Welcome to our Co-Innovate Newsletter
 

Welcome to our new bi-annual Co-Innovate newsletter in which we will keep you up to date with the latest news on our Co-Innovate programme, details of upcoming events, as well as latest hints and tips on innovation.   In this edition, we give you an overview of how the Co-Innovate Programme works, hear why innovation can help your business, details re upcoming events and meet our programme team. We hope you will find this newsletter both informative and useful.


Drive your business forward with Co-Innovate

In an ever changing and increasingly competitive marketplace, innovation is integral to business growth and success.  Our new Co-Innovate programme can help you  learn about the beneļ¬ts of innovation, identify opportunities for growth in your business and create a vision to make it happen. Geared towards SMEs in Northern Ireland, the six border counties of Ireland and Western Scotland, Co-Innovate will help you harness ideas to work smarter, equip you for future challenges, add value to your business, help you stand out from the competition and boost your bottom line.

 

Watch the video below or visit our Co-Innovate website to find out more.

 

This project is supported by the European Union's Interreg VA Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).

Coinnovate Programme Animation 1920x1080

 


Coinnovate Programme Animation 1920x1080

How the Co-Innovate Programme works

Each company’s needs around innovation development will differ, so every company’s journey through the programme will be unique.

 

Support provided will range from free workshops tailored to suit each individual business, to innovation audits and one-to- one expert mentoring.  Companies who go on to complete assessments, will be selected to take part in advanced programme supports. These advanced supports are designed to help develop detailed innovation delivery plans: bringing ideas to fruition. 

 

View the diagram below or visit our Co-Innovate website to find out more.

 


 

 

 

Co-Innovate Innovation Workshops
 

The first part of the Co-Innovate support journey is attending an innovation workshop.  The aim of these FREE workshops is to demystify innovation and help you understand how it can drive your business forward. We are running these workshops across the three eligible regions.

 

What are the benefits?

  • Understand innovation, its importance, and approaches for implementing it successfully within your business.
  • Learn about the main sectoral research opportunities, clarification of what these are and why they are important
  • Engaging in group discussion on individual opportunities
  • Confidentially develop project ideas for how your business may take advantage of these opportunities
  • Identify skills/expertise/technology gaps related to achieving these project opportunities
  • Opportunity to log a company profile in advance, view other attendee profiles and request business-to-business meetings
  • Identify potential project partners via the Co-Innovate team's networks of businesses
  • Learn more about how advanced stages of Co-Innovate support could help your business

View Upcoming Events

 

If you are interested in attending any of these workshops, you must first Register Your Interest in the Co-Innovate Programme to see if you are eligible – Check out the eligibility criteria here


Neil's nine tips for developing innovation within your business
Written by Neil Ryan, Co-Innovate Programme Director
 

In a world where markets are becoming increasingly more competitive, studies have shown that innovation is vital for the success and long-term sustainability of any business. Every business is different (size, sector, goals, location, how long they have traded for, etc) and there is no one size fits all approach to implementing innovation due to this uniqueness. What is key is realising that innovation can occur in any part of a business and ensuring that, as a company, you’re open to identifying opportunities for change and continual development.

 

Our Co-Innovate Programme Director, Neil Ryan, has nine useful tips to help you develop innovation within your business:

 


In a world where markets are becoming increasingly more competitive, studies have shown that innovation is vital for the success and long-term sustainability of any business. Every business is different (size, sector, goals, location, how long they have traded for, etc) and there is no one size fits all approach to implementing innovation due to this uniqueness. What is key is realising that innovation can occur in any part of a business and ensuring that, as a company, you’re open to identifying opportunities for change and continual development.  

 

With this in mind, the following are my tips for developing innovation within your business: -

 

Find time to look beyond your core business.

 

With existing customers to keep happy or orders to meet, sometimes it is difficult to find the time to step out of the day to day schedule. However, as a business, it is important to find time to look outside the business for opportunities and threats, in order to react to market changes, minimise risks and not fall behind the competition, and stay on top of the latest developments and trends in your industry.

 

Be creative.

 

When generating ideas, it is important not to limit yourself or rule out any ideas. You may initially think something is not possible or silly, but once it has been tabled others may be able to provide the knowledge which could make it a reality, or it could even provide the inspiration for them to spin out a related concept. Don’t just think about innovation in terms of product or service provision, but consider all areas of your business for improvements. Innovation can be a giant leap in technology, or a series or incremental developments which grow your business take it to a better level than it was previously.

 

Make sure its meaningful.

 

What is important is you are innovating towards a meaningful goal. Is there a need or demand? Does it address a problem or challenge? Is it fit for purpose? Is it cost effective? Is it sustainable? Is it compliant? These are all early questions you can quickly ask to check if your idea has potential to take further. If not, maybe you should consider if there is a better opportunity to try to exploit.

 

Be ruthless.

 

Once you have developed a list of ideas or opportunities, you can then begin to review and prioritise them. Your time and resources are limited, so you can only effectively work on a selection (dependant on your company size) at once. Make sure to only invest time, money and energy in concepts that show the greatest likelihood of success, and also use a fail fast/fail cheap approach, so that resources are not wasted, and you can quickly move onto the next priority in your ideas bank.

 

Mistakes are ok!

 

Don’t be afraid of making mistakes or of failure. Even the most innovative companies make mistakes or begin working on a concept that ultimately fails. What is important is to learn from those mistakes and use this knowledge for the future to develop those winning ideas.

 

Employee engagement.

 

Build a culture of innovation within the organisation at every level. Your employees are bursting at the seams with ideas, so not tapping into this resource is a wasted opportunity. Encourage ownership and give them the time and freedom they need to develop new ideas, and also create opportunities for different types of employees / departments / teams to come together to create ideas and develop solutions.

 

Collaboration.

 

Your business or the employees within may be quite capable of handling their specific areas of focus. But each will have its own strengths and weaknesses, and as a result products, services, and profits will suffer unless you can identify these weaknesses and address them. One way to do this is though partnering with others (both internal and external to the business) in order to fill skills gaps, connect ideas, reduce the time to market, share resources, and undertake workloads not possible alone in order to maximise the potential of the business. This collective intelligence is also a great opportunity for learning.

 

Know your customers.

 

Understanding your customers and fostering meaningful relationships with them is core to innovation. They will tell you what they need or want, which can guide you. Negative and positive feedback is a gift for innovation. Understand your customers and build relationships with them to ensure that you’re aware of what they like or dislike about your offerings and your competitors, and use this when making your plans for development.

 

What’s next?

 

Keep going! The world around us is always changing, markets develop, and there are always improvements you can make within your business or to your offerings. So, it is important that you continue your innovation journey in order to remain one step ahead of your competitors and preserve the long-term future of the business. It can be challenging, but it is stimulating and worthwhile.

 

Renewable Energy Sectoral Workshop, 16th May, Strabane
Generic Innovation workshop, 17th May, Stornoway
Renewable Energy Sectoral Workshop, 29th May, Troon
Generic Innovation Workshop, 6th June, Dundalk
ORTUS Workshop, 12th June, Belfast
Agri & Food Sectoral Workshop, 13th June, Dumfries and Galloway
Generic Innovation Workshop, 14th June, Coleraine
Agri & Food Sector workshop, 19th June, Cavan
Agri & Food Sectoral Workshop, 21st June, Derry/L'Derry
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