South West College has an annual budget of £41 million with 18,000 student enrolments and 900 staff across its modern campus buildings. It aims to support the regional economy through skills development, research and development, and partnerships with local businesses. 99% of businesses in its catchment area have fewer than 50 employees. The College focuses on technical mentoring, training, STEM courses, and supporting staff and student innovation. It delivers various programmes to support local SMEs through skills training, innovation vouchers, knowledge transfer partnerships, and case studies of collaborations. The College has an Innovation Centre that provides industry equipment, prototyping facilities and EU project partnerships to stimulate innovation. It impacts curriculum through its STEM activities and

1. South West College
InnoTech Centre

2. Tyrone & Fermanagh
£41 million Annual budget
18,000 enrolments
900 staff
Modern Campus Buildings

3. Strategic Direction
• 99% of business in SWC catchment <50 employees
• 45 business with >100 staff

4. Regional Economic Strategy
• Support economic productivity
• Knowledge, skills, RD & I transfer
• Stimulate STEM
• Support manufacturing
• Interact with collaborative networks
• Work in partnership with other
Departments

6. Curriculum
Staff & Students
Economic Development
International
Entrepreneurship
Resource Management
SWC Economic
Engagement Strategy

7. The Manufacturing Innovation Gap

9. InnoTech Context
Broaden international reach of the College
Deliver industrial knowledge transfer and
technology development
Deliver bespoke training and technical
mentoring to industry in priority skills areas
Increase the number of students studying
STEM courses

10. SWC SME Engagement
• Technical mentoring & Training
• R,D & I
• EU programmes
• STEM
• Staff and student innovation
support

12. Case Study
Maralin Safety Systems

13. Case Study
PD Equipment

14. Case Study
Pro Screen

15. Case Study
Clogher Valley Energy

16. Case Study
Doherty Wood Shavings

17. Case Study
Sloss Equipment

18. Case Study
Delargy Productions

19. Manufacturing
Northern Ireland

20. Employer Support Programme
Skills Focus
ESP Skills Focus
2013/2014 41 0
2014/2015 100 0
2015/2016 104 17
Delivery in STEM & Priority Skill areas
- Solid works
- Passive House
- CODED Welding
- Management & Leadership

21. Economic Engagement
Delivery
ESP Skills Focus
Innovation
Vouchers
Connected Fusion KTP Other Total
2013/2014 41 0 29 18 4 1 53 146
2014/2015 100 0 30 17 5 1 149 302
2015/2016 104 17 23 14 6 1 31 196

22. “On average, each company taking part on the FUSION
programme benefits from over £1 million worth of sales
or efficiency savings in the three years following the
project”
20 FUSION & KTP graduates
across Ireland
- Fusion Exemplar Winner (2015)

23. Innovation Vouchers
• 184 Invest NI Vouchers
• 4 Pooled Vouchers – 25 projects
• Highest delivery in FE sector
NI Universities, South West College
and CAFRE accounted for
over 85% of vouchers
awarded in NI
Quality/Knowledge of
academics by institution
type*
Good/Very good
NI Universities 77%
NI Colleges 82%
Other (ROI/CAFRE/AFBI) 81%

24. Local Council Programmes
175 SMEs supported in areas:
– Innovation
– Resource Efficiency
– Engineering Design

25. MATRIX
• Sustainable Energy Horizon Panel
• Identifying commercial opportunities
• Setting programme for investment
• Energy Storage Collaborative Network

28. CREST
• Most sustainable building in UK
& Ireland
• Off grid
• Passive House Compliant
• BREEAM Excellent

29. CREST r&D Laboratory

30. • Northern Ireland Passive House Chapter
• Passive House Accredited Designer
• Energy Storage Conference
• Next steps to sustainable construction
• Biogas Optimisation
• Biomass manufacturing
• Air tightness techniques & methods
• DEL FE Committee
CREST Delivery

31. • STEM Green Generation
Workshops
• CREST Open Days
• Construction Workshops
• Level 3, Fd.Sc, B.Sc
• Student Placements
Enhancing student experience

35. idea
• Industry standard equipment
• Rapid prototyping
• 3D printing
• Laser cutting
• Workshop machines
• CAD & Graphics facilities
• 3D projection & touch screen

39. •3D Animation
•Digital Compositing
•App Development
•Motion Capture
•Video Game Development
•Interactive Marketing

41. IMPACTS ON CURRICULUM
> Key Skills
> Importance of STEM
> GCSE choice
> T-Shaped Learners
> Specific curriculum development
STEM

42. 42
Impactful learning -
Feedback from participants
indicates that 96% are more
likely to select STEM subjects
for further study following a
visit to the STEM Centre.

