About JBC
The IBEC-CBI Joint Business Council is the voice of business on the island of Ireland working in collaboration with its
member companies and strategic partners to sustain and develop trade and economic co-operation on the island of Ireland.
The Council was established in 1991 in very different political, economic and social circumstances to those which
prevail today. Over time JBC has evolved as circumstances have changed.
In its initial period of operations the JBC oversaw programmes of action which were very much concerned with
realising trade and business development opportunities between individual SMEs north and south of the Border,
or between SMEs and multinational companies. At that time there were very real barriers to cross border trade
and business development and a host of perceptions and assumptions about ‘the other side of the Border’ which
meant that establishing business to business linkages on a cross border basis was an important and challenging task.
The JBC was the first major, business-led organisation to tackle these issues. As a result of its work, between 1991 and
2000 over 5,000 company representatives were aided by JBC, at some 300 buyer-supplier and networking meetings across regions
and sectors organised as part of the IBEC/CBI Trade and Business Development Programme.
Alongside its programmes of practical action to increase cross border trade and business development, JBC was also the first
major, business-led organisation to focus attention on North – South cooperation in business development as a policy priority
for the two governments. In this role it was uniquely placed as an organisation sponsored by both the Irish Business and Employers’
Confederation (IBEC) and by the Confederation of British Industry in Northern Ireland (CBI). By working collaboratively through
the medium of JBC, IBEC and the CBI were able to ensure that North – South business development became a mainstream concern.
In 1999 InterTradeIreland and the other all-island bodies were formed. This enabled the JBC to redefine its mission in terms of ‘developing and sustaining cross border business cooperation within the island of Ireland and addressing international competitiveness’.
A new strategy led to an agreed JBC Programme for the period 2002 – 2006. The objectives of that new Programme were:
- To improve the North – South business environment within which SMEs operate in the areas of telecommunications, energy, supply chain logistics and transportation and waste management
- Provide a challenge function to public sector policy, including Government and state agencies, where there is an all-island dimension of interest to both business communities;
- To develop North – South business innovation and entrepreneurship and promote business/education linkages across a number of sectors including biotechnology, medical devices and ICT, and
Economic priorities and the needs of companies have changed radically over the past 17 years, and JBC in its strategy must reflect these changes and adjust its strategic priorities accordingly.
The most recent strategic review for the period 2007-2013 identified a new mission and role for the JBC:
- Providing a single business voice for the island of Ireland in policy formulation
- Providing a challenge function to public sector policy, including Government and state agencies, where there is an all island dimension of interest to both business communities
- Providing a high level all island business network and acting as a bridge to greater mutual understanding and as a means of increasing North South business flows
- Providing strategic leadership around global business and competitiveness issues from an all island perspective
- Deepening the JBC remit beyond the east coast corridor and also building on JBC work to date on strengthening the East-West dimension
- Facilitating mutual understanding and development of partnerships between SME’s north and south.
This project is part-financed by the European Union's European Regional Development Fund through the INTERREG IVA Cross-border Programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body.
A copy of the JBC flyer is available for download here:
JBC_Leaflet final