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Over the next four weeks, we are filling in the final gaps of our Docklands Enterprise Directory 2018. The Directory will be a comprehensive list of all Docklands enterprises, large and small, and will also include social enterprises. Docklands is Ireland’s most successful urban regeneration project. It is also the nation’s most productive 3km2, producing 9% of the republic’s GDP. The Directory will seek to list those businesses creating this remarkable level of production, identify industry clusters and shed a light on the forces driving this entrepreneurial generator.

In 2013 with the support of the Local Enterprise Office and local businesses, the Docklands Business Forum conducted a census of businesses in the area. The Directory proved to be a valuable resource for local businesses and policymakers. There were a number of unforeseen benefits including the identification of the significant hospitality and live entertainment industry that had never to that time been highlighted as an important contributor to the local economy. A subsequent study conducted by the Docklands Business Forum of these sectors found they collectively attract 3.6 million visitors per annum, inject €76.1 million annually into the area and employ over 1,500. This initiated the DBF’s policy of developing Docklands as a new tourist hub for the capital.

A great deal of exciting change has taken place in the area since the original Docklands Directory. On the northside the Chq Building has created its own quarter with DogPatch Labs and Epic the Irish Emigration Museum in. The Central Bank of Ireland has located in an iconic building on North Wall Quay. South of the river The Dock, Accenture’s Centre for Innovation and world’s smartest building, opened its doors on Hanover Quay in 2017. The new edition of the Docklands Enterprise Directory will document these and all the other new developments that are making Docklands a world-class centre for innovation.

As a result of the DBF’s contribution to the winning presentation at the 2017 Bank of Ireland Enterprising Town Awards, our friends in Dublin City Council have kindly donated the prize money towards a new Docklands Directory for 2018 and we have committed to match this with sponsorship from local businesses.