43. Innovation Centre Delivery 14/15
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
Enquiries 0 29 18 4 341
Industry
Projects 0 30 17 5 302
Events 17 23 14 6 48
Curriculum
activity
Classes
held 38 60 54 20 172
Students 1,160 1,061 743 330 3,294

45. 41 partners
11 countries
Projects in
• Engineering/Manufacturing
• Renewable Energy
• Hospitality and Tourism
• ICT
13 EU projects LIVE
- Erasmus+ x8
- Interreg x4
- FP7 x1
EU Projects

46. ▪Effluent recycling using renewable energy crops
▪GIS mapping of biomass resource
▪Identification of potential sites for bioremediation
ANSWER

47. •Better accessible and sustainable transport
•e-journey planning and alternative fuels
•Address linkages between road, rail, air and sea

48. REPUTE
.
Interreg Atlantic Area €188,000
REPUTE will create a framework for
encouraging innovation in enterprises
promoting the use of renewable energy in
public transport
Interoperability, intermodality and continuity
of existing transport networks

49. .
Aim:
• Provide real-time route planning in large scale urban-traffic networks
• Integrating public transport, supporting electromobility and car-sharing/pooling
• Using a traffic monitoring/prediction and crowd sourcing platform
• Partners; Croatia, Greece, Germany & Spain
SWC
• Renewable personal mobility - benchmarking data sets
• Evaluation of the algorithmic approaches
• Design and development of the user interface
• Final product development regarding the trip planning application

50. .
Aim:
• Provide SME’s with a support network to introduce and develop energy innovations
which would otherwise be unavailable.
SWC
• Needs analysis of energy innovations required in the region
• Tender process for necessary technology innovations
• Develop business plans to assist SME deliver energy innovation
• Provide access to private investment finance to aid the
development of energy innovations

51. Miss STEM
Erasmus+
To involve young females in meetings with decision makers
in the field of STEM in the UK.
Project participants express their voices on:
‘Why STEM subjects and careers are currently
unattractive to young females’
1. Mid Ulster Council
2. Northern Ireland Assembly
3. UK Houses of Parliament
Final outcome
Design and production of animation to communicate the
findings and outcomes of Miss STEM to a wider audience of
young people, influences and stakeholders.

52. International Published Research

53. 3.
Future Development

54. COM
POU
ND
Engineering
Centre of
Excellence

55. COMPOUND

59. Institute of Innovation and Knowledge Exchange NI

60. Balancing
Innovation
Capability &
Culture
Developing
New
Opportunities
Creating New
Value & Growth
Aligning
Business
Strategy
with
Innovation
The Importance of I3 @
SWC

61. Innovation
Training
Modules accredited through Institute of Leadership and Management
Levels 3-7
▪Design Thinking
▪Developing Critical Thinking
▪Developing a Culture to Support Innovation & Improvement
▪Leading Innovation
▪Leading the Development of a Knowledge Management Strategy

62. Awaken Innovation Workshop 1
LISTEN & RESEARCH
Awaken Innovation Workshop 2
DESIGN & CREATIVITY
Awaken Innovation Workshop 3
PROOF OF CONCEPT
& BUSINESS CASE
DEVELOPMENT
Presentation of Challenge by
Company
Creativity Session (Focused on
challenge area)
(covering divergence methods)
Create lots of ideas / solutions
Develop an Minimum Viable
Proposition or Proof of Concept
(actual product or prototype)
1 Page Questionnaire (online)
Creativity Session
(covering convergence methods)
Narrow down on ideas / solutions
Facilitated team development session
(asking questions to gain feedback &
learning)
Environment Focused (PESTLE)
Research
Business Sector / Trend Focused
(FTE Matrix) Research
Agree on at least 2/3 ideas or
solutions to the challenge
Build the Business Model Canvas
across all 10 stages
Look at solutions roadmap - how to
implement
Evaluate and reflect
Innovation Workshops