The Co-Innovate Programme facilitates a three way partnership between companies, academic institutes and project managers to deliver a 12 month research and innovation project. 

Benefits for SMEs

• Chance to partner with academic institution to carry out a research and innovation project with 50% funding towards the salary of a Project Manager to deliver the 12 month project as well as 28 days of academic consutancy support.

Benefits for Project Managers

• Salary up to €40,000 co-funded up to 50% by Co-Innovate Programme.
• Travel and subsistence to achieve project rollout in association with the academic lead.
• Opportunity to work as Project Manager on a real-world project, receiving mentoring and engaging directly with Senior Management Team within the company and Academic Lead.
• Develop work experience, skills and personal development.
• Exposure to all departments of an SME and receive a holistic overview of the company.

The project manager job roles vary from business to business, but the focus is on supporting the main management team to create and develop innovative and commercially viable products and services. The job roles are for a twelve-month period but it is anticipated that on completion of the successful project there may be opportunities for full time employment within the company.

1000 Companies helped to date by Co-Innovate

986 companies have attended FREE innovation workshops across the eligible area of Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Scotland to find out more about innovation support available through the Co-Innovate programme. In that time Co-Innovate has also run 684 individual business health checks and carried out 200 innovation assessments for small and medium size businesses. Nearly 60 businesses have also taken part in an intensive 10-day mentoring session which provides participants with specific action plans to help develop their innovation capability.  

Neil says: 'We've seen remarkable success from participating businesses in the first two years of running the Co-Innovate project and are delighted that businesses are really seeing the benefits of our expertise.'

Interested?

• For SMEs who would like to partner with an academic institute to deliver a Research and Innovation Project apply now at https://co-innovateprogramme.eu/business-with-academia/companies
• For those interested in Project Manager job opportunities visit  Current Vacancies or visit https://co-innovateprogramme.eu/business-with-academia/projectmanager

Co-Innovate is a five-year €16.6 million project that aims to boost collaboration between small and medium enterprises across the border counties in Ireland, Northern Ireland and parts of western Scotland. Co-Innovate is a project supported by the European Union’s INTERREG VA Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).

What is investor readiness?

Investor readiness is the process of getting your business to the point that equity investors are willing to invest in your business.

Attracting equity investors requires an accurate understanding of what the investor is looking for and how the venture will be perceived along those dimensions. This is where the Business Plan is key.

Business Planning

At InterTradeIreland we have been supporting start ups and early stage businesses for nearly 20 years and have adopted the business cube methodology to business planning for the last 12 years.  

The business cube is a simple and intuitive tool that outlines the key information components that investors look for when evaluating investment opportunities. Therefore it is a useful guide for Start Ups to address those key issues in which potential investors will have greatest interest.

Components of the Cube

The Business Plan should be structured as follows:

1. Executive Summary
2. Business Overview
3. Market Opportunity
4. Industry & Competition
5. Product or Service Proposition
6. Marketing Plan
7. Management Team
8. Operations
9. Key Risks
10. Financial Plan
11. Funding
12. Exit Strategy4Summary
13. Schedules
14. Appendices

Download your free copy of the Business Cube here. This document will provide you with simple recommendations regarding the specific content for each of the sections outlined above and how to determine how much weighting should be afforded to each.

Useful Hints and Tips

• A considerable amount of information is required in a business plan.
• Pay particular attention to presentation – first impressions are important. Approximately 95% of business plans are rejected often because their presentation lets them down.
• Be frank – if you misrepresent something, the astute reader will see through it and will not be impressed.
• Make every effort to sustain the reader’s attention from start to finish.
• Ensure the logic, proposals and assumptions are consistent throughout your business plan.
• Do not underestimate the time taken between presenting the business plan and receiving the required finance. Depending on the type of finance required, the delay could be anything from a few weeks to several months.

Business Planning Workshops

We are also holding a number of Business Planning Workshops across the island during the coming weeks. Find out more

Contact Us

If you have any additional queries please contact our Funding Advisory Team who are here to help.

She has a keen sense of what businesses need.

"I'm really pleased to be helping SMEs. Over 85% of businesses that have used the InterTradeIreland "Start to Plan" voucher say they are better equipped to manage the potential impact of Brexit as a result."

"We have FREE support worth £2k/€2250 currently available to help eligible SMEs."

You can apply for a Brexit voucher here.

About the company

CDEnviro delivers integrated solutions for clients’ waste in terms of landfill diversion, wastewater recycling, environmental remediation and the generation of energy from waste.  Just six months after completing the programme in March 2018, CDEnviro has created a new strategic innovation department and has a pipeline of 46 viable business concepts.   The company has plans to undertake its largest ever research and development (R&D) project to create pioneering solutions for companies affected by changing landfill waste classifications.  CDEnviro intends to bring its solution to market in 2019.  

