How do young innovative companies benefit from Seedcorn?

Speaking about the competition, Connor Sweeney, InterTradeIreland, said: ‘With a cash prize fund of €280,000 up for grabs, Seedcorn provides a great opportunity for early stage and new start companies in Ireland.  But Seedcorn is more than just a competition – entrants can get invaluable hints, tips and advice from our experts, as well as investors and other entrepreneurs, on how to improve their business plan and investment pitch and demonstrate to investors that their business is worth investing in.

EVB Sports from Co. Louth - previous winner 

EVB Sports from Co. Louth were regional winners in last year’s competition and MD Yvonne Brady had this to say about the competition; ‘Overall the Seedcorn competition was extremely beneficial to us, in particular it gave the investors we were in talks with the confidence to continue to work with us. Through the competition we were given support and advise to create an investor ready business plan that we are implementing in the company - a document that we are using as an operational tool as opposed to a document to remain in the drawer. We used the €20,000 cash prize fund for stock and it gave us the confidence to hire an extra member of staff. In addition the tools and support we received in preparing for seedcorn played no small part in our application for Cartier Womens Initiative Awards of which we came runners up for Europe’.

Free Seedcorn Workshops

Over the coming weeks, InterTradeIreland will host a series of free workshops designed to guide those considering entering this year’s competition, including providing advice on preparation of video clips, presentation slide decks and business plans. More information on the workshops can be found on the InterTradeIreland website.

Register now!

For more information and to register please visit www.intertradeireland.com/seedcorn and businesses are strongly encouraged to submit an entry. Deadline for submissions is 29 May 2015.

Keynote Speaker

From the RTE Dragon's Den, Peter Casey is now a confirmed Keynote Speaker at the Smart Business Show. Derry native Peter Casey is founder and executive chairman of Claddagh Resources, a global recruitment and search business that places high-level executives with many of the world’s Fortune 500 companies. Having established successful business interests in Australia and Ireland, Peter set up Claddagh Resources in Atlanta, Georgia in 1995. Claddagh currently operates on four continents.

Features

Some of the features of the show are - Talkzones, digital engagement zone, Workshops, Networking, Export Pavilion and Design think section. More details here.


Register Now!

If you quote INTERTRADE you will be able to claim a discunt on booking. For more information about the event and to register for your place , please visit the Smart Business website. 

The FUSION Project

InterTradeIreland’s technology transfer and innovation programme FUSION, partners companies north and south with a third-level institution providing them with the specialist expertise of a high calibre graduate working directly in the organisation to deliver a new product or process improvement project. 

StableLab developed a world first Portable Equine Blood Analyzer that can detect infections instantly anywhere, anytime and John helped to develop an electronic reader which interprets the blood test cartridges. 

The Cartridge is inserted into the Portable Blood Analyzer and a blood sample is then applied to the Cartridge. Diagnostic results are generated in minutes at the point of care. 

Heinrich Anhold, StableLab

According to Heinrich Anhold, Managing Director of StableLab: “We lacked the capability to develop this electronic reader which interprets the cartridge, and through the collaboration with the knowledge partner, the FUSION graduate and the funding support, StableLab has achieved major success with this product. 

Professor Jim McLaughlin, Director of the Engineering Research Institute at UUJ was vital to our project. The use of the School of Engineering’s technical equipment was integral to the research for the development of our prototype. Jim’s extensive research and passion for this area of the industry has been both inspirational and extremely helpful. His knowledge and supervision on this project helped us to bring our product to market quicker than projected.

I would recommend the FUSION project to SMEs because it enabled our company to hire a highly qualified graduate who was the driving force for this project”.

 
To find out more about the InterTradeIreland FUSION please visit our website.