NWRA/WDC One Region One Vision Conference / Salthill Hotel, Galway / 28th November 2017

1. @JohnBreslin @Tech_Innovate and
@Insight_Centre @NUIGalway
Entrepreneurship
is in our DNA

2. Did you
kNow
About the Irishman who
coined the term ENTREPRENEUR?

3. Richard Cantillon
● Kerry-born Cantillon originated the term “entrepreneur” in
his 1730 book Essai (published in French in 1755), in which
he expounded upon his very complex economic theories
● He first defined entrepreneurs as “non-fixed income earners
who pay known costs of production but earn uncertain
incomes, due to the speculative nature of pandering to an
unknown demand for their product”
● Free audio book of Essai at bit.ly/theaudiobook
3

4. Descendants of
eNtrepreneurs
in Agrifood

5. 5
Every Irish farmer had to be an
entrepreneur to survive!
● Ireland has a tradition of stockmanship and crop
husbandry going back at least 200 generations
○ Céide Fields in Mayo is a 5,500-year-old Stone Age farming landscape
of stone walled fields, preserved beneath the growing blanket bog
● We have a longstanding export-oriented agrifood industry
● Ireland exports €11 billion of agriculture and food exports
annually
○ That’s 10% of our total annual exports
○ The sector accounts for 9% of our employees
○ Ireland produces 10% of the world’s powdered milk supply
My grandparents
on their farm in
County Clare

6. Dealing with
uNanticipated
Adversity in tech

7. Digital Equipment
Corporation’s hardware
plant closure in 1993 Picture of DEC workers in 1974 7

8. 8

10. 10

11. Developing
iNnovation and
ReseArch centres of
excellence

12. 12

13. Developing
iNnovations in
Agriculture

14. Agriculture + technology innovation
● Ireland is ideally placed to leverage the agtech revolution
due to its agricultural heritage and burgeoning tech sector
● Various funds/accelerators are targeting agtech startups:
○ WDC Investment Fund
○ The Yield Lab Galway
○ Atlantic Bridge Ventures’ University Bridge Fund
○ Finistere Ventures’ Ireland AgTech Fund
○ Alltech’s Pearse Lyons Accelerator
○ SVG Partners’ Thrive AgTech Accelerator
● Other countries like New Zealand are moving ahead in
terms of agricultural innovation
14

15. ● Agriculture/forestry/fishing employs 10% in
the West Region
● Donegal and Galway have the largest sheep
stock in Ireland
● Galway has the most goats in Ireland
● Average farm size in the West (26.3 ha) is
20% smaller than the Irish average (32.7 ha)
● For each farmer under 35, there are more
than 10 farmers over 55 years of age
Data: galwaydashboard.ie / wdc.ie
@aginnovate @tech_innovate
Western AgInnovation Ecosystem

16. AgInnovate
Programme to accelerate the agricultural innovation
ecosystem in Ireland
Teaching professionals how to create agricultural
innovation-driven enterprises
First cohort alumni are now being funded under the Enterprise
Ireland Commercialisation Fund
Material from MIT 15.390x adapted under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 16

17. P
R
O
T
O
T
Y
P
E
3. Value Creation
What Can You Do For Your
Customer?
4. Competitive
Advantage
Why You?
6. Product Unit
Economics
Can You Make Money at
the Product Level?
5. Customer
Acquisition
How Does Your Customer
Acquire Your Product?
7. Sales
How Do You Sell Your
Product?
8. Overall Economics
Does Your Product Make
Money at a Company
Level?
9. Design and Build
How Do You Produce the
Product?
- Product Design
- Product
Development
1. Entrepreneurs
Why Are You in Business?
Mission, Passions, Values,
Initial Assets, Initial Idea
2. Initial Ag Market
Who Is Your Customer?
- Brainstorm
(Many Markets)
- Narrow (4-10)
- PMR and Matrix
(1 Beachhead)
10. Scaling
How Do You Scale Your
Agricultural Innovation-
Driven Enterprise?
E
M
P
A
T
H
I
S
E
1. Intrapreneurs
New Opportunity /
Market / Customer for
Your Existing Company
T
E
S
T
2b. Gather Raw Data
Observation, Interviews, Focus Groups
2a. Define Scope Goals and Objectives, Techniques,
Recruitment, Secondary Research, etc.
2c. Interpret Raw Data
From Problems to Needs Statements
2d. Organise the Needs
Hierarchy
2e. Establish Importance
Surveys
2f. Reflect on the Process
Continuous Improvement
I
D
E
A
T
E
D
E
F
I
N
E
9a. Planning
9b. Concept Development
9c. System-Level Design
9e. Testing and Refinement
9d. Detail Design
9f. Production Ramp-Up

18. 18
-
Hustlers Hackers Hipsters
Know Know Know
Business Engineering Design
Must Know How to
Talk to Humans
(User/Customer)

19. Do
Not
Accept the status quo

20. 20

21. 21

22. 22

23. 23

24. 24

25. 25

26. Develop
eNtrepreneurial
Attitude + skills

27. Springboard+ TechInnovate Entrepre-
neurship Development Programme
for the formerly self-employed/unemployed/homemakers

28. Can we get more R&D innovations
into spinouts/subsidiaries/startups?
Levels of R&D (% of GDP) on the y-axis and levels of
employment (ages 15-64) on the x-axis in all EU27
NUTS 2 regions
Six areas with relatively high unemployment (< 60%
employment, ages 15-64) but also relatively high R&D
(> 1.5% of GDP)
28

29. STArtup skills for
Researchers and
innovaTors in
Entrepreneurship
Development
Border, Midland and Western (IE)
Région de Bruxelles-Capitale / Brussels
Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (BE)
Prov. Liège (BE)
Languedoc-Roussillon (FR)
Cataluña (ES)
Lazio (IT)

30. Drive
a commoN
Agenda to address
challenGes facinG the West

31. 31

32. 32
Gather the
innovation
ecosystem
stakeholders
Original slides by Dr Phil Budden and
Professor Fiona Murray, MIT

33. Define shared
metrics to set
agenda and create
impact via action
Original slides by Dr Phil Budden and
Professor Fiona Murray, MIT
33

34. Don’t be Silicon
Valley: have own
comparative
regional advantage
Original slides by Dr Phil Budden and
Professor Fiona Murray, MIT
34

35. Increase
innovation and
entrepreneurship
capacity
Original slides by Dr Phil Budden and
Professor Fiona Murray, MIT
35

36. REAP = Regional
Entrepreneurship
Acceleration
Programme
Original slides by Dr Phil Budden and
Professor Fiona Murray, MIT
36

37. ● Increase impact and innovation capacity/entrepreneurship
capacity in the West of Ireland through actions derived
from a metric-driven common agenda
● Having a conference call tomorrow afternoon with MIT
REAP for West of Ireland innovation ecosystem
stakeholders (let me know if relevant to you)
Endeavouring to get West of Ireland
onto 2018 MIT REAP programme
Thank you! Any questions?
@JohnBreslin @Tech_Innovate
@Insight_Centre @NUIGalway