BUSINESS
All-Ireland high-tech aid scheme expands
14-06-2004
by Craig Liddell
One hundred and thirty Irish companies will receive assistance with specific technology needs following an announcement by InterTradeIreland.
The cross-border trade and business development body, InterTradeIreland, announced that its "Fusion" scheme has moved beyond pilot phase and will be expanded to include 130 additional companies.
"If this island is to compete in the new knowledge based economy, companies must constantly work to develop innovative ways of doing business," Liam Nellis, CEO of InterTradeIreland said. "By successfully applying knowledge to commercial situations businesses can secure real competitive advantages. "Fusion" provides the support to make this process a reality."
The purpose of the all-island technology transfer scheme is to develop and support three-way partnerships between companies with specific technology needs, research centres with specialist expertise, and science and technology graduates.
A company in the Republic of Ireland, for example, could source academic expertise and a graduate from the North. They then jointly implement a technology project to solve a particular problem. InterTradeIreland pays for half of the graduate's salary and all of the associated costs such as academic support and travel.
In October 2003, InterTradeIreland announced an injection of EUR32 million into the project. The development body contributed EUR13.6 million while the remaining EUR18.5 million came from participating businesses.
During the pilot phase, which ran between August 2001 and March 2004, 63 companies initiated a project. In the rollout phase, announced, 130 projects will be initiated in the next three years. Sixteen of the 63 companies originally signed up have completed their projects, which can run for up to 24 months.
One of the first companies to take part in "Fusion" was Galway-based Topform, a manufacturer of furniture components. Through the scheme, the company developed an Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP) to provide better control over production, distribution, supplies and finances.
"In addition to...a top class graduate, our academic partner Larry McCurry gave us good direction on how best to bring all of our IT systems and other functions which were traditionally paper-based under one umbrella," according to Paul Glynn, managing director of Topform.
"Fusion" is considered the flagship scheme of InterTradeIreland, one of the cross-border groups established under the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
InterTradeIreland has undertaken several initiatives such as hosting venture capital networking conferences and promoting the need for better all-island air services. In February 2004, the body launched a Web site which provides businesses with easy access to information on research and development (R&D) resources throughout Ireland.
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