Page 9 - NMEA Annual Report 2019-2020

Section 3
CROSS BORDER AND TRADE DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES AND TRANSNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS
2019-20 WIN - Work In Newry
The EU Gig Economy Partnership, Carlingford, October 2019
3. CROSS BORDER AND TRADE DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES AND TRANSNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS
3.1 The Cross Border Co-Innovate Programme
During the year, Kieran Mathers and Maria Coyle continued to co-ordinate three of the five strands of the €16.5m EU-funded NI/RoI/Scotland Co-Innovate Programme. InterTrade Ireland had overall responsibility for the management of the Programme. Between 2019 and 2020 across the 12 northern-most counties
in Ireland Co-Innovate helped 1056 companies to become more innovative and thus more competitive. During 2019/2020 the NMEA team co-ordinated the delivery of that Co-Innovate support package through the Enterprise Northern Ireland network of Local Enterprise Agencies (including NMEA) and the RoI border county Local Enterprise Offices.
Kieran Mathers represented Enterprise Northern Ireland and the RoI Local Enterprise Offices on the Co-innovate Programme Management Committee which comprised representatives from Intertrade Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, the Local Enterprise Office Network, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Scottish Enterprise and the funding authority, SEUPB.
By April 2020, across the 12 county eligible region, 100% of the target number of companies had been recruited and had begun their innovation journey. Of these 47 were from the Newry & Mourne area. Kieran and Maria are now working to ensure full delivery of the other Co-innovate programme elements across the 12 county region going forward.
3.2 EU YouthNest Programme
During 2019, the NMEA international knowledge exchange team successfully delivered its commitments under the EU-funded transnational YouthNest Programme, designing a transnational virtual ‘incubator’ for young entrepreneurs from the EU’s rural areas. Because of Brexit uncertainty it seemed that for the foreseeable future this would be the last EU transnational programme in which NMEA would be able to participate. NMEA’s partners in the project were the Concello de Vedra in Spain, the Business Development Friesland organisation in the Netherlands, the Commune di Capannori in Italy, the Associacão Juvenil de Deão in Portugal and the Obec Zemplinske Hámre in Slovakia.
In June 2019 six unemployed or under-employed young people from Newry and Mourne travelled to Europe to attend a pilot
two week boot camp for young entrepreneurs which NMEA had designed. The six were divided into three pairs each of which went for their training and work placement programme to one of three locations: Leuwarden in the Netherlands, Vedra in the region of Santiago de Compostela in Spain and Capannori in the Pisa region of Italy. On completion of the programme each participant received a certificate from the regional agency which had hosted them which will be a useful addition to their CVs. The training programme was uploaded onto the EU Commission website at the
end of the 2019 for dissemination free-of-charge to tutors working with the young unemployed across the EU.
3.3 WIN CONSULTANTS (EU)
www.winconsultants.ie
Our WIN (EU) division was set up to enable the Co-op & Enterprise Agency’s expert team to continue to tender for EU Programme contracts, participate in EU knowledge exchange programmes and to secure other commercial contracts in the Republic and across the EU after Brexit. It is registered in the Irish Republic and headquartered at the Creative Spark Centre for Creativity and Innovation in Dundalk.
Through WIN (EU) our intentions are to:
1. secure an independent income which the Co-operative can
then invest in projects which support economic development
and social harmony in Newry & Mourne, and
2. be able to operate more effectively beyond Newry & Mourne,
in the Republic of Ireland, the EU and other international markets.
As well as deploying the skills of the Co-operative’s team, WIN Consultants can use the skills of a wider network associates involved in community and business development across the island of Ireland and the European Union.
During the year the Louth County Council Local Enterprise Office and the Meath County Council Local Enterprise Office appointed WIN (EU) to be the Republic of Ireland delivery agent for the cross border Newry Mourne & Down/Louth/Meath Innovate Accelerate Europe programme.
3.4 InnovateAccelerate Europe Programme
InnovateAccelerate Europe is a cross border programme (Newry Mourne & Down/Louth/Meath) designed by NMEA and WIN (EU) the purpose of which is to prepare local companies who haven’t before traded outside the island of Ireland for the complexities and opportunities associated with trading into Europe. Ultimately these companies will be able to internationalise successfully, create more jobs, generate higher profits and survive the challenges presented by Brexit. Under the auspices of InnovateAccelerate Europe NMEA and WIN (EU) organised an International Business Opportunity Mission to Berlin between the 3rd and the 6th of December 2019. While in Berlin 21 company owner/managers from Newry Mourne and Down, County Louth and County Meath participated in a facilitated in-depth review
of current best business practice and the capabilities which access to the German market demands. Thereafter each of the 21 companies had pre-arranged one-to-one meetings with German businesses to investigate business collaboration opportunities
in a dedicated business to business (b2b) meeting space at
the Adlershof Innovation Centre, Berlin. Adlershof is the largest business development campus in Germany and one of the biggest in Europe. In total 76 b2b meetings took place between companies from our region and German entrepreneurs. On the evening of the 5th of December 2019 our companies and the
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