A new three-year Enterprise Ireland strategy, to be launched today, will set a target of generating €4 billion in new export sales by 2010.

The strategy, to be launched by the Minister for Enterprise and Employment Micheal Martin, will also seek to increase to 55 the number of companies spending in excess of €2 million annually on research and development in Ireland.

It will also seek to increase to 800 the number of companies with a research and development budget of more than €100,000 per annum.

Enterprise Ireland is the State agency which aims to assist the development of Irish companies which can secure strong positions in global markets.

The strategy document will also set a target for Enterprise Ireland of supporting 200 new high-potential start-up operations. It will say that 50 per cent of these should be in the regions outside of Dublin.

The new strategy will also state that the number of companies achieving annual global sales of €20 million should increase by 20 per cent to 225.

A target of increasing the number of client companies achieving annual global sales of €5 million by 15 per cent to 635. will be set out.

The strategy will state that its fundamental objective is to drive export growth in the global environment.

It will say that success in overseas markets will generate wealth levels that will drive prosperity throughout all parts of the country and that to succeed in international markets Enterprise Ireland companies must pursue aggressive growth strategies.

The strategy will also say that in addition to existing sectors such as food and industrial products and specific sub-sectors such as medical devices, construction, telecoms and proprietary engineering, that emerging areas such as environmental products and services as well as life sciences have significant potential for growth.

A core objective for Enterprise Ireland in the period 2008 - 2010 will be to drive growth and support the internationally traded services sector through an internationally traded services business unit. It is understood that the strategy document will also maintain that Enterprise Ireland is focused on facilitating entrepreneurship and the enterprise environment in local and rural communities, says the document. It will also state that the development of an all-island economy is of strategic importance.