Innovative Actions

Over the 2002-2009 period the BMW Regional Assembly managed and implemented two consecutive EU Programmes of Innovative Actions. These Programmes which were funded by the European Regional Development Fund provided supports for experimental pilot initiatives in the BMW region. The total approved expenditure over both programmes was €4.3m. Details on the programmes are set out below: -

BMW Regional Programme of Innovative Actions (2002-2004)

‘The BMW Region and the new Economy’ 
In 2001 the BMW Regional Assembly was approved by the European Commission for a two year Regional Programme of Innovative Actions. The Programme which involved a total investment of €2.5m throughout the region provided supports for key policy development and pilot initiatives which were critical to increasing the innovative capacity and competitiveness of the region going forward.  

The BMW Audit of Innovation (2004) was a strategic policy analysis which measured the region’s research and innovation capacity and the entrepreneurial base of the region and made a series of recommendations aimed at raising the innovation capacity and competetiveness of the region. The Audit Report provided the basis from which the Assembly could move the innovation agenda forward in the region. A Regional Foresight exercise was also carried out which identified key strategic investment priorities for the region in the medium to long term.  

The programme also provided grant assistance for three community rural wireless broadband initiatives, the enhancement of three Education Outreach Centres and the technology advancement plans of 27 SMEs in the BMW region. Pilot funding provided as part of the programme for the Wireless Broadband initiative also levered further exchequer assistance for additional communities. This scheme was taken up nationally by the Department of Communications as the ‘Group Broadband Scheme’.

The Programme comprised three strands: -

Strand 1:             BMW Audit of Innovation

Strand 2:             (Four Pilot Actions)

• BMW Wireless Broadband Initiative
• BMW Technology Advance Programme
• Social Accounting Matrix
• BMW Education Outreach pilot initiative

Strand 3:             Regional Foresight Exercise

Detailed information on the objectives of the Programme and outcomes of each of the pilot initiatives can be found in the documents below: -

BMW Region and the new economy – Approved application by EU Commission
BMW Audit of Innovation Report (2004)
Social Accounting Matrix in BMW Region
BMW Regional Foresight Exercise – New Challenges, New Opportunities
Final Report to European Commission on ‘BMW Region and the New Economy’

 

BMW Regional Programme of Innovative Actions (2006-2008)

‘Resourcing Information and Technology Transfer in the BMW region’

Following on from the positive results gained from the first Regional Programme of Innovative Actions, the BMW Regional Assembly in 2005 secured funding from the EU Commission for a two year follow on programme of Innovative Actions.

This programme represented a total approved investment of €1.8m and was aimed at raising the region’s research and development capacity as well as strengthening academic and industrial linkages.

Grant Assistance from the programme supported: -

• Four specialist research centres within the Higher Education sector for sectoral industry briefings.
• Thirty Five campus based companies at the Institutes of Technology and NUI Galway who received mentoring assistance
• Incentivised research vouchers to twenty four participant firms largely drawn from the Campus/Incubation environment within the higher education sector. The Research Vouchers pilot scheme was subsequently included by Enterprise Ireland in its suite of mainstream industry supports. 
• The strategic Innovation plans of twenty SMEs in the region through a tailored Innovation Management Programme
• Fifty small food producers in the region through a Food Technology Transfer Programme rolled out in conjunction with St. Angela’s Food Technology Centre in Sligo and the Food Hub in Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim
• A Feasibility study undertaken by Lionra, the Regional Higher Education Network into the potential for establishing technology transfer linkages and commercialisation of Intellectual Property between SMEs, Multi Nationals and third level Institutions in the BMW Region.

 

Detailed information on the objectives of the Programme and outcomes of each of the pilot initiatives can be found in the documents below: -

Food Technology Transfer Programme Evaluation Report
Business Mentoring for Winners Evaluation Report
Evaluation of the BMW Regional Programme of Innovative Actions – Final Report 09
Final Programme Report to EU Commission, March 2010

 

 

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For more information please contact:

Michael O Brien - Programme Liaison Officer -
Phone: 094 9862970 or Email: Michael O Brien - Programme Liaison Officer