Alan Morrow Operations Manager - een-ireland.ie Morrow... · Alan Morrow Operations Manager. Who we are & what we do. We are the only organisation which has been ... to work on the

Alan Morrow

Operations Manager

Who we are & what we do.

We are the only organisation which has been

tasked by both Governments to boost

North/South economic co-operation for the

mutual benefit of Northern Ireland and Ireland.

We support SMEs across the island to

identify and develop North/South trade and

innovation opportunities. We do this through:

Business programmes

Research & statistics

Networks and partnerships

intertradeireland.com

Our achievements and key facts



Our range of business programmes offer practical funding,

information, advice and support to help SMEs:

At a glance business support

Sales & Marketing

�Acumen cross-border sales and

marketing programme

�Elevate sales development for small

business

�Go2Tender all-island public

procurement workshops, training and

mentoring

�Trade accelerator voucher scheme for

cross-border business advice on legal,

financial and regulation issues

Innovation & Collaboration

�Fusion company-graduate-academic

partnership

�Innova strategic company-to -company

innovation partnership

�Challenge strategic planning and

business transformation

�FP7 support programme cross-border

voucher scheme and information service

�All-island Innovation Programme

events, workshops and master classes

Equity Finance

�All-island Seedcorn Business

Competition for the best early stage

companies

�Venture Capital Conference annual

event

�Equity advisory service one to one

advice from our equity expert

�Business plan workshops, guides and

events

�Business Angel Networks and

Syndicate groups

�Entrepreneurship master classes

All-island research, publications, statistics and networks


FUSION� Support packages worth up to £29,500/€33,150 available to undertake a 12 month

innovation project

� You will be partnered with a third-level institution with the specialist expertise you

need and a high calibre science, engineering or technology graduate

� The graduate is employed by you and is based in your company throughout the

project with mentoring from the academic partner and InterTradeIreland Fusion

consultant

� The support package is used to fund 50% of the graduate’s employment costs and

100% of other eligible costs. Financial assistance for eligible costs is claimed

quarterly in arrears from InterTradeIreland


FUSIONBenefits

On average, each company taking part on the FUSION programme benefits from

over £1 million worth of sales or efficiency savings in the three years following

the project

�The programme can help your business to:

�Develop or improve products, processes or services

�Streamline business processes to increase efficiency

and performance

�Develop and implement new technologies, systems or processes

�Improve capabilities in innovation, design and technology

�Reduce costs

�Increase sales


FUSION

Eligibility

�Located on the island of Ireland (North or South)

�Financially viable

�Able to demonstrate the need for InterTradeIreland

FUSION support

�Demonstrate the capacity and commitment to support a

FUSION project at senior management level

Note: As this is an all-island programme, the third-level institution which you are

partnered with must be based in the opposite jurisdiction to your business


FUSION

Interested?

Contact our team to discuss your potential project and if eligible, we will arrange a

FUSION consultant to meet with you to understand your needs. We will work with

you to identify potential academic partners and together you will submit a joint

application. Your application will be reviewed and if approved we will work with you to

help recruit your graduate to help manage the project:

T: 028 30834100 (048 from Ireland)

E: [email protected]

W: intertradeireland.com/fusion


INNOVA� Company-to-company strategic innovation programme to accelerate new product

development

� Innova projects must involve ‘substantial innovation’ - i.e. significant change to the

companies current business model. In simple terms – they are ‘game changing’

projects for the firms involved

� Pool resources, technology and expertise with another business in the opposite

jurisdiction

� Funding worth up to £250,000/€285,000 per project available.


INNOVA

Benefits

�Development of new or improved innovative products, processes or services

�Increased rate of commercialisation

�Sharing otherwise inaccessible knowledge, technology and expertise

�Access to complimentary expertise, networks and channels to market from your

innovation business partner


INNOVA

Eligibility

Support through the Innova programme will be geared

towards applications that meet the following requirements:

�Ideally, businesses should have identified a suitable innovation partner

to work on the project from the other jurisdiction

�Projects should have clear demonstrable benefits to the companies involved and

represent a fundamental part of their strategic business plans

�Applicants are particularly welcome from the following sectors: life and

health sciences, polymers and plastics, environmental, agri-food and ICT

connected health

�Proposals must be able to demonstrate strong commercial potential


INNOVA

Interested?

