Blog
Merry Christmas from us all at JCR Network Services Ltd
All of us at JCR Network services wish our clients a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
We shall re-open for business Monday 10th January 2022
A new £4 million innovation grant for SMEs opens for applications
Invest Northern Ireland (Invest NI) has launched the Economic Recovery Innovation Grant (ERIG) to support small and medium-sized businesses to develop and implement innovative projects.
ERIG will provide up to £5,000 to help businesses develop new, or improve existing products, services or processes through innovation. The grant will support eligible costs, including:
- testing and developing new products or processes
- equipment
- skills development
- marketing
- consultancy
ERIG is open to any business that can demonstrate it meets all the eligibility criteria outlined in the scheme guidance (PDF, 268K).
How to apply
Before you start the application process, you should familiarise yourself with the Frequently Asked Questions.
You should then complete the Eligibility Checker to find out if you are eligible to apply.
If you’re eligible, but not in possession of Silver Level Innovator recognition (dated 1 April 2021 or later), you must also complete an Innovate NI self-assessment. The assessment is quick and easy to complete. Businesses assessed as Silver Level Innovators will be eligible to apply for ERIG.
It may take up to four working weeks for Innovate NI to assess your application and issue an Innovation Recognition Level, if appropriate. All eligible Silver Level Innovators will receive an email from Innovate NI which will provide access to the online application for ERIG.
Deadline for applications
Applications close at 17:00 on Monday 31 January 2022.
However, grants will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. If the available budget is fully allocated before this date, Invest NI reserves the right to close applications early.
You should apply as early as possible, as the ERIG application and assessment process may take eight working weeks to complete.
Full details on the scheme, eligibility criteria and how to apply are available on the Invest NI website.
ERIG is managed and administered by Invest NI and part-funded by the Department for the Economy Economic Recovery Action Plan.
First published 9 November 2021
Food eirEEN Meet the Buyer & Matchmaking Event
Virtual Face to face meetings – the new way to successful business!
Enterprise Europe Network, in conjunction with the Local Enterprise Offices
in Ireland, is hosting Food eirEEN, a virtual food “Meet the Buyer” event which
offers participants a unique opportunity to engage in face-to-face virtual sales
meetings with senior food buyers from throughout Ireland and the EU.
It is expected that in excess of 25 food buyers, and 100 supplier companies, will
attend the event, and we would be delighted if you could join us for what promises
to be an unrivaled opportunity to grow your business.
Participation at Food eirEEN is FREE of charge! Register before 2nd June!
Why participate?
Participation at Food eirEEN will allow you to:
- Grow your sales
- Initiate contacts for commercial, technology or research & development co-operation
- Develop your business network
- Share your experience, knowledge and expertise with participating companies
- Present, discuss and develop new project ideas
- Keep an eye on market trends and identify technology innovations
Who is this event for?
Innovative and growth oriented food businesses from the following sectors:
- Bakery
- Beverages
- Chilled
- Confectionery
- Dairy
- Food Ingredients
- Frozen
- Fruit and Vegetables
- Grocery
- Meat
- Savoury / Snacks
- Seafood
Where will the event take place?
Over 500 virtual meetings will be held over the course of the day.
Around 25 buyers, including retail, food service, ingredients, distribution and hospitality, from Ireland and various countries will be attending for what promises to be an action packed day, where you are guaranteed to make new business connections.
Use Marketplace to maximise your chance of finding a business partner
When registering for Food eirEEN you may find that, by adding additional information about your product on the Marketplace section of the website, you will enhance your chances of finding a suitable partner.
The Marketplace enables participants to list their offer, request items and to search for suitable business partners.
To enter your items onto the Marketplace, when registering for the event simply go to Marketplace Opportunities, click Product and follow the instructions onscreen.
Minister of State Smyth welcomes new competency framework for public procurement in Ireland
The Minister with Special Responsibility for Public Procurement and the Government’s Chief Procurement Officer have welcomed the publication of ProcurCompEU, a new European framework to support the professionalisation of public procurement. The framework has now been recommended for all Irish public bodies in order to increase professionalisation across the sector.
As a sign of its support for ProcurCompEU and its commitment to professionalisation, the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) are partaking in a pilot project with the OECD that will review the adoption of, and alignment to, the framework by the OGP.
Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with Special Responsibility for Public Procurement, Open Government, and eGovernment, Ossian Smyth TD, said:
“Public procurement forms an important element of the Programme for Government, supporting our ambitions to improve environmental outcomes, provide opportunities for business, and achieve value for money for the public. Increasing professionalisation in the practice of procurement is critical to ensuring successful outcomes across these goals.”
