Upcoming Events at WIT
Title: GIFT Network Event: ‘Developing your Business in the Green Economy’Date: Wed, 29 February 2012
Location: The Ferrycarrig Hotel, Wexford, Ireland
Time: 9.00am - 3.30pm
The Green Innovation and Future Technologies (GIFT) Interreg project will host their first Irish- based event titled ‘Developing your Business in the Green Economy’ on Wednesday, 29th February in the Ferrycarrig Hotel, Wexford.
Details about the Event
The event will provide an excellent opportunity for participants to actively explore innovative green business opportunities, network with like minded people and forge valuable long term business relationships that will drive the green economic agenda and enhance sustainability and competitiveness over time.
Our distinguished keynote speaker, Micheál O’ Cinnéide, Director of the Environmental Protection Agency, will frame current economic and environmental issues associated with Ireland’s Interreg region and share valuable insights on collaboration as a platform for driving the green economy. Participants will primarily comprise SMEs and public sector and social enterprise stakeholders with a green economic and business development remit.
Dr Leana Reinl, Business Development Officer on the GIFT project explained “Our upcoming event will have a practical and commercial orientation. We are delighted to announce that among the guest speakers on the day is Johnathan Derham of the Environmental Protection Agency, who will provide delegates with an overview of the green economy and associated challenges and opportunities for business development within.
Other workshops will focus on maximising the benefits of GIFT network membership. Facilitated breakout sessions will explore potential green business growth opportunities, and the supports, resources and potential challenges that influence such endeavours. We are currently seeking to engage with small businesses and other key stakeholders with a green business development remit”.
The GIFT project is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the INTERREG 4A Ireland Wales Programme 2007-2013; and was officially launched in Wales on 17th October 2011 by Bangor University’s Vice Chancellor Professor John Hughes.
Over the duration of the project, GIFT will deliver:
1. A GIFT learning network and website;
