As the Ireland Portugal Business Network (IPBN) prepares to participate in the International Migrants Day 2025 conference, represented by our general manager, Arnold Delville as a panelist, we reflect on our core mission: facilitating the movement of skilled professionals—and their ideas—between two dynamic European economies.

The theme for International Migrants Day 2025—Contributions of Immigrants and Their Rights—resonates deeply with the work of the IPBN. Our raison d'être is fundamentally about connecting talent from two different countries and, in doing so, actively contributing to a more resilient, innovative, and inclusive workforce.

Our mission to develop trade between Ireland and Portugal is achieved by recognizing and encouraging inclusion, innovation, and participation across sectors and regions. We view migrants not as beneficiaries of integration policies, but as active contributors and co-creators of success.

Building Bridges, Not Borders

The IPBN’s platform is designed to facilitate the invaluable exchange of knowledge and expertise. We believe the lessons each country can learn from the other are immense, and sharing talent and knowledge helps both nations develop and grow.

This mission is made tangible through our strategic collaborations:

• Sectoral Innovation: From our annual Tourism conference to key events focused on Tech, AI, and Sustainability, we create platforms for cross-border development. A recent example saw us bring together the President of the Associação dos Amigos do Caminho Português de Santiago de Compostela and the Head of the Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland to discuss shared challenges and opportunities.

• Fostering Ecosystems: We actively build structures that empower talent. Our partnership signed at the AI Innovation conference in Dublin between the Algarve Tech Hub and the Guinness Enterprise Center (GEC) is a prime example. This initiative puts startups from both countries together, stimulating exchange, training, education, and learning between two critical innovation centres.

• Academic and Professional Exchange: The IPBN works closely with academic partners, facilitating student exchange via the Erasmus programme and encouraging research in fields like AI and Healthcare. For two consecutive years, UCD International MBA students have spent a week in Lisbon working directly with our members. Furthermore, the recent delegation of Northern Irish enterprises to Porto Business School, and the Portuguese enterprises visiting Cork, underscore the value of executive-level, cross-cultural learning.

Migrants as Co-Creators of Economic Resilience

By fostering and facilitating partnerships between Ireland and Portugal, we strongly believe that the resulting companies and teams perform better. The diversity of perspective, the shared international experience, and the multicultural connections promoted by our network are powerful economic and social assets.

Arnold Delville, General Manager of the IPBN, will be speaking at the opening session of the conference, highlighting that these activities are a modern realization of a foundational European ideal.

He says, “All these initiatives are great examples of the importance of migrants, and something we at the IPBN will always work for. We believe that by creating inclusive business ecosystems, we ensure that the voices and contributions of all skilled professionals—regardless of their origin—shape the future of our respective destinations.”

As we anticipate this vital dialogue on December 18th, the IPBN reaffirms its commitment to championing the rights and celebrating the contributions of the migrants who make our network, and our economies, richer and more resilient.

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