Their experience of Challenge

Sean Dobbs, strategic innovation lead for CDEnviro, outlines the benefits of participating in the InterTradeIreland Challenge Programme:

“We have always been an ambitious company.  CDEnviro has a long track record of creating unique, innovative solutions, reflected by our multiple patents.  We believe zero waste is achievable. However, to get there we as an industry must take on and find a solution to the seemingly unsolvable issues, something we are proud to say we have a strong track record of.  We do this by working with our most valued asset, our customers, who typically bring us their biggest needs and go on to partner with us to co-develop solutions, to yield truly world class results.  We have been looking at new sectors and niche markets since 2015. However, given the higher level of risk we knew that while we had the ideas and skills to disrupt these industries and bring solutions, we didn’t feel that our process to vet ideas was as reliable as it could be. The Challenge Programme helped us to integrate our skills and creativity across the business and really structure this validation process that has proven crucial to unlocking these higher risk opportunities.

The senior management team immediately saw the benefits of participation in the Challenge Programme and the program has embed key skills at the core of the business.” 

InterTradeIreland’s Challenge Programme is aimed at ambitious SMEs and allows business leaders to transform their company’s prospects in just nine months by learning and applying the most effective methods of generating, marketing and launching new products and services. 

InterTradeIreland support

Alan Morrow, InterTradeIreland Challenge Programme manager, explains:

“Challenge companies experience a transformative change in innovation culture, management capability and performance as the programme is focused on embedding best practice in innovation management at the core of participating businesses.

“Only 25 companies are taken through Challenge each year and interested, innovative firms are welcome to register their interest for our upcoming briefing session in November 2018. Following application and acceptance onto the programme, participating firms attend workshops to clearly define their innovation priorities and receive intensive in-house coaching support to progress these into new products. There are no costs for SMEs to take part and the benefits that can be reaped are immense. 

“Challenge leaves SMEs with a proven, adaptable and repeatable innovation process that allows them to commercialise ideas quickly with less cost and reduced risk, enabling a reboot of current processes, ultimately generating a growth pipeline.

“We are delighted that CDEnviro has truly seized the Challenge ethos by proactively making changes that have led to the creation of new roles and processes thus enriching innovation across the business. Undertaking their largest ever R&D project is testament to their growth ambitions and impact that the Challenge Programme wields.”

CDEnviro and the future

Discussing the future for CDEnviro Mr Dobbs says: “The support from InterTradeIreland was excellent. We have an ever growing pipeline of ideas and concepts, which currently sits at almost 50.   To be able to quickly and efficiently research and either validate or discredit any and all opportunities, and having confidence that we are solving the biggest problems first is an exciting prospect for the entire team and a very strong capability to have.  

“We are opening up new markets for the business thanks to our major new R&D project. By researching and reviewing forthcoming changes to legislation, in terms of the classification of materials as waste, we found that many currently don’t have a treatment solution because certain materials haven’t previously been classified as waste. We have been able to create an innovative process to manage and treat waste within these new categories, resulting in this material being diverted from landfill, which is something we are very proud of. 

“These changes will have a significant impact on businesses across many sectors and as industry pioneers we aim to be first to market with our technology. This R&D project marks a multi-million-pound investment for the business, which we are hopeful of securing a level of funding to support.  We are looking forward to having the first part of our solution in market in early 2019 and are excited about the growth this project will provide the business and the significant boost in  employment for the local economy, that comes with a project of this scale.”

How to get involved in Challenge

InterTradeIreland’s Challenge Programme is open to the senior management teams of financially viable companies with between 10 and 250 employees which are currently exporting or considering exporting and who are serious about growth through innovation. Find out more at www.intertradeireland.com/innovation/challenge 

Mr Dobbs concludes: “As well as positive impacts right across CDEnviro, I personally found the Challenge Programme very beneficial. The InterTradeIreland team has been a great support and they don’t just provide training and leave; they are happy to go above and beyond, maintaining the relationship with individuals and companies with whom they work. 

“I would recommend that other business leaders should consider the Challenge Programme to increase innovation outputs. CDEnviro is always evolving, and the Challenge Programme has helped us to continue to do so.”

Colm Gribben remembers very clearly his first project in the Republic of Ireland. His company Viltra, based in Newry, was tasked with solving the waste water problems for the new visitor centre at Fanad lighthouse in Donegal. It turned out to be a crucial juncture for the business.

