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FUNDING AND SUPPORTS

AVAILABLE FOR IRISH


SMES
Presented by
Danielle Whelan

Who are RIKON?


Bringing science to the art of strategy, RIKON is
Irelands leading service design & innovation group
where we transform the way organisations develop
their services, processes, and strategies.
We work with companies to help them create new
business or re-imagine how they do business better.
RIKON is optimised to tackle the problems that keep
business leaders up at night and send the common
consultant running for the hills.
At RIKON we think differently. We will design,
incubate and deliver a future for your business that
will produce extraordinary results and allow you to
leapfrog your competition. Let us be your competitive
advantage and unleash the full potential of your
business.

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What is RIKON?
RIKON: Research in Innovation, Knowledge,
Organisations & Networks. At RIKON we believe that
these four themes are the pillars of successful service
innovations.
The RIKON team currently comprises of an academic
and commercial team who both work together
extensively on projects.
The academic team is made up of senior
researchers, post-doctoral, doctoral and masters
students, and academic research assistants.
Our commercial team is made up of business
developers who all come from industry with extensive
expertise and work collaboratively across our six
service areas.

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A Collaborative Approach to Innovation


We look to develop collaborative partnerships with
Industry.
We adopt a collaborative and open engagement
model when innovating with our clients.
We design and implement bespoke innovative
strategies and solutions that allow our clients to
become more differentiated within their industry.
We endeavour to provide real and tangible value
through our service innovation methodologies.
We strive to create a growth strategy for our
clients business to ensure sustainability going
forward.

We can re-imagine and re-define your business


model for profitability.

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WITs Areas of Expertise

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Funding & Support Streams

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Funding & Support Streams


Which one is right for your business?
There are over 80 different Government supports
for Irish start-ups and small businesses. There is a
free Online Guide available to help Irish start-ups
and small businesses navigate the range of
Government supports to see which you could
possibly apply.
Please note, the results are only an initial guide.
You will need to contact the relevant Department
or Agency to establish if you do qualify for these
potential supports.
Check out the Supporting SMEs Tool Now.

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Innovation Vouchers Overview


The Innovation Vouchers initiative is open to all small limited
companies registered in Ireland. Applications are not restricted to
clients of Enterprise Ireland. Under this initiative each SME is
entitled to apply for two fully funded innovation vouchers and one
50% funded voucher.
Innovation Vouchers can be used for any kind of innovation such as:
new product/process development;
new business model development;
new service delivery and customer interface;
new service development;
tailored training in innovation management;
innovation/technology audit.
Vouchers can be exchanged for knowledge transfer projects from
the knowledge provider. For the purposes of this initiative, a
knowledge transfer project is defined as one that transfers
knowledge of a scientific, technological or innovative nature that it is
new to the small enterprise. The small enterprise may then use the
new knowledge to innovate a product, process or service.

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Am I eligible for Enterprise Ireland Innovation


Voucher funding?
Am I eligible?
The Innovation Vouchers initiative is open to all small and medium-sized limited companies
registered in Ireland. Applications are not restricted to clients of Enterprise Ireland.
Exclusions
Companies with charitable status, commercial semi-state companies, not for profit organisations,
trade associations, company representation bodies such as Chambers of Commerce, Sports Clubs
and other non-commercial bodies or associations are not eligible to participate in the innovation
voucher initiative.
Small and medium-sized company definition (SME):
For the purposes of the Innovation Voucher Initiative, a small and medium-sized enterprise is
defined as a company or (if part of a group) a group of companies where the total number of fulltime employees in the company (or the entire group) is less than 250 and has an annual turnover
total not exceeding 50m and/or an annual Balance Sheet total not exceeding 43m. (Exclusions:
small and medium-sized enterprises in the agricultural sector are excluded in line with State aid
guidelines).

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Online Trading Vouchers Overview

Small businesses throughout Ireland can


now apply for digital vouchers to assist in
helping their businesses trade online.
1000 vouchers will be available for qualifying
businesses through the network of 31 Local
Enterprise Offices (LEOs).
The voucher is a financial incentive to small
businesses to develop or enhance their
ability to trade online. Under the scheme a
qualifying business may apply for matched
funding to a maximum value of 2,500 or
50% of eligible expenditure (exclusive of
VAT), whichever is the lesser.

Following approval of their application, a


successful applicant can engage suppliers
and upon completion of the work, submit a
request for payment to the LEO in line with
the terms and conditions of their voucher.

What can the vouchers be used for?

IT consultation

Development or upgrade of an e-commerce website

Implementing Online payments or booking systems

Purchase of Internet related software

Purchase of online advertising (this purchase cannot


make up any more than 30% of approved Voucher
costs and can only be drawn down in one payment
phase)

Developing an app (or multiplatform webpages)

Development of a digital marketing strategy

Implementing a digital marketing strategy

Training/skills development specifically to establish


and manage an on-line trading activity.

What are the things the vouchers cannot be used


for?

