Dublin company Valitacell was crowned the Overall Winner of the 14th annual InterTradeIreland Seedcorn competition, winning a cash prize of €100,000 at the grand final held at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast. The other main winner on the night was Gecko Governance, based in Dundalk, who won the Best Early Stage Company Category award and a cash prize of €50,000.
This year’s competition generated a lot of interest and attracted over 300 applications from new start and early stage companies from across the island from sectors such as Pharma, ICT, Energy, Software/Apps, Biometrics and even waste management.
The latest quarterly Business Monitor report (July-September 2016) released this week by InterTradeIreland paints a mixed economic picture that reflects a widespread nervousness and sense of uncertainty among the business community in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
While 31% of businesses still say they are experiencing growth, this figure is at its lowest level for 36 months. On the other hand there has been a small increase in the numbers reporting that growth is declining, which points to more of a slowing of overall growth rather than any signs of contraction at this point. Sales figures also show a positive though declining balance.
Headline figures
31% of Irish businesses reporting growth
45% of businesses across the island report exchange rates as a key issue
98% of Irish businesses have no plans in place to deal with Brexit
The UK's decision to leave the EU caught a large majority of businesses offside. InterTradeIreland is supporting businesses to navigate the uncertain landscape and realise their growth ambitions as the terms and conditions of the UK's new relationship with Europe - and more specifically that between Ireland and Northern Ireland- emerges.
InterTradeIreland is offering the following supports:
InterTradeIreland's latest Meet the Buyer event took place on the 19th October in Cork and attracted over 250 delegates and 90 Buyers from across the island. The event showcased sessions from key organisations including Office of Government Procurement (OGP), Central Procurement Directorate (CPD), and Health Service Executive (HSE).
Deputies, if any of the companies in your area were unable to attend this event, we have uploaded the presentations from the event to our website which contains useful information about tendering in terms of lots, frameworks and the reformed procurement model in Ireland amongst other subjects.
InterTradeIreland, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Northern Ireland and the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine Ireland recently partnered to hold a networking and information event on the Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 2 thematic call area on Rural Renaissance. This event took place on 20th October 2016 in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Dundalk.
The aim of the event was to promote the new 2016/17 Rural Renaissance calls in Horizon 2020 given the strategic importance of the rural economy to both Ireland and Northern Ireland.
These calls provide rural economy stakeholders (e.g. farmers, foresters, rural based organisations, rural towns and villages and their community groups, businesses and their representative groups) with an opportunity to participate in research and innovation activities that could enhance capacity, skills and innovation potential, lead to the design of new processes and business models and could provide an evidence base for policy and practice and limit the negative impacts on the environment, climate and health.
Texuna was established in London in 2000 by Cork native, Patrick Lynch and has since expanded to Moscow and Cork. Texuna specialises in Data Collection, Data Warehouse, Data Registry and BI Analytics. A substantial part of their work derives from providing services to the public sector, including to large clients in the UK. While set up in London, they have moved management, operations, product development and procurement strategy to the Cork office.
Meet the Buyer
As tenders had previously been managed by the London office, the processes and methods necessary for applying for tenders were new to the Cork team. In 2015, the company attended InterTradeIreland’s Meet the Buyer event. The event had been recommended to them by a new member of their R&D team who had a background in innovation and had worked with InterTradeIreland before and was aware of the positive impact of InterTradeIreland’s tendering programmes.
Note: Links to third-party websites are provided for convenience only. InterTradeIreland is not liable for the content, availability or use of such third party websites and you use such links entirely at your own risk.
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