Sync NI

To mark International Women's Day this Sunday 8 March 2020, Sync NI sat down with Roseann Kelly, the CEO of Women in Business to discuss exactly what the organisation does and the importance of having diversity within Northern Ireland's business sector. Intro music (c) Purple Planet Music

The Innovation Station on how SMEs can unlock potential - the fifth episode in a new ‘Business Innovation’ podcast series for small business owners by InterTradeIreland.

Dr. Peter Robbins of Dublin City University Business School is one of Ireland’s foremost experts in innovation. In a masterclass held recently at Ryan Academy, he explains how the ‘Design Thinking’ toolkit can harness innovation and radically improve processes for small businesses.

Speaking to InterTradeIreland’s Innovation Station podcast, Peter explains that Design Thinking can ‘de-risk’ complex innovation projects by testing and prototyping the entire process, which in turn then maximises the return on investment at the end.

“There is a tool book and methodology to Design Thinking as opposed to blue sky thinking or naval gazing. It is something that needs ‘top down’ support, but Design Thinking is quite accessible and if companies commit, it is a process that delivers results.”

The Innovation Station on why open innovation makes good business sense - the third episode in a new ‘Business Innovation’ podcast series for small business owners by InterTradeIreland

“No matter how good you are, there are lots of other smart people out there. Collaborate with those outside your organisation and make use of their resources and skills to reach your customers.”

That’s the advice from leading expert Nuran Acur, Professor of Innovation Management at Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow, on why businesses should collaborate openly with partners and industry, in the latest episode of InterTradeIreland’s ‘Innovation Station’ podcast. In a masterclass held at NUI Galway, the award-winning scholar unravels the ‘collaboration conundrum’. Her advice for businesses to achieve open innovation success, is to adopt an ‘open-minded approach and culture’ and to combine with ‘internal and external readiness’ - pointing to the importance of SMEs to also collaborate more on their internal processes to help deliver results.

Creating a culture of entrepreneurship is a defining ‘success factor’ of businesses that innovate to grow. That’s according to Dr Lawrence Dooley, an enterprise and innovation expert from University College Cork.

Sitting down with InterTradeIreland for its latest ‘Innovation Station’ podcast episode, the leading lecturer makes innovation tangible for the small business owner, explaining in a masterclass at Queen’s University Belfast that businesses who embrace the ‘centrality of the entrepreneur’ and are close to market, develop a ‘sixth sense’ and can spot the needs of customers before they become apparent to customers themselves.

In this first episode of InterTradeIreland’s new ‘Innovation Station’ podcast series, renowned author and innovation expert, Professor Wim Vanhaverbeke, delves into the topic, sharing his insights on how small business owners can leverage technology, the importance of developing a commercial strategy and the benefits of collaboration.