Interested companies should download and complete a short ‘expression of interest’

form and once assessed the highest scoring applications will be shortlisted and

invited to the second stage – business case submission with your partner company

for your Innova project.

Companies can apply for up to £7,500 to help cover the costs involved at this stage.

Proposals will be financially, commercially and technically assessed by an

independent panel of experts before funding awards are made.

T: 028 3083 4148 (048 from Ireland)


W: intertradeireland.com/innova


Challenge

� Transform your business prospects in just nine months.

� Learn how to create, market and launch new products and services using a proven

method to minimise time, money and risk involved.

� The programme works in three stages – briefing, workshop and in-company

mentoring.

� Assessments will be made at each stage and only companies selected will make it

through to the final stage.

� If you are a winner will be offered up to £20,000/€23,000 worth of expert in-company

mentoring to deliver your plan.


Challenge

Stage 1: Briefing event

�Find out about the tools and techniques used in the Challenge programme which you can take away and use

in your business.

� Benchmark your business against world-class companies that excel in bringing products and services to

market quickly and cost effectively

� You’ll be able to see the areas in which you are performing well against other companies and highlight parts

of the business that may require development.

Stage 2: 2-day workshop

�If you make it through to the second stage, you will take part in two separate one-day workshops in

successive weeks to learn and apply a rapid commercialisation process to your business ideas.

�Workshops will focus on strategic/business planning and innovation systems, process and management.

Stage 3: In-company mentoring

�Ten companies will benefit from a specialist in-company mentoring programme to guide you through delivery

of their business plan

�Up six days of 1-to-1 assistance (on your premises) at a pace and in a way that works for you


Challenge

Benefits

�Develop an effective business plan to incorporate innovation at the core and improve business management,

planning and strategic decision making

�Create new ideas that can be developed in the future

�Learn and apply a rapid commercialisation process to ideas using techniques that minimise time, money and

risk

�Create a strong culture of innovation and improve innovation management in the company

Eligibility

�Ambitious SMEs with between 10 and 250 employees who are currently exporting or considering exporting

�Participants must be the strategic decision maker in the company (i.e. CEO/MD etc) and committed to

business development and growth

Interested

T: 028 3083 4100 (048 from Ireland)


W: intertradeirland.com/challenge


FP7 Support ProgrammePractical support for companies and academics

in Ireland and Northern Ireland access the

expertise for their research application and

develop partnerships on an all-island basis.

This includes:

�Cross-border collaboration voucher which can be redeemed

against the cost of travel or accommodation for up to £500 /

€550 when meeting with partners, or potential partners, of

FP7 projects

� Free FP7 information and advice service to help identify

North/South partners for FP7 programme applications,

through our dedicated EU Coordinator

Benefits

�Access partners and expertise anywhere on the island in

support of an FP7 application

�Increased chances of success in securing FP7 funding as

applications including partners from Northern Ireland and

Ireland have a greater success rate

Interested?

Contact a member of the team for more information:

Dr Simon Grattan

InterTradeIreland EU Coordinator

T: 028 3083 4131 (048 from Ireland)


Jani Lopez

Policy Research Deputy Manager

T: 028 3083 4122 (048 from Ireland)


W: intertradeireland.com/fp7support


Some of the companies we help


Prochem

Kilkenny based Prochem is an engineering consultancy

specialising in biotech and pharmaceutical projects.

Through InterTradeIreland’s FUSION programme, the

company was partnered with the University of Ulster

and a talented graduate to undertake a detailed 18-

month assessment of computer modelling software in

engineering design before investing in specialist

software that has brought the company to the forefront

of engineering design in Ireland.

Prochem Engineering is now one of the only engineering

consultancies in the country to offer a one-stop-shop for energy

reduction projects within cleanrooms with the ability to design, assess,

advise, project manage and construction manage retrofit projects

without the requirement of an external simulation expert.

This new capability will lead to revenues of up to €2million and

potential new jobs at the company not least for John George Butler,

the FUSION graduate who has since been offered

a permanent position within Prochem.


Quality Irish Foods/Mr. Crumb

Mr. Crumb is a small food company based in the rural

village of Finea in Ireland’s lakelands where their team of

cooks prepare and cook a range of homemade fresh food.

