IT Sligo is collaborating with four innovative local companies who are progressing a range of imaginative business projects with the help of experts from the Institute.
The companies have won Enterprise Ireland Innovation Vouchers. These vouchers facilitate collaboration between higher education institutions and entrepreneurs in order to kick start promising new business ideas.
The local entrepreneurs who have come up with a range of exciting new projects include John Moffatt of King & Moffatt, Carrick on Shannon, Mervyn Boles and his son David whose family have run the landmark department store Boles of Boyle for generations, Noel McDermott from Curamach Strings Knockvicar, Co Roscommon and Boyle business man David McLoughlin who is cooperating with local vet Barry Lynch on a project.
Padraig Harte, lecturer in computing at IT Sligo, said that innovation is the key to survival in the current climate, and the four local projects which have just been green-lighted for Innovation Vouchers have the ideas, the experience and the drive to succeed.
“The advantage of the Innovation Voucher scheme is that it gives entrepreneurs access to very specialist expertise across a wide range of areas,” explained Mr Harte. “The companies in question are being linked up with staff across our engineering, business and science departments who will help them with research and basic problem solving in order to get them up and running as quickly as possible”.
Mr Harte, who was mentor to IT Sligo’s Team Hermes which last year won the Microsoft Imagine Cup, one of the most prestigious student technology awards in the world, said the Innovation Voucher scheme benefited both business and the third level institute involved.
“These four companies have the ideas and the drive to succeed and what they will get at IT Sligo is expert advice and research opportunities which they could not otherwise access,” he explained. “The bottom line is that when they are up and running it will mean more jobs in their communities”.
Mr Harte added that the Institute also benefits hugely from such collaboration with entrepreneurs, which gives students the opportunity to observe real-life problem solving and to learn from the process.
There was a five-fold increase in the take-up of Innovation Vouchers at IT Sligo in the last year and Niall McEvoy, Head of Innovation at IT Sligo, believes that the phenomenal growth will continue as more companies avail of an easy to access package of specialist support and consultancy services.
Any company interested in accessing expert help from staff at IT Sligo through the Innovation Voucher scheme, can contact Mr McEvoy at mcevoy.niall@nullitsligo.ie. Further information about the scheme can be found at www.innovationvouchers.ie
Image Caption Top Right: Padraig Harte and Linzi Ryan from IT Sligo pictured with Boyle business man David McLoughlin who is cooperating with local vet Barry Lynch on a project.
 Padraig Harte and Linzi Ryan from IT Sligo pictured with John Moffatt of King & Moffatt |
 Padraig Harte and Linzi Ryan from IT Sligo pictured with David Boles whose family have run the landmark department store Boles of Boyle for generations |
 Padraig Harte and Linzi Ryan from IT Sligo pictured with Noel McDermott from Curamach Strings Knockvicar, Co Roscommon |