to the success of the project. 4.5 Summary of Core Impacts The total core economic impact of DkIT, adding together the direct, supplier, income and capital spending effects, has been estimated as 46.0 million GVA and 410 jobs in Louth, 48.3 million GVA and 522 jobs in the North East (including Louth), 60.3 million GVA and 789 jobs in the Republic of Ireland (Including the North East) and 53.0 million GVA and 659 jobs in the cross border region. These impacts are summarised in Table 4-8 and Table 4-9. Table 4-8: Summary of core impacts, GVA Impact Louth North East Republic of Ireland Cross Border Direct GVA ( m) 41.6 41.6 41.6 41.6 Supplier GVA ( m) 1.0 1.6 4.0 3.5 Staff Spending GVA ( m) 3.1 4.5 13.6 7.0 Capital Spend GVA ( m) 0.2 0.5 1.0 0.8 Total GVA ( m) 46.0 48.3 60.3 53.0 Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 15

Table 4-9: Summary of core impacts, Jobs Impact Louth North East Republic of Ireland Cross Border Direct Jobs 332 405 459 453 Supplier Jobs 26 40 103 88 Staff Spending Jobs 50 73 221 113 Capital Spend Jobs 2 3 7 5 Total Employment 410 522 789 659 Source: BiGGAR Economics 4.6 Commentary The summary tables above illustrate that the impact of capital projects undertaken by DkIT is relatively small; however this is not typical of previous years. In common with most Irish higher education institutions, the level of capital expenditure undertaken by DkIT in the past couple of years has declined dramatically. The impact calculated above does not for example include the 28 million refurbishment of the PJ Carroll Building that was completed in 2010. Over the period 1995 to 2010 DkIT s capital investment programme amounted to 150 million, an average of 8.3 million per year. As discussed above, this level of expenditure would have generated 9.1 million GVA for the Irish economy and supported 61 jobs, around nine times the impact described above. It is hoped that as funds become available DkIT will be able to increase capital investment and that this impact will start to return to its previous level. 4.6.1 Future Opportunities DkIT s future capital investment plans are outlined in the draft Campus Development Plan for 2011-2021. This document sets out the infrastructure and facilities that DkIT will require in order to accommodate expected growth in student numbers and to deliver the range of educational, research, developmental and community support services required. It is based on three phases of development, the first of which covers the period 2012-2015 and is expected to cost around 23 million if the work proceeds. The current economic climate and pressures on public finances mean that funding this programme of development will require a degree of innovation, flexibility and an ability to take advantage of funding opportunities and developmental alternatives as they arise. If DkIT can achieve this then the plan will result in annual capital expenditure of around 7.7 million per year over the next three years. Using the same calculation described in section Table 4-7, it can be estimated that this level of expenditure would generate 6.9 million GVA for the Irish economy per year and support 47 jobs. The current, historic and potential future impact of capital projects undertaken by DkIT is summarised in Table 4-10. Based on these figures it can be calculated that each 1 invested in capital projects can be expected to generate 1.21 of GVA for the economy of the Island of Ireland. Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 16

Table 4-10: Capital project spend impact, historic, current & potential future Current Impact Louth North East Republic of Ireland Cross Border Total GVA ( m) 0.2 0.5 1.0 0.8 Total Employment (FTE jobs) 2 3 7 5 Historic Impact Total GVA ( m) 2.1 4.6 9.1 7.6 Total Employment (FTE jobs) 14 31 61 51 Potential Future Impact Total GVA ( m) 1.6 3.5 6.9 5.9 Total Employment (FTE jobs) 11 24 47 39 Source: BiGGAR Economics Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 17