Mr. Crumb was founded in 1996 by Bernard Coyle, the current

Chairman. He was working as a salesman for a major bakery when he

noticed a gap in the market for fresh breadcrumbs as an ingredient for

stuffings, puddings and bread sauce amongst other foods.

He started the company and after initial difficulty getting the products

listed with retailers he decided to move his product up the value chain

and produce his own stuffing.

The company took part on InterTradeIreland’s FUSION programme to

develop its products and processes and as a result the company has

significantly expanded, creating 30 new jobs and increasing its sales

by almost €3.5 million. The company also took part in our Acumen

programme to ensure maximum distribution for their product in

Northern Ireland using a local distributor.


BioAtlantis

BioAtlantis Ltd is a leading Irish Biotech Company

engaged in the extraction of plant, animal and human

nutraceuticals from renewable natural sources.

The company was founded by a team of professionals with

experience in the Dairy and Marine Biotech industries and

consists today of specialists and academics from the food

technology and agroriomy, management consulting and life

sciences fields.

BioAtlantis took part in InterTradeIreland’s FUSION

programme to develop new formulations of its biostimulants

and to analyse customer requirements. As a result, the

company has generated significant new sales of its

biostimulant products.


Country CrestFood company Country Crest supplies raw added-value

potato products to the retail sector across Ireland. The

company supplies 70% and 100% of the washed, graded

and packed potatoes intake for Tesco and Superquinn

respectively.

Country Crest also manufactures a range of potato products,

baked potatoes and fillings under the brand ‘Country Crest’ and

fresh chips, slices and Parisian potatoes under the Tesco and

Superquinn own-brand Label.

Through InterTradeIreland’s FUSION programme, the company

was partnered with specialist food institute Loughry College in

Northern Ireland and graduate Declan Carville to facilitate new

product development and to implement and embed quality

systems within the company.

As a result of the programme, sales figures have increase

dramatically and 15 new products have been developed for

customers including Tesco Ireland, Superquinn, Super Valu,

Dunnes Stores, Donnelly Fruit and Vegetables and Natures Best.


VenneticsDundalk based Vennetics enables mobile operators to

launch richer, better, simpler and more integrated IP

and mobile-based services.

As PC and broadband penetration increase, Internet telephony is

becoming increasingly mainstream. However, applications like Skype

have remained largely separate from the ubiquitous mobile phone.

Through InterTradeIreland’s Innova programme, the company

undertook a project to develop a new type of telephony service,

providing services direct to customers without using either mobile or

VoIP service providers, through the internet. The company partnered

with Belfast based IT firm, Instil to develop their product ‘Moozler’

which is a new consumer telephony service that provides for a

coherent service across both the mobile phone and the PC.

‘Moozler’ was successfully launched to the market and the strategic

R&D project was awarded the ‘Best North/South Collaboration’ title

project at the Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards earlier

this year.


Central Solutions

Limerick based Central Solutions is dedicated to

providing information management solutions to an

international client base across a variety of sectors.

Through InterTradeIreland’s Innova programme the firm

partnered with water treatment company FM Environmental in

Newry to develop a turnkey IT solution for wastewater

treatment compliance monitoring and management. As a result

of the project, both companies have established a new Joint

Venture ‘InvistaTech’ to deliver solutions that provide water

and wastewater plant operators with accurate data about the

plants under their control.

Both companies have been able to secure significant new

contracts to manage waste water treatment facilities in Ireland

and have ambitious plans for growth.


Biosensia

Life sciences firm Biosensia was partnered with a

leading electronics company in Northern Ireland to

develop a point-of-care diagnostic instrument platform

through InterTradeIreland’s Innova programme.

Their product, which aims to take testing out of the laboratory

and into hospital wards and bedsides, is a fluorescence reader

which is capable of reading test results obtained from

Biosensia’s patented point of care platform – RapiPlex.

The portable design allows the reader to be used in locations

such as a clinic or doctor’s office, laboratory, hospital bedside or

A&E department to test for a variety of clinical conditions. It can

also be used by emergency services at accident scenes or by

police officers to test for drug abuse. RapiPlex is currently

undergoing commercial trials in the USA, Far East and Europe.

Alan Morrow Operations Manager - een-ireland.ie Morrow... · Alan Morrow Operations Manager. Who we are & what we do. We are the only organisation which has been ... to work on the

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