Kieran Fegan

Dundalk Institute of Technology

The Special EU Programmes Body is the Managing Authority for the

European Union’s INTERREG IVA Programme

Overall Project AimICE Programme - Innovation for Competitive Enterprises (ICE)

Promoting regional economic growth and development through the establishment of a Tri_Regional Innovation Network aimed at building the innovation capacity and

capability of existing SMEs in the Northern Ireland, the six southern Border Region of Ireland and Western Scotland

Background• €2.49m European Union’s INTERREG IVA cross

border programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body with match financial assistance from Scottish Enterprise and the accountable departments in Ireland and Northern Ireland

• Collaboration between the University of Glasgow, Glasgow Caledonian University, the University of Ulster and is led by Dundalk Institute of Technology (the ICE Partnership)

ICE Programme Overview

ICE InnovationWhat is an innovation activity?

An activity which introduces something new or a new way of doing things that creates economic value

Successful management and exploitation of change

ICE is applicable to:

• New business model • New products or services• Additional features• New processes

•New systems•New materials•New markets•New Culture!

• There is limited innovation culture within most companies

• Companies need a trusted method of generating new ideas and assessing the potential of those ideas

• Companies need help to implement new innovations

• Time pressures within SMEs often result in important tasks around innovation being neglected

• Lack of appropriate “learning by doing” Innovation training

• Companies have difficulty in accessing technology transfer or licensing opportunities.

Why is ICE needed?

• ICE will facilitate sharing of information, resources and knowledge through a network of companies from Northern Ireland, the Border Counties of Ireland and Scotland

• Companies will be able to tap into Regional Expertise, Third Level Institutes & Business Support Agencies

• Companies will take part in a specialist intensive in-house SME Innovation Learning Programme coupled with in-company mentoring (Learning By Doing)

• Companies don’t have to develop own new products or services – ICE will offer access to new Technology Transfer and Licensing Opportunities

How can ICE help?

Practical Learning• A Free 12 Month in-company Innovation Learning Programme

(ILP) will be delivered to 30 companies on a cross-border cross regional basis x 3 years

• There will be 10 to 12 in-company action based learning sessions per company – practitioners will be working with you and your key staff as a team on your premises!

• Each company will have a customised innovation plan implemented resulting in new products or services, new processes, new business models and an extended market reach

• Your company team will be skilled at generating new ideas and assessing which of those can drive turnover and profits

• The innovation implementation skills of 90 owner managers and key staff will be developed per year leaving a legacy of knowledge

• This will further enable the company to implement new product/process/service developments whilst running the core business activity

• There will also be 6 group innovation development sessions per year when, where possible, all 30 companies from the three regions will come together to share knowledge and experiences

Acquiring and Sharing Knowledge

Technology Transfer & Licensing

• Access to Technology Transfer and Licensing Opportunities

• Training on how to use tech transfer portals available and how to match availability with need

• Identification of 5 licensing opportunities per year across the region

• Ensure Technology Transferred is absorbed into the organisation effectively and commercially exploited

Overall ICE will: - – Develop at least 50 new or modified products /

services / processes or business models for commercialisation

– Identify and investigate at least 15 technology transfer or licensing opportunities

– Increase turnover for 90 participating companies by 10%

– Develop a sustainable network of companies that will benefit as result

Impact!

• Owner Manager and Key staff must commit: -

– To participating in the 12 in-house ½ day sessions over the 12 months duration

– Time and resources to work through an innovation project

– To participating in most of the 6 group networking sessions over the 12 month duration

Commitment

Please complete an application form

Submit to:

Kieran FeganDundalk Institute of Technology

T: +353 (0) 87 417 4681E: ice@dkit.ie

Sean McCaulUniversity of Ulster

Magee CampusT: +44 (0) 7904 305337

E: ice@ulster.ac.uk

A copy of the application form can be downloaded from ourwebsite www.iceprogramme.com

To apply

Next Steps and Opportunity for Questions