Development of brochure websites

Purchase of non-internet related software

Anything other than online trading related activity

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Am I eligible for Local Enterprise Office Online


Trading Voucher Scheme?
What are the eligibility criteria? The vouchers are targeted at businesses with the following profile:

Limited Online Trading presence

Less than 10 employees

Turnover less than 2m

Applicant business must be trading for at least 12 months

Business must be located in the area covered by this phase of the scheme i.e. within the remit of the participating LEOs

What are ineligible projects for this scheme?

Companies with charitable status, commercial semi-state companies, trade associations and company representation bodies
such as Chambers of Commerce are not eligible to participate in the scheme

Not for profit and social entrepreneurship applicants unless they operate in a commercial domain

Professional services specialising in IT type services who are already capable of trading online using existing in-house systems

Conferences and Seminars

Projects which are contrary to public policy

Duplication of support for projects which would be eligible for assistance from other State Agencies of EU funded Operational
Programmes

Projects with employees in excess of 10 people

Projects deemed to be capable of proceeding in any event without scheme assistance i.e. deadweight

Projects essentially comprising importation and distribution

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Rural Development Programme (LEADER) 2015 - 2020


The priority for the new LEADER programme is to promote
social inclusion, poverty reduction and economic development in
rural areas.
This acknowledges the key challenges facing the region
following the economic downturn and facilitates the provision of
supports to address issues, such as the impact of high levels of
unemployment and an increase in levels of poverty and
exclusion.
As LEADER aims to build the capacity and skills of the local
community and socio-economic interests to tackle local
development objectives, it directly contributes to the promotion
of local development in rural areas, which itself has three focus
areas:

Facilitating diversification, creation of new small enterprises


and job creation

Promoting local development in rural areas

Enhancing access to, use and quality of ICT in rural areas.

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Case Study Creacon Lodge Wellness Centre


Company Background
Creacon Lodge has existed as a resource for those
interested in health, spirituality and wellness since
2006. Due to the growth in popularity of this area in
Ireland the company has had to constantly innovate
to keep up with market trends.

The Challenge
We need to better channel our communications to
convey the different value propositions of the Lodge

Creacon Lodge has the potential to appeal to a range


of customer segmentsB2B and B2Chowever,
with so many daily tasks to be carried out the staff
has little time to identify these separate value
propositions, focusing solely on one element of the
B2C market.

The first internal challenge was to


identify the potential for new service
design and make the structural
changes necessary for innovation.
Secondly, the challenge was to design
a customer interface strategy that
would allow for segmentation in line
with the new service offering.
The final challenge involved managing
the implementation of this CI strategy
with the resources at hand.

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Case Study Creacon Lodge Wellness Centre


RIKONS Assistance:
This project was approached in accordance with
RIKONs bespoke Innovation Process comprising of five
phases:
Explore: Existing business model interrogated,
external influences included in SWOT and PESTEL
analysis
Reframe: Insights from the explore stage were given
context for the client in line with wider industry trends
and competitor behaviour
Ideate: Brainstorming to nurture design thinking and
service innovation around the identified problems
Visualise: Changes in value propositions incorporated
into new customer interface strategy encompassing
new service design and assessing the best channel
and communication for each message
Strategise: Management team supplied with final
strategy for fully integrated customer interface plan
including digital marketing channels and best
practice, traditional media and PR strategies, emarketing, CRM structures

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Case Study Creacon Lodge Wellness Centre


The Solution

RIKONs innovation process allowed the client to


identify the potential for new service design enabling
the premises to open up new routes to market, B2B
and B2C.
Exploiting this innovation provided the platform for
the design of a comprehensive customer interface
strategy to exploit the different value propositions
along new communications channels; ultimately
leading to a growth in market share and the
elimination of existing costly and ineffective
communications activities.
The new strategy will also increase organisational
efficiencies, with the company immediately creating
in-house tools for organising communications tasks
on an ongoing basis.

Benefits for Creacon Lodge


A Clear & Cost Effective
Communication
Strategy in place,
with efficiencies
Development of new customer
segments
Development of new channel
opportunities
Targeted communication messages
Recommendations on how to achieve
an optimal best practice website

Working with the RIKON Team was beyond


my expectations. The analysis of our
business and insights gained from them for
how to improve was phenomenal and very
helpful
Jonathan Keenan, Creacon Lodge Wellness
Centre

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Research and Business Collaboration


RIKON
were
recently presented
with the
'Research2Business Collaborative Impact' Award at
the annual KTI Impact Awards 2015.
The Research2Business Collaborative Impact Award
recognises collaborative research between Irish
publicly funded RPOs and industry that has led to
clear benefits for the company or companies
involved.
The award recognized RIKON's engagement with
thousands of SMEs in Ireland enabling them to adopt
best practice, improve their business and integrate
research findings into developing their staff and
companies.

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Thank You.
Any Questions?

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RIKON 2016
For more information please contact
RIKON,
School of Business,
Waterford Institute of Technology,
Cork Road, Waterford, Ireland.

t: + 00 353 (0) 51 834032


e: info@rikon.ie
w:www.rikon.ie

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