Endorsing ProcurCompEU, Paul Quinn, Chief Procurement Officer said:
“Investing in the development of specialist, expert procurement professionals is a critical element of the programme of reforming public procurement in Ireland. The OGP recognises this and, for example, already promotes the professional development of public servants working in delivery roles that involve procurement through our Commercial Skills Academy.
“This new framework, developed in partnership across the European Union, offers a structure to support our ongoing commitment to developing our people. We are pleased to partner with the OECD in a pilot application of the framework and I look forward to this becoming the model for assisting procurement professionals in their development across the whole of the public service.”
ProcurCompEU is an initiative of the European Commission, part of a public procurement package which sets out priorities for EU procurement policy. Professionalisation policies form a key element of this package, ensuring buyers have the necessary skills, knowledge and integrity. ProcurCompEU will help both public bodies and individuals assess their competences and knowledge of public procurement, identify skills gaps, and design targeted learning and development tools.
ProcurCompEU is a competency based tool which assists organisations with training and career development in line with the overall strategic plan of the organisation. ProcurCompEU defines 30 key competences in a ‘competency matrix’ to provide a common reference for public procurement professionals in the EU and beyond. ProcurCompEU also contains a self-assessment tool and a generic training curriculum.
The framework is primarily targeted at public procurement practitioners and managers, and can be flexibly applied by all types of public bodies regardless of size or area of operation. It does not aim to provide a one size-fit all approach and can be adapted to the context in which procurement practitioners operate
What is Co-Innovate?
In an ever-changing and increasingly competitive marketplace, innovation is vital for business growth and success.
Co-Innovate is here to offer project funding and capability development to help give your innovation wings. Learn more about the benefits of innovation and how to implement it right across your business, find partners who can support your plans, identify opportunities for growth, and create a vision to make it happen.
Supported by €16.6 million from the European Union’s INTERREG VA Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), Co-Innovate will help you harness innovation to:
- Work smarter
- Create beneficial ideas
- Add value to your business
- Find partners for collaboration
- Stand out from the competition
InterTradeIreland online Meet the Buyer Event 2021 with NI Water
InterTradeIreland, in partnership with Northern Ireland Water, want to ensure suppliers continue to connect and stay informed about upcoming NI Water opportunities. We have therefore teamed up once again to virtually deliver our very popular Meet the Buyer event on 24th March 2021.
With a staggering £124+million worth of NI Water contracts due to be tendered in 2021, this event is your opportunity to make game-changing connections with key NI Water budget holders and sub-contractors.
Just like our physical events, this FREE online event will enable new and existing suppliers to:
- Hear from the NI Water CEO about the organisational spending plans over the next 5 years; amounting to nearly £375million.
- Have individual one to one meetings with the key budget holders from across all NI Water business units:
- Mechanical & Electrical
- Leakage Networks,
- Maintenance
- Waste Management
- Chemicals
- Analytical Services
- Fleet
- Facilities Management
- Professional Services / HR
- Customer Services
- ICT
- Discuss sub-contracting opportunities with key NI Water contractors; including: Meridian; McAllister Group; Lowry; CTS; Grahams & BSG
- Discuss upcoming business development activities with Ervia, who has procurement responsibility for three utilities in Ireland (Irish Water, Gas Networks Ireland and Aurora Telecoms)
- Get advice and guidance from InterTradeIreland & Invest NI on programmes and supports.
Registrations will open on Tuesday 23rd February, so for now, keep this date in your diary!
IntertradeIreland Brexit Advisory Services
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Preparing for the EU Exit: Trading Services
Leaving the EU Single Market means that there will be changes in how cross border trade in services will be conducted.
by David Roberts 14th October 2020 InvestNI
The issues for services trade have not had as much focus as goods trade. In this feature, we highlight some of the common issues which services businesses need to consider and act upon in the weeks ahead.
What is changing?
Services trade sits outside of the NI Protocol, so from 1 Jan 2021 arrangements for Northern Ireland services firms will largely mirror those for similar businesses in the rest of the UK. Arrangements for services trade form part of the ongoing UK/EU negotiations on a new Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
Whatever the outcome of these negotiations, services firms will have less access to the EU Single Market under an FTA than they do currently. How much will change for an individual business will vary depending on which sector a firm is in and how the service is provided to the customer.
Assess the potential impact on your business
It is a complex picture so it is important to assess the potential impact on your business and identify what adjustments may be required.
Some of the key areas to consider are:
- Market Access: will you still be able to service your existing customers in the way that you do currently e.g. remotely from Northern Ireland? For some services, an establishment or representation within the EU is required when a service is being provided by a non EU business. You may need to change or update your business model.
