Minister English opens Business Development Conference

Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation Damien English T.D was in NUI Galway today to open a major Conference on International Business Opportunities funded by the European Interreg North West Europe Programme.

The conference marked the end of a three year transnational project called TESLA, which has been led by the Northern and Western Regional Assembly and presented the project’s outputs and achievements in supporting early stage knowledge-intensive enterprises across North West Europe.

In delivering his keynote address, over 100 delegates heard the Minister say that  “The TESLA Project has been a success story, bringing together 8 partners from 6 EU Member States, through a programme of transnational pilot innovation and business support initiatives, in the very positive spirit of European co-operation.” He commended the Northern and Western Regional Assembly for the lead role they have assumed in this transnational project under the EU Interreg North West European Programme, the impacts of which will be seen well into the future in terms of business development, I am sure”

The conference also heard testimonials from TESLA project partners, enterprise support providers and participating companies from across the project partnership. The event also presented new opportunities for transnational co-operation in enterprise support through the North West Europe INTERREG programme.

Over Seventy companies have benefitted from specialist international mentor assistance across the partner European regions. Companies have been mentored on specific areas of export development, market entry to the UK, Chinese and German markets as well as Strategic Business and Financial Planning. The project  also provided assistance to the clients of the Local Enterprise Offices in Longford, Monaghan and Cavan through an Innovation Outreach programme designed to facilitate easier access to the UK market. TESLA is also supporting small firms with New Product Design and Development.

By the end of the project up to 30 Irish companies will have plans in place to develop new products and bring them to the market place. One company which will feature at the TESLA conference, PMD Solutions from Cork, has been nominated for the IMDA Medical Technology Industry Excellence Emerging Company of the year 2014.