“It really is an iconic site, when you step off the plane at Dublin airport, you see the picture of that lighthouse. What you don’t realise it that all the landscape around it, means you have to be very creative when it comes to wastewater management. We designed and installed a bespoke system. All our skills came in. That’s when we got the reputation as real problem solvers across Ireland” says Colm.

A Crucial Decision

Viltra has been in business for 13 years. Their clients in Northern Ireland now include the National Trust. However, at one point, it was touch and go. The property crash had a big impact on the business. “We were in survival mode. I realised that if we were going to keep going I had to look elsewhere. We looked at new technology and new markets. I vowed that we would never be reliant on one market again. Diversifying was key for us” says Colm.

Funding up to 50% for a sales person

Colm applied to InterTradeIreland’s sales and marketing programme, Acumen. Under the programme his company was eligible to get 50% funding towards the salary of a sales person to grow his business cross-border.  “Having a guy out on the road for us in the South, made a huge difference. He built a database of architects and engineers, he was knocking doors and then one day, we got an enquiry about Fanad lighthouse. Now 25 to 30% of our turnover comes from Ireland and I’m confident it will grow” adds Colm.

“If you have the chance to do the Acumen programme, what’s stopping you? Right from the beginning, when you first start to talk to someone about Acumen, you are learning. The application process and the advice the consultants gave me as part of the programme was a big help. It was like I had 10 people working for me. I learned an awful lot about my competitors and the market I was trading into.”

If you would be interested in taking part in Acumen to grow your business, gain new customers and new sustainable income, you can find out more at www.intertradeireland.com/acumen

Find out more about Colm's journey below.

The aim of the survey is to establish the general levels of awareness and knowledge among Irish companies of EU chemical legislation. In light of the UK vote to leave the EU, the survey will also gather information on the potential impacts this may have on the trading of chemicals between the UK, Northern Ireland & Ireland.

It will also help identify aspects where companies may need more support to achieve regulatory compliance when the UK exits the EU in 2019. Businesses and workplaces using or trading products containing chemicals are invited to complete the survey and be in with the chance of winning an iPad. Click here to begin https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NBRWJFC

The 2019 InterTradeIreland Venture Capital Conference will  take place on March 7th, in Croke Park, Dublin.

The focus of the conference will be the "Fundamentals of Securing Investment" and is expected to bring a capacity audience of more than 300 delegates; that will include entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, business angels, other investors and start-ups seeking funds. 

With VC funding at record levels, this is the perfect time to secure capital .Tech firms on the island raised close to a record €1bn last year. In addition, since the onset of the credit crunch in 2008, more than 1,450 SMEs have raised venture capital of €3.6 billion.

More details including registration, will be in next month's ezine.  It may be wise to save the March 7th date in your calendar now.

The media spotlight around Brexit may have died down for the time being, but as negotiations continue, it’s important companies across the island put plans in place for whatever the outcome might be.

InterTradeIreland has a range of Brexit supports available to help companies get ready whatever the decision, a key element of which is ‘Brexit and Beyond’, offering FREE online learning specifically designed for firms trading cross-border.

We know from research carried out by InterTradeIreland through collaborating with partners and businesses across the island, the key issues facing SMEs were in relation to customs, supply chain, logistics and the movement of people: so we wanted to provide a one-stop shop that answered all these queries.

We recognise small firms are busy so we created a purpose built, easy to use learning environment. The content is always evolving, with new elements being added and refreshed every week.

Customs course

The customs course is designed to provide a simple cross-border guide to customs. It offers a step-by-step guide on what customs are, how to import, how to export and how to obtain commodity and tariff codes along with FAQs and downloadable action plans. This course will be offering NEW video content on a step-by-step guide on how to complete import and export declarations later this month.

People course

The people course offers information on EU settlement scheme, employment law, the common travel area and the impact on cross-borders and human resources. All content includes many examples of the differing situations of people and how they may or may not be affected. This course also includes FAQs, downloadable action plans.

Coming soon: Supply chain and logistics course

This will be designed to provide a simple guide to supply chain and logistics.  Alongside developing a deeper knowledge and understanding of the key aspects of supply chain management and logistics, SMEs will be able to develop a set of practical techniques, skills and tactics on how to manage the supply chain, with a specific focus on Brexit-related and cross-border issues.  This new section should be ready in June.

Bio

Kerri McCrory is a Digital Content Manager for InterTradeIreland’s Brexit Advisory Service. Kerri is an e-learning specialist with over ten years’ experience working in higher education and industry, with a PhD in e-learning. Kerri has worked on the cutting edge of learning technologies and has a strong research and practical background in e-learning, working for Trinity College Dublin, Ulster University and in the private sector.