- Cross border business trips: do you deliver a service with a temporary presence in an EU Member State? Visas and other approvals in advance of travel may be required, creating an additional cost and a need to forward plan.
- Recognition: are your qualifications, accreditations or authorisations still accepted to enable you to deliver the service within the EU? There may be a need to re-qualify or re-certify, if not in advance of 1 Jan 2021 then potentially in the medium term.
- Data: does your business handle data from a business or organisation in the EU? There are new contractual measures to be put in place to enable data flows to continue whether a data agreement is achieved between the UK and the EU or not. You should review the Data Protection at the End of the Transition Period guidance from the Information Commissioners Office.
What can I do now?
A good starting point is to review the guidance published by the EU – EU Readiness Notices for the End of the Transition Period. This guidance sets out what rules will apply on a whole range of issues from 1 Jan 2021 in the event that an FTA is not agreed by the end of the year.
If a deal is agreed between the EU and the UK, then there will be some provisions to facilitate trade in services and more detailed guidance will be provided at that point on issues such as mutual recognition of qualifications.
You should also contact your relevant professional body, institute or regulator for specific advice and insights e.g. on the provision of services across the island of Ireland. Many of them have bespoke guidance available for businesses in their sector.
What’s next?
We will continue to update our dedicated Prepare for EU Exit pages as more information and detail on the end of the transition period emerges. You can also access information and updates on our free business resource website nibusinessinfo.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution and manufacturing’s great reset
Manufacturers that are ahead in scaling advanced production
technologies are successfully navigating four durable shifts that
are critical to managing unprecedented disruption.
The-Fourth-Industrial-Revolution-and-manufacturings-great-reset-vF
by Francisco Betti, Enno de Boer, and Yves Giraud
McKinsey and Company
Since its inception in 2018, the Global Lighthouse
Network (GLN) of advanced manufacturers has
demonstrated how leading companies can work
toward realizing the full potential of the innovations
and advances at the core of the Fourth Industrial
Revolution (4IR). Beginning with a select collection
of leading-edge organizations, we have seen how
lighthouse factories can help entire organizations
navigate their modernization journeys, inspiring and
catalyzing change among partner organizations
along the way.
That’s why GLN now comprises 54 sites, with
ten sites added in Q3 2020 (Exhibit 1). This
growth reflects the accelerating adoption of core
4IR technologies, and their infusion into daily
manufacturing and supply-chain operations, as
organizations act on a new urgency to remain
competitive—even as others have fallen behind, still
stuck in pilot purgatory.
GLN includes companies that have achieved
remarkable 4IR advancements within the four walls
of factory sites or have effectively implemented
end-to-end (E2E) digitization across the value chain.
Indeed, in both cases, 4IR technology has powered
the reimagination of manufacturing and supply
chains across industries and sectors.
Moreover, an essential aspect of lighthouses’
success lies in a dedicated focus on workforce
development and capability building through a
variety of means. Indeed, these organizations have
prioritized their people by transforming the nature of
work through intentional upskilling and/or reskilling
efforts, empowering workers to realize their
potential through new ways of working.
Recent world events, most notably the COVID-19
pandemic, have led to significant disruptions on a
scale unprecedented in recent times, affecting nearly
every aspect of global industry and calling for a
“great reset” across all sectors of the global economy:
a decisive set of actions oriented toward delivering
value not only to companies themselves but also
to society as a whole. While supply-chain shocks
have uncovered operational vulnerabilities, they
also have presented transformative opportunities
for manufacturing and supply-chain leaders. The
advances in technology and new ways of working
implemented by these trailblazing organizations have
enabled them to adapt quickly during disruption,
while remaining viable and operational.
Even before the massive disruptions imposed by the
pandemic, the gap between 4IR frontrunners and
the majority was growing rapidly. Now, four durable
shifts in manufacturing and supply chains have
emerged as particularly critical:
— Improved agility and customer centricity across
E2E manufacturing and supply chains facilitates
faster recognition of customer preferences.
This, in turn, enables quicker adjustments
to manufacturing flows at next-generation,
small-scale modular plants to allow higher
levels of customization.
— Supply-chain resilience provides a competitive
advantage, requiring connected, reconfigurable
n-tier supply ecosystems and regionalization.
— Speed and productivity are attained through
increased levels of automation and workforce
augmentation coupled with upskilling and
reskilling efforts.
— Eco-efficiency is increasingly considered a
must-have to remain in business and ensure
compliance with an increasingly complex
regulatory landscape.
The level of agility and resiliency that these shifts
require sits at the core of true 4IR innovation, with
valuable assets that serve as critical levers during
unexpected adversity. The benchmarks and
achievements heralded in previous findings about
these leading companies remain impressive .
