Ready Steady Innovate Business Breakfast

Innovation was on the menu at a showcase breakfast event hosted jointly by Newry, Mourne and Down District Council in partnership with the Southern Regional College (SRC) and held in Bagenal’s Castle, Newry.

The event, which saw businesses of all sizes and sectors attend, was entitled ‘Ready, Steady, Innovate’. Local businesses were given advice on the support that they benefit from as they endeavour to compete and grow in local, regional and international markets.

Attending the event, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Chairperson, Councillor Roisin Mulgrew stated, “Innovation is not the preserve of science and technology businesses, all businesses have the potential to innovate. This collaborative event between the Council and Southern Regional College has highlighted the many types of support available to businesses locally to help them take their business to the next level.”

SRC’s Chief Executive Officer, Brian Doran, stated, “It is encouraging to see the range of support available to local businesses on their doorstep. It is also important that support providers work in partnership for the benefit of local businesses and it is certainly evident from today’s event that this is the case in the Newry, Mourne and Down catchment area.”

The Business Support and Innovation Centre at SRC outlined the bespoke technical support as well as the mentoring and guidance that the college offers small to medium enterprises (SMEs), which can be either partially or fully funded.

Guest speaker Lorraine Acheson from InnovateUK, the UK's Innovation Agency, outlined the funding and support available from the Agency, which is the main way Government funds and supports companies using innovation to grow their business.

Support is also available from local agencies such as InterTradeIreland and InvestNI, which were on hand to outline what that they can do to help local business.

If you have an idea or concept that could potentially help your business to grow and if you need support to take that concept further, contact the Enterprise Regeneration and Tourism Department on 0300 013 2233 or email business@nmandd.org.