ESF: Enterprise Support Framework Enterprise Support Framework is essentially a structure that will aid entrepreneurial spirit, business startups and all businesses who participate within it. This customizable framework defines how business can be nurtured and supported within the community and business environments. This framework is based on the called keiretsu system in Japan and has been utilized in a number of successful countries throughout the world. It supports individuals, families and businesses in all business related matters including financial, technical and management advice. This government led community support group will foster an entrepreneurial spirit within each parish in the country. This framework will be based on the shared experiences and the enthusiasm of like minded individuals who wish to achieve their goals. Local businesses will assist each other in an open manner to offer their services and expertise to each other. Businesses and individuals that oper More...

ESF: Enterprise Support Framework Enterprise Support Framework is essentially a structure that will aid entrepreneurial spirit, business startups and all businesses who participate within it. This customizable framework defines how business can be nurtured and supported within the community and business environments. This framework is based on the called keiretsu system in Japan and has been utilized in a number of successful countries throughout the world. It supports individuals, families and businesses in all business related matters including financial, technical and management advice. This government led community support group will foster an entrepreneurial spirit within each parish in the country. This framework will be based on the shared experiences and the enthusiasm of like minded individuals who wish to achieve their goals. Local businesses will assist each other in an open manner to offer their services and expertise to each other. Businesses and individuals that oper More...

By investing in children we can secure our future.

My proposal is to develop an online showcase of Irish eco friendly businesses – a one stop shop for Irish produced eco-conscious products. In a competitive world-market, the online resource will showcase and market Irish eco friendly products to consumers, retailers and the media at a global level, delivering growth and exposure for Irish business, significantly increasing exports and boosting Ireland’s reputation for eco-friendly products.

For some time now in Ireland we have relied on the fact that we have an educated workforce to attract employers. But this is no longer enough. If we are going to attract national and international employers we need to offer employees with the ability to provide excellent service. Straight forward well educated workforces are on offer in more countries today than ever before. We need to go further and make ourselves attractive as employees who are versed in state of the art customer service and cutting edge business and manufacturing techniques, employees who provide excellence in all that we do – the Way of Excellence. The objective of this proposal is to provide new state of the art training courses in every county for all those wishing to participate with a view to creating pools of highly skilled individuals. These regional workforces will then be highly attractive to prospective employers on the basis that they are already instilled with positive & progressive attitudes and More...

The manufacturing sector in Ireland has been an important area sustaining economic growth and stable employment. Ireland has a solid manufacturing base but in the recent past excess capacity has been created in the sector through major international companies re-locating to lower cost geographies. For Ireland to remain competitive, changes are needed in the manufacturing sector to ensure that companies that have invested in Ireland remain, that foreign investors are attracted and that the government captures the fiscal and employment opportunities that result from its significant investment in the knowledge economy. The strategy proposed relates to incentives attached to intellectual property (IP) filed in Ireland and the subsequent manufacturing and commercialization of the product(s) from that IP. This proposal could cover all sectors involved in intellectual property generating activities.

There are currently approximatley 80,000 ha of bog land in Ireland that are being harvested commercially to provide peat for fuel and compost for gardening which is due to run out in the next 20 years. The extraction of this peat releases CO2 which is locked up in the bog - three times more carbon per hectare bog than in equivalent area of trees- even before it is burned in some of the most inefficient power stations in the world. By switching the bogs to cultivating fast growing bamboo they can be preserved and augmented as a carbon sink, provide an ongoing and sustainable source of fuel for generating power long after the peat would be exhausted and provide a versatile raw material which can be used to support a wide range of employment generating activities from horticulture to manufacturing and design.

International Centre for Innovative Developments [ICID] Overview - Harnessing innovation for a dynamic shared future Crossing the traditional boundaries between areas of knowledge and highlighting the importance of convergence, the International Centre for Innovative Developments (ICID) will encourage, communicate and celebrate innovation throughout the island of Ireland. It will act as a technology ‘window on the world’, for example, linking US companies through the Ireland Institute of Pittsburgh with Irish companies. This transatlantic link will then be further developed throughout the island’s technology research centres and companies thus brokering new relationships, stimulating and capitalising on opportunities. This first completely integrated approach to innovation across the island, has a far reaching potential to stimulate the Irish business and educational worlds and generate new jobs. It will commence with an Innovation Learning Division tailored to the needs of b More...

The current wisdom is that individuals or groups of individuals or companies approach state agencies with ideas for support or aid. I suggest that this process is not adequate to meet the challenge of rising unemployment in a cash restricted environment. We need to challenge the system and reinvent the way we create employment. The key is to take a second look at industry that was lost to Ireland over the last 15 years due to high costs and identify a select few that could be reintroduced now that costs have fallen. I propose a new approach where a taskforce is set up composed of public servants drawn from Enterprise Ireland and other relevant government departments plus mentors from the business world to identify areas of business that have been lost to lower cost economies to identify a select few to be reintroduced. These industries could be based on or focus on three NEW competitive advantages: -1. A plentiful workforce eager to work for rates that are increasingly competitive More...

The objective would be to become the world’s first wholly organic country – this will have implications for tourism, the environment, health, nutrition, manufacturing, design, good and agriculture. To achieve this we would have to completely eradicate the use of all pesticides in farming in Ireland. This would position Ireland as the most forward thinking, progressive country in the world – and encourage a different type of tourism.