5 STUDENT IMPACTS There are three main ways in which DkIT students generate economic impact by: spending money on things such as accommodation, food and socialising;; working part-time while studying; and undertaking a work placement as part of their course. This section describes and quantifies each of these impacts. 5.1 Student Spending The students of DkIT have an impact on the economy because they spend money in local businesses. This expenditure increases the turnover of the business, which in turn supports jobs in these businesses and generates GVA. The starting point for estimating this impact is to understand where DkIT students choose to live during term time, because this directly affects how much money they will spend in the local economy. DkIT students can choose between four different types of accommodation. They can continue to live at home, they can live in digs in Dundalk, they can live in the purpose built student village on campus or they can rent a flat. DkIT does not have details about where all students live during term-time, however it is possible to estimate the number of students living in each study area by making assumptions based on the students home addresses. In 2011/12 4,734 students were enrolled at DkIT. Of these, 37% came from Louth, 34% came from elsewhere in the North East, 13% came from the rest of Ireland, 1% came from Northern Ireland and 14% came from overseas 10. Assumptions about where students will live during term time are provided in Table 5-1 and informed by consideration of factors such as: the geography of the area and ease of commuting to Dundalk; availability (e.g. the capacity of the student village); and cost efficiency for the students (i.e. it is assumed that all students from Louth continue to live at home while studying). Table 5-1: Student accommodation choices assumptions Louth Rest of North East Rest of ROI NI Overseas At home 100% 50% 10% 10% 0% In digs 0% 5% 5% 5% 5% Student village 0% 0% 3% 10% 30% Private flat 0% 45% 82% 75% 65% Source: BiGGAR Economics assumptions 10 DkIT Registry, 2011/12 student enrollments. Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 18

These assumptions were then applied to the total number of students enrolled at DkIT in order to estimate how many students choose each type of accommodation. The next step was to estimate how much students spent on accommodation. Information from the 2012/13 DkIT student accommodation list suggests that the average cost of student digs in Dundalk was around 95 per week and the average cost of a student flat was around 62 per week. The weekly cost of accommodation in the Dundalk Student Village in 2011/12 was 85 and it was assumed that students who live at home do not pay for their accommodation. The next step was to estimate how much students in different types of accommodation spent on other things such as socialising, food and travel. This was done by using information from the survey of new students and from the DkIT website. The type of accommodation that the students resided in also had an impact on the type of expenditures that the students incurred so it was necessary to make slightly different assumptions based on where students lived during term-time. For example, as student digs generally include some or all meals, students living in this type of accommodation will spend less on food than students who live in a private flat. A breakdown of the amount of money spent by each type of student on different items is provided in Table 5-2. By applying these assumptions to the number of students living in each type of accommodation it can be estimated that the total expenditure of the students of DkIT was 24.1 million per year. Table 5-2: Student expenditure by accommodation type- weekly ( ) At home In digs Student Village Private flat Accommodation* 0 95 85 62 Socialising** 33 33 33 33 Food*** 20 20 50 50 Travel*** 13 13 13 13 Books/equipment*** 15 15 15 15 Bills* 0 0 0 15 Total 80 175 195 187 Source:* DkIT SU Accommodation List 2012/13, **Survey of new students 2010/11, *** DkIT website The GVA of this expenditure was calculated by dividing total expenditure on each item of expenditure by an appropriate turnover to GVA ratio. The number of jobs supported by this spending was then calculated by dividing the GVA impact by the GVA/employee in the relevant sector. Multipliers were then applied to capture the effects of subsequent spending rounds in each study area. In this way it has been estimated that the students of DkIT contributed 13.1 million GVA to the Irish economy and support 373 jobs through their spending. The breakdown of this impact is given in Table 5-3. Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 19

Table 5-3: Student spending impact Louth North East Republic of Ireland Cross Border Total GVA ( m) 4.6 6.7 13.1 8.0 Total Employment (jobs) 114 182 373 222 Source: BiGGAR Economics 5.2 Student Part-time Employment Many DkIT students work part-time while studying and this has an economic impact because it contributes to the GVA of the businesses that employ them. In order to calculate this impact it is necessary to know how many students work while studying and how many hours they work for. The 2010/11 survey of new students found that almost 56% of new students intended to work part-time while studying. The same study found that just over 35% of new students already had a part-time job. Anecdotal evidence from consultations with DkIT staff suggests that the recession has made it more difficult for students to secure part-time work so it is likely that not all of the new students who intended to find part-time work found a job. For this reason, it is assumed that half of the students who intended to find a job when they enrolled in DkIT did not manage to do so (i.e. 45% of all students work parttime). Evidence from the 2010/11 survey of new students also shows that students who work part-time worked an average of 12 hours per week. It was assumed that a full-time employee worked an average of 40 hours per week. The final assumption that must be made before estimating the impact of this activity is how much of this employment is additional i.e. how much of it would not have occurred without DkIT students being available for employment. The assumption made was that 25% of this employment was additional; that is, that employers would have failed to fill 25% of these posts if DkIT students were not available. To put this in context, the student FTE employment is equivalent to only 12.5% of the employment in sales and customer services positions in County Louth 11. At times of lower unemployment in the economy, this assumption on the additionality of student employment would be higher. By applying all these assumptions to the total number of students who worked part-time, it can be estimated that part-time work undertaken by students was equivalent to 191 additional FTE jobs in the economy. Consultations 12 undertaken to inform this study suggested that the majority of students who work part-time are employed in jobs such as supermarkets and bars. The GVA impact of these jobs has therefore been calculated using the average GVA per employee in the retail, wholesale and restaurant sectors. This generated 5.8 million GVA across the Irish economy. The impact of student expenditure has already been considered in section 5.1 so, in order to avoid double counting, Type I multipliers (which only include supplier 11 From CSO Sapmap 2011 summary for County Louth. 12 A list of consultees is provided at Appendix 1. Student employment was discussed with President Denis Cummins and Ronan Dennedy of the Louth County Enterprise Board. Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 20

effects) have been used to calculate the multiplier effects rather than the Type II multipliers used elsewhere in this report. On this basis, student part-time employment contributed 6.9 million GVA to the Irish economy and supported 226 FTE jobs. A breakdown of this impact for the different study areas is given in Table 5-4. Table 5-4: Student part-time employment impact Louth North East Republic of Ireland Cross Border Total GVA ( m) 4.3 5.4 6.9 5.7 Total Employment (jobs) 142 177 226 187 Source: BiGGAR Economics 5.3 Student Placements By producing new graduates DkIT can help to improve the productivity of businesses and have a direct positive impact on the local and national economy. The extent to which DkIT is able to improve the productivity of businesses depends on both the relevance and applicability of graduate skills and the degree of interaction between graduates and businesses. A graduate who secures a job but then finds that the skills they have learned are not relevant to their employers work for example is unlikely to improve the productivity of the company. Similarly, a graduate with very relevant and useful skills who fails to secure a job in a relevant industry will also not be in a position to improve economic productivity. DkIT is committed to forging mutually beneficial relationships with industry and to this end has compulsory structured placements on 17 of its programmes across nine different departments and subject areas. The partnership forged between DkIT and industry through the placement process influences the culture of practice of both the academic and industry working environments. Students inform the working practices of industry with fresh eyes and ideas from learning and return to DkIT with informed and up-to-date knowledge of industry practices that influence the curriculum. During 2011/12 a total of 1,036 DkIT students participated in a student placement. Almost 40% of these placements were in Louth and about three quarters were in the North East region. Placements varied in duration from 6 weeks (year three placement for students studying toward the BA Early Childhood Studies) to 42 weeks (for final year nursing and midwifery students). The total number of weeks spent by DkIT students on placement amounted to 15,821. This information is summarised in Table 5-5. Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 21

Table 5-5: Student placements by subject area and duration Department/Subject Area Placements Duration Weeks/ year Dept. of Humanities 160 12 weeks 1,920 Dept. of Management & Financial Studies 25 18 weeks 450 Dept. of Nursing, Midwifery & Health Studies 519 6-42 weeks 8,833 Dept. of Applied Sciences 171 8-12 weeks 1,640 Dept. of Music & Creative Media 20 6 weeks 120 Dept. of Computing & Maths 11 18 weeks 198 Dept. of Hospitality Studies 130 14-26 weeks 2,660 Total 1,036 15,821 Source: DkIT Student Placement Office and other Departments. By giving students practical experience of their chosen industry, placements enable students to apply what that they have learned to a real life situation. This helps to ensure that DkIT graduates possess skills that are relevant to real companies, which increases their productivity and makes them more attractive as potential employees in the future. The economic impacts associated with student placements include: impacts arising from the work done by the student during the placement; any productivity gain captured by host companies who offer permanent, postgraduation employment to placement students; and any training and recruitment cost savings accruing to host companies who offer permanent, post-graduation employment to placement students. These impacts can be quantified based on the number of weeks students spend on placement and the value they can be expected to add to their host employer during that period. The starting point for estimating this value is the GVA of an average employee in the Irish economy. Average GVA per employee however includes all employees, many of whom will have years of experience. As students will have relatively little, if any, relevant work experience before undertaking a placement, it is reasonable to assume that their productivity will usually be below the average. An indicator of the productivity difference that employers expect between placement students and trained employees is the difference between the average salaries paid to graduates and the average salaries paid to trained employees. A survey by Gradireland 13 found that the average starting salary for Irish graduates in 2011 was 25,000. In comparison, data published by the Central Statistics Office 14 (CSO), shows that the average annual earnings of Irish employees amounted to 35,768. This implies that the productivity difference between the average graduate and the average employee was around 30%. Facilitating student placements will also involve some cost to the firm in terms of supervision and support provided by other employees. The effect of this will be to 13 Gradireland Graduate Salary & Graduate Recruitment Trends Survey 2011 14 CSO, Labour Market and Earnings Statistics, Q2 2012 Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 22

reduce the productivity of the employees involved in training and supporting the student. The effect of this will be to further reduce the total GVA of the placement. The magnitude of this effect will vary from student to student depending on ability and the nature of work undertaken so an indicative estimate of 20% has been applied in order to capture the effect. On average, Irish employees contribute 1,185 GVA per week to the Irish economy. Applying the assumptions described above to this implies that students undertaking work placements will contribute an average of 592 per week. By applying this to the total number of placement weeks undertaken by DkIT students, it can be estimated that student placements contribute 8.5 million to the Irish economy. A breakdown of this impact is provided in Table 5-6. Table 5-6: Student placement impact Louth North East Republic of Ireland Cross Border Total GVA ( m) 3.6 7.0 8.5 7.2 Source: BiGGAR Economics 5.4 Summary of Student Impact The total economic impact associated with the students of DkIT has been estimated as 12.5 million GVA and 256 jobs in Louth, 19.0 million GVA and 359 jobs in the North East, 28.4 million GVA and 599 jobs in the Republic of Ireland and 20.9 million GVA and 409 jobs in the cross border region. This is summarised in Table 5-7. Table 5-7 Summary of student impacts Louth North East Republic of Ireland Cross Border Student Spending GVA ( m) 4.6 6.7 13.1 8.0 Student P-T Employment GVA ( m) 4.3 5.4 6.9 5.7 Student Placements GVA ( m) 3.6 7.0 8.5 7.2 Total GVA ( m) 12.5 19.0 28.4 20.9 Student Spending Jobs (FTE Jobs) 114 182 373 222 Student P-T Employment Jobs (FTE Jobs) 142 177 226 187 Student Placements Jobs (FTE Jobs) - - - - Total Employment (FTE Jobs) 256 359 599 409 Source: BiGGAR Economics 5.5 Commentary The primary driver for all of the impacts described in this section is the number of students who attend DkIT so the magnitude of the impacts would increase as student numbers grow. Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 23

5.5.1 Future Opportunities In 2010/11 DkIT earned 1.3 million in tuition fees from 302 international students (i.e. those from outside the EU). By 2011/12, the number of international students had increased to 316 and there were a further 200 students from other EU countries. This represented around 3% of DkIT s total income for the year. In section 4.1, it was estimated that the direct impact of DkIT was 41.6 million. As direct impact is driven by income, this implies that the international students studying at DkIT generated a direct impact of 1.1 million in 2010/11, which equates to almost 3,592 per student. In addition to the direct impact generated by the tuition fees paid by these students, there will be further impacts associated with their spending and any visits they receive from friends and family while studying. In section 5.1 it was estimated that the impact of spending by DkIT students amounts to 14.4 million per year and in section 6.1 it will be shown that the total impact of friends and family visiting students amounts to 0.7 million GVA per year. This equates to an additional impact of almost 3,389 per international student. Taken together, this implies that each international student who studies at DkIT contributes around 6,981 GVA per year or a total of 21,674 for each full time undergraduate (based on a three year degree course). Every additional international student recruited by DkIT would therefore generate an impact of 7,225 GVA, for each year that they study at DkIT. Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 24

6 TOURISM This section describes the economic impact that DkIT has on the economy through tourism impacts, as a result of: visits to staff and students from friends and family; and attendees at conferences and other events. 6.1 Visiting Friends and Families DkIT staff and students will be visited by friends and relatives, bringing additional tourism revenue to the regional economy. There were 2.7 million visits to friends and relatives (VFR) trips within Ireland in 2009 and 2.3 million VFR trips from overseas 15. Applying these figures to the Irish population gives an average of 0.59 domestic VFR trips and 0.51 overseas VFR trips per person per year. These figures have been multiplied by the total number of staff and students at DkIT who reside in the different study areas to estimate the number of VFR trips. The average domestic VFR tourist will spend 63 on their trip and the overseas VRF tourist will spend 373 16, providing a basis for calculating the total increase in turnover in the tourism sector that is attributable to DkIT associated VFR. GVA has been calculated by applying GVA to turnover ratios for the tourism sector and employment supported has been estimated by applying turnover per employee figures, also for the tourism sector. Suitable multipliers have then been applied. Based on these assumptions, VFR visits to staff and students of DkIT contribute 0.6 million GVA to the Irish economy and support 27 jobs. A breakdown of this impact for each of the study areas is given in Table 6-1. Table 6-1: Visiting friends and families impact Louth North East Republic of Ireland Cross Border Total GVA ( m) 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.5 Total Employment (FTE Jobs) 17 21 27 23 Source: BiGGAR Economics 6.2 Conferences and Other Events In the academic year 2011-2012 DkIT hosted seven major events, which attracted a total of over 2,600 visitors. A breakdown of these events is provided in Table 6-2. The first three of these events catered primarily to local people and as such did not generate any economic impact because the people who attended would probably have been in the area anyway. It is however important to note that, although these events may not have generated any economic impact, they will have generated social impacts by providing opportunities for social engagement. 15 Tourism Statistics from the Central Statistics Office Yearbook, 2011. 16 Tourism Statistics from the Central Statistics Office Yearbook, 2011. Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 25

Such opportunities can considerably enhance the quality of life available in an area, which contributes to overall economic competitiveness. The next two events listed in Table 6-2 did attract some visitors from outside the North East; however, as these events lasted one day it is assumed that none of the delegates stayed overnight and did not spend any money in Dundalk. The final two events attracted significant numbers of overseas visitors. The Italian Summer School for example involved three groups of 150 students who each stayed in Dundalk for two weeks between 29 th June and 10 th August. The students were accompanied by 20 staff. The FACE conference lasted for four days and attracted delegates from 10 European countries, all of whom stayed overnight in Dundalk. Table 6-2: Events and visitor numbers Institute of Technology (IoT) Number A Taste of Louth (Food, Art & Craft exhibitions & demonstrations) 450 St. Vincents Secondary School Annual Concert 750 Sports Summer School 25 Youth Council of Northern Ireland Meeting 13 National Youth Council Annual Conference 150 Italian Summer School 470 FACE a Red Cross European Conference & Competition 800 Total 2,658 Source: BiGGAR Economics In order to estimate the economic impact of these events, it was necessary to calculate how many nights accommodation the events generated in Dundalk. The starting point for doing this was to calculate how many nights accommodation could have been required by people attending the events by multiplying the duration of the event by the number of delegates (i.e. the FACE conference was held over four days so delegates would have required three nights accommodation. There were 800 delegates at this event so the potential accommodation requirement was 2,400 bed-nights). The next step was to estimate how many of these delegates actually stayed overnight in Dundalk. This was done by first of all estimating how many visitors attended each event from each of the study areas, using information provided by the events office at DkIT. Assumptions were then made about the proportion of visitors from each study area who chose to stay overnight. It was assumed that all overseas delegates attending DkIT events stayed overnight in Dundalk for the duration of the event but that only 25% of visitors from elsewhere in Ireland stayed overnight. It was assumed that visitors from the North East did not stay overnight. By applying these assumptions to the number of potential accommodation requirement, it can be estimated that these two events generated 8,100 overnight stays by overseas visitors and 962 overnight stays by Irish visitors. Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 26

Irish tourism statistics show that, on average overseas business visitors spend 70 per night while Irish business visitors spend 95 17. While overseas students may not be considered typical business visitors, these type of events are included in the calculation of tourism statistics so this methodology is appropriate. Furthermore, as the cost of international summer schools is typically between 500 and 1,000 per week, i.e. 70 to 140 per day, the assumption used is also reasonable. By applying this to the total number of overnight stays it can be estimated that these two events generated almost 0.7 million of additional expenditure in the Irish tourism sector. The GVA impact of this was calculated by dividing this additional turnover by a GVA to turnover ratio for the tourism sector and the employment impact was calculated by dividing turnover by turnover/employee in the sector. Multipliers for the tourism sector were then applied to calculate total economic impact. In this way it can be estimated that in 2011/12 DkIT events contributed 0.9 million GVA for the Irish economy and supported 16 jobs. The breakdown of this impact is given for each of the study areas in Table 6-3. Table 6-3: Conferences & events impact Louth North East Republic of Ireland Cross Border Total GVA ( m) 0.3 0.6 0.9 0.6 Total Employment (FTEs) 12 13 16 13 Source: BiGGAR Economics 6.3 Tourism Assets One of Dundalk s main tourist accommodation providers is the Crowne Plaza Hotel next to the DkIT campus. The hotel is a 14-storey building that has 129 bedrooms, a restaurant and a conference centre. The convenience of the hotel to the campus means that visitors to DkIT from outside the county will often stay there overnight, providing the hotel operator with a reliable stream of guests. Reliable demand is an important consideration for hotel developers considering potential sites so, while the geographic location of Dundalk in the Belfast-Dublin corridor is likely to have been the main driver for the investment decision, it seems likely that the presence of DkIT would have been a factor in the decision to build the hotel. If DkIT did not exist and the area occupied by the campus was instead occupied for example by an industrial estate, it is difficult to imagine that the hotel developer would have chosen the site to build a hotel. 6.4 Summary of Tourism Impact The combined tourism impacts associated with DkIT contribute 0.7 million GVA and 29 jobs to Louth, 1.0 million GVA and 34 jobs in the North East, 1.5 million GVA and 43 jobs in Ireland and 1.1 million GVA and 35 jobs in the Cross Border region. 17 Tourism Statistics from the Central Statistics Office Yearbook, 2011. Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 27

Table 6-4: Summary of tourism Impacts Louth North East Republic of Ireland Cross Border VFR GVA ( m) 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.5 Conference & Events GVA ( m) 0.3 0.6 0.9 0.6 Total GVA ( m) 0.7 1.0 1.5 1.1 VFR Jobs (FTE Jobs) 17 21 27 23 Conference & Events Jobs (FTE Jobs) 12 13 16 13 Total Employment (FTE Jobs) 29 34 43 35 Source: BiGGAR Economics 6.5 Commentary The two impacts considered in this section are driven by staff and student numbers and by the number of events hosted per year. Growth in student numbers is expected to occur over the coming years so the value of visits to staff and students should also increase accordingly. This means that any proactive efforts to increase tourism impact will need to focus on increasing the number of events hosted each year. As described above, economic impact from events is generated by visitors who stay overnight and is associated with events lasting more than one day. By implication this means that the longer the event, the greater the impact. This means that if DkIT wishes to increase its tourism impact, it should focus on attracting events that cater to overseas visitors and that last more than one day. It is worth highlighting that between 2010/11 and 2011/12 the number of events hosted by DkIT increased and more importantly, this increase was mainly due to an increase in international visitors. (All of the events hosted during 2010/11 catered mainly to a local audience). This suggests that if DkIT wishes to increase its impact in this area it is already moving in the right direction. 6.5.1 Future Opportunities If DkIT takes a decision to try and increase the value of its tourism impact, an obvious way of doing this would be by attracting more international summer schools like the one hosted in 2011/12. The contacts established in order to organise this event should provide a starting point for achieving this. 6.5.2 Benchmarking It would be unfair to directly compare the impact generated by events hosted by DkIT with that of other institutions because of differences in the size of the institutions but it is possible to compare institutions by calculating the value of impact generated per student. Three Scottish institutions provide useful comparators in this area. These are Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Heriot-Watt University near Edinburgh and Glasgow Caledonian University. These Universities have been chosen because they are similar to DkIT in that they are all are modern universities with particular strengths in either technical disciplines and/or health related subjects. Studies similar to this one have also been undertaken for all three institutions by BiGGAR Economics, which means that comparable data is available. Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 28

Dividing the value of impact generated by events hosted by DkIT by the total student headcount gives an impact/student of 160. Performing the same calculation for Robert Gordon University and Glasgow Caledonian University gives an impact/student figure of less than 50 while the figure for Heriot Watt University is almost 500. This shows that although DkIT s current performance in this area is higher than might be expected from an institution of its size, there is considerable potential to further increase this impact. It should be noted that Heriot-Watt University has the advantage of an on-campus conference centre and student accommodation that is used to accommodate delegates. Although DkIT does not have an on-site conference centre, it is adjacent to the Crown Plaza, which does have these facilities. The Institute also has on-campus student accommodation. The fact that (unlike Heriot-Watt) DkIT does not own these facilities is not necessarily a barrier to realising these opportunities. Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 29

7 REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT CENTRE The Regional Development Centre (RDC) was established in 1989 by DkIT as the Institute s innovation support and technology transfer organisation. The RDC is the commercially oriented interface between DkIT and the industrial, commercial and business life of the region. It exists to make the expertise, facilities and resources of the Institute available for the benefit of the regional economy. Since it was founded the RDC has supported more than 800 entrepreneurs, incubated 87 knowledge based start-up enterprises and conducted 169 applied research projects. Since 2001 it has also managed 23.7 million of externally funded projects. This section explores the activity of the RDC and the economic impacts, where they can be quantified. 7.1 RDC Activity When it was first established the main focus of the RDC was on providing incubation facilities for new companies. Over the years the support provided has expanded on either side of this to promote entrepreneurship and to meet the needs of established businesses through innovation support and applied research. Figure 7-1: Growth in RDC activity Source: BiGGAR Economics The main projects currently delivered by the RDC in each of these areas are described below. Socio-economic Impact Study of the Dundalk Institute of Technology 30