Atlantic Way – Vision 2020
‘Atlantic Way 2020’ is a plan that sets out specific priority areas for progress in the Atlantic Way zone for the period up to the year 2020

It reflects the outcome of consultations held with various interests to formulate a practical set of visionary goals relating to the major strengths, assets and needs of the area in the short to medium-term.   

At a very broad level, these objectives are designed to achieve ‘A Region of Excellence for Living, Leisure, Knowledge and Work’, and can be summarised as follows:

• To agree the development priorities and bring about the collaborative effort required to deliver on them.
• To accelerate the region’s growth and deepen its competitive advantage.
• To have a strong, diverse and talent-laden enterprise base.
• To have a connected community of 1.5 million people.

A number of the Atlantic Way’s working groups, or ‘Pillars of Activity’, are focused on achieving the goals set out in ‘Vision 2020’. These Pillars include Enterprise; Connectivity, Infrastructure and Logistics; Knowledge; Culture and Creativity; Tourism and Leisure; Environment, and Marketing.

Among the major initiatives currently being supported by Atlantic Way are:

• An International Freight Logistics Centre at Shannon Airport.
• The Atlantic Way Open World | Open Minds project – a programme of activity to form alliances with other forward-thinking regions throughout the world.
• A World Innovation Campus to nurture Ireland’s talent base.
• A European Transhipment Hub on the Shannon Estuary for use by North American, Asian and other interests.