Malta is now in a stronger position to focus on high-quality investment– Malta Enterprise CEO
Malta’s macroeconomic stability and evolving business landscape are giving the country more leverage to attract high-quality investment, with Malta Enterprise CEO George Gregory telling The Malta Independent on Sunday that this is a re-positioning which is in line with the ethos laid out in Vision 2050 – the holistic government strategy that aims to shape Malta’s long-term development as a country.
Gregory described Malta Enterprise as the country’s “economic development agency”. It has been around for over half a century under various names and it is an agency which deals with everyone, from the small entrepreneur to significant foreign investors.
The agency is the one at the forefront of Malta’s economic development and plays an important role when it comes to developing economic strategy in visions such as Vision 2050.
“I think that today a key role that we need to play is that we need to enable the transition from what we used to do traditionally and move towards higher innovation and higher value added,” Gregory said.
He said that Malta’s stable economic situation allows Malta Enterprise to apply targeted metrics and focus on sustainable ventures that deliver long-term value
“While it’s important that we support each and every business that there is, we must make sure that we focus on industries that are high value added and on the innovative side of things,” he said.
Re-positioning: the high value sectors that are the aims to underpin Malta’s economy
There is an element of “re-positioning”, Gregory said, that is required in order to move towards a greater focus on high value added economy sectors by looking at the eco-systems being built for each one.
Perhaps it’s good to understand what is meant by a high value added sector: these are essentially industries that generate strong economic impact by being built around high productivity, innovation and a highly-skilled labour force. Such economic sectors rely more on knowledge, technology and IP than on extensive land use or heavy physical infrastructure thus making them suitable for small resource-constrained economies.
Gregory said that Malta has been successful in developing economic niches, where the country created the expertise and then, in turn, attracted more investment.
He went on to name several sectors where he feels Malta is now in a good position to move forward in: the semi-conductor sector, pharmaceuticals, aviation, and the maritime sector amongst others. “Focusing on these eco-systems will be a key element to the future,” Gregory said.
“Investors are interested in coming to Malta because we offer expertise and a strategic base to reach international markets,” he said, noting that Malta’s continued appeal is reflected in the expansions of long-established companies in Malta such as ST Microelectronics, Trelleborg, and Baxter.
He also noted that Malta’s geography also plays an impact in attracting investment: “We are within the EU and we have very good relations with the African continent: people see it as a good opportunity to be based here,” Gregory said.
What underpins all of this, Gregory said, is technology. “Malta is very well placed when it comes to technology and its adoption. Whenever we get foreign investors coming over here, they are impressed with what we have available and with our academia,” he said.
He also named the green economy and blue economy as interesting areas with opportunities for Malta to delve into.
Global situation: Malta’s stability is attracting investors, Gregory says
The world has likely not been in such an unstable place, from a geopolitical perspective, since the end of the Cold War. Wars in Ukraine, Palestine, and now Iran have created turmoil for supply lines and economies the world over.
But asked how the increasingly uncertain global environment, geopolitical tensions and international economic instability are affecting investor sentiment towards Malta, Gregory said that in Malta the situation is “quite the opposite”, noting that Malta can guarantee stability for any industry.
He noted the government’s wage supplement which helped prop up businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic and the more recent fuel and energy subsidies that remain in place as examples of this.
“Stability is a key element for any investor… we were in a conversation last week with an investor and the moment we said that fuel prices had remained as they were and the intention is for them to remain as such, we almost clinched the deal there and then. He was taken aback. It’s that stability that counteracts the international economic instability,” he said.
Another point that counts in Malta’s favour, Gregory said, is its agility. Being a smaller country, he said, allows Malta to act quicker than most other countries. “You would be extremely surprised at how international investors see us reacting to situations so much faster than other countries,” he said.
Finally, the country’s political and economic stability are also plus points for investors. “People feel safe here and they feel safe that their investment is going to be protected,” Gregory said.
Whether the current geopolitical situation will have a greater impact depends on the length of the war in Iran, Gregory said. He acknowledged that there are already issues when it comes to transportation and logistics, but said that thus far the fuel and gas sector is unaffected by the situation playing out in the Strait of Hormuz – although that might change if the situation takes longer to be resolved.
“But I’m sure that the government, as it has done in the past, will react to these issues to ensure that we remain a strong and stable economy,” Gregory said.
Re-skilling and up-skilling Malta’s workforce
A shortage in skills in the labour force and in the labour force itself is one of the more often spoken about issues by constituted bodies locally – and, asked about this, Gregory said that it’s not just a phenomenon in Malta, but the world over.
Technology, together with the re-skilling and the up-skilling of the workforce to fully harness it, is a key focus of Malta Enterprise, Gregory said.
He referred to the last Budget, in which the government announced a significant investment in Artificial Intelligence (AI), saying that a number of schemes to help businesses become more automated will be announced shortly, together with other schemes supporting further R&D and investment.
“Gone are the days that you can ignore AI,” Gregory said: “Today, if you see a lot of the mundane processes, they are being totally automated. We cannot lag behind and say that we’re doing fine and not automate.”
“This is where we need to come in with our schemes and incentives, so we can assist industries to move forward with innovation and technology. Underpinning all that, again, is up-skilling and re-skilling – firstly to embrace this technology, but also it will give them a better quality of life through better working conditions,” he said.
Schemes to promote re-skilling and up-skilling already exist within Malta Enterprise’s portfolio.
There are also schemes which are aimed at attracting a certain level of expertise to Malta from abroad. “We created a level of expertise, and that’s not just in Maltese people but also in international people who come here, enjoy the lifestyle and economy that Malta has to offer and end up staying,” he said.
One such example where this was required was in video game development. “I don’t think we had the expertise here, but today there are non-Maltese who are experts and we are now skilling Maltese people through important partnerships,” he said.
Research & Innovation has also taken an ever more important role in Malta Enterprise’s work: “If I have to look at the applications which come through today, I would say that innovation outweighs any other area. It’s clear that the market is there and looking at innovation in a broader perspective,” Gregory said.
He said that investors are consistently impressed with the work being done at institutions such as the University of Malta and MCAST, and he said that there are strong research projects ongoing and extremely innovative products being created. One such product that has just been launched is a premium mattress built on patented foam technology developed entirely in Malta. Other important research in cancer therapy is also ongoing between academia and industry, Gregory said.
“The unfortunate thing with Research & Development is that someone else can be researching and they go to market much faster, and I think this is where we need to assist a bit more, to make sure researchers can go to market faster,” he said.
When it comes to academia though, Gregory said that there are three key areas where Malta Enterprise is supporting: the Get Qualified Scheme, which has just been re-launched, the Skills Development Scheme, which caters to up-skilling in specific industries and companies, and the Malta Semiconductor Competence Centre, a joint-EU funded project being administered together with the University of Malta, MCAST, the Malta Digital Innovation Authority and Silicon Catalyst EU
The latter has been especially powerful in attracting start-ups to Malta. In the first round of the incubator programme under the Semiconductor Competence Centre, 44 applications were received, of which 12 were selected for incubation. The second round has already seen around 30 applications, with another 12 set to be chosen. Such an initiative also highlights the collaborative approach between Malta Enterprise and other government entities, working together to strengthen and further develop Malta’s start-up ecosystem.
A more ‘customer-centric’ Malta Enterprise
Asked to pick one thing that he feels Malta Enterprise needs to prioritise to improve, Gregory said that when looking at the situation as a client and with a critical lens, the agency can work to be more “customer-centric.”
“We need to be more out there and show off the services we give,” Gregory said.
“We need to take the client through a journey where efficiency is at the core of our service, without forgetting that we are handling public funds and we must be careful – but we need to be more efficient and be more customer-centric and at the same time provide value for money,” he continued.
He said that the agency is currently undergoing some changes which are targeted towards improving this area.
“Let me be clear, Malta Enterprise has always been customer-centric. I’ve been here for a year and a half and I was always impressed by the agency’s customer-centricity – but we need to go that one step further because the economy is demanding it,” he said.
As for the country, Gregory said that the direction is clear: “We are going for the value-added areas, underpinned by technology and innovation.”
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