Wednesday 16^th March, Nimbus Centre, CIT

Chris Lyons, Lead Advisor in Environmental and Agri Food, Enterprise Europe Network

Chris Lyons is Lead Advisor in Environmental and Agri Food for the Enterprise Europe Network at Business West across the South West of the UK. Chris connects innovators with manufacturers, academics, distributors, co-developers and suppliers across Europe and beyond through an international network of over 4,000 network advisors in 60 countries. With an extensive network and knowledge of local, regional and national business support and funding organisations, Chris is ideally placed to support business growth both nationally and internationally. At the seminar, Chris will talk about EEN supports for companies entering the UK market.

Dirk Schaefer, Project Manager, University of Warwick Science Park; Partner, UK Market Access Programme

Dirk is a Chartered Marketer who is heading the technical marketing, business incubation and soft landing activity of Warwick Science Park. He has experience from working with 700+ companies and entrepreneurs wanting to start or grow their business. He has helped around 100 companies access the UK market through the Science Park’s involvement in the UK Market Access Programme.

Helen O’Dowd, Virginia Health Food Ltd.

Helen is a qualified nutritionist and food scientist and is founder of Virginia Health Food Ltd. which produces everything from gluten-free baking mixes to highly nutritious seed mixes, cereal toppings, crunch toppings, salad toppings and snacks. Virginia Health Foods are leading category and product innovation providers with competitive pricing, an efficient supply chain network and world-class NPD and technical capabilities. The company has extensive market reach within the UK retail grocery market and provides both branded and private label products. Helen will discuss her route to the UK market and her experience there.

Justin Mc Inerney, Accuflow Ltd. and British Irish Trading Alliance (BITA)

Justin Mc Inerney is the founder and Chief Executive of Accuflow, a leading global manufacturer of products focused primarily in the area of water & energy management in the home. Accuflow technologies deliver smarter living solutions that allow its customers to gain visibility of the built environment. Through its technology, it can monitor energy and water use, making savings, and delivering efficiencies in real time. Accuflow is here to help its Housing Association & Energy Utility Partners leverage the market potential of the Internet of Things (IoT) by building superior core technology that fills a real need. Accuflow's world-class IoT platform was purposefully built to be protocol agnostic, enable interoperability and be responsive and reliable. Accuflow has its head office located in Cork with offices in London, Denver-USA, Italy and China. Justin will share his experiences, gained both from Accuflow and through his involvement in BITA.

Shirley Mc Cay, Director of Trade and Investment, UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), Dublin

Shirley Mc Cay commenced as the Director of UK Trade and Investment in the British Embassy, Dublin in March 2014. Her role involves supporting UK Companies export to and source high value contract opportunities in Ireland and assisting Irish companies set up and expand in the UK.  Her wider role is to deepen economic and commercial relationships between the UK and Ireland and to support the Ambassador in delivering on the Joint Statement agreed between the Taoiseach and Prime Minister. On a north south dimension, Shirley also works to enhance the economic growth of Northern Ireland through identifying and delivering new trade and investment opportunities.  She joins UKTI from her former position with Belfast City Council as Head of Economic Initiatives and International Development.

To book a place at this event, click here or contact Katherine. 

Eurostars Match – ICT solutions for smart cities, 5th April 2016, Helsinki, Finland

This one day event is aimed at SMEs and organisations active in the area of smart cities who wish to engage in transnational R&D&I projects or innovative offerings. The event’s natural focus is in Scandinavian countries but participants from all Eurostars countries (including Ireland) are welcome to attend. The event is aimed towards SMEs and companies interested in the broad smart city sector. Eurostars is a funding programme for joint innovation projects where SMEs are leading and the topics come bottom-up from the SMEs themselves. Funding for Eurostars comes from state agencies and from the European Commission. To complement this, ITEA3 will also be presented. This is the EUREKA Cluster programme which supports innovative, industry-driven, pre-competitive R&D projects in the area of Software-intensive Systems and Services (SiSS). It is the cluster which allows bigger companies to influence the innovation landscape and form useful transnational projects with SMEs and others.

Breakout sessions

The event will divide itself into breakout sessions to allow for the discussion of visions for transport services and for the building process and products, along with the challenges and opportunities that lie within these areas. See here for a full agenda.

Matchmaking
Matchmaking will form an integral part of this event and participants will be encouraged to attend pre-arranged 1:1 meetings for discussing projects and potential collaborations.

Registration
The Eurostars Match – ICT solutions for smart cities event is free of charge but pre-registration via the registration page is essential.

Brokerage event at Hannover Messe, 25th-29th April 2016, Hannover, Germany

The 12^th edition of the international brokerage event at Hannover Meese, the world’s leading industrial trade-show will take place from 25^th to 29^th of April 2016. Almost 21,500 business meetings from 2,800 companies have been organised in the framework of this brokerage event since its inception in 2005. The brokerage event is being organised by the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN).

The brokerage event at a glance:

• Individual 1:1 meetings
• A matchmaking lounge located in the centre of the trade fair
• A broad international partner network assisting companies prior to the event
• Professional assistance guaranteed and on-the-spot both before and after the event

The event will target the following areas:

• 3D printing
• Industrial manufacture
• Machine tools
• Machining
• Surface treatment
• Building materials
• Composite materials
• Cleaning technology
• Hydropower
• Photovoltaics
• Wind energy
• Integrated waste-energy processes
• Energy management
• Thermal insulation
• Metering and monitoring
• Heat recovery
• Industrial automation
• Energy Management

Registration for the matchmaking event is free of charge for companies that register via the EEN before 16^th March 2016. After 16^th March, participation fees will be €95 for exhibitors and €119 for visitors.

For further information about EEN brokerage events, contact Eimear. 

Everybody who attends DigiCon Cork 2016 will get a DigiCon eVoucher which entitles them to 33% off

website, eCommerce, apps and more with one of Ireland’s leading technology providers, The Digital Department. There are also €10,000 worth of prizes up for grabs on the day, including an online advertising campaign, a professional PR campaign and an online social media course.

For details, full agenda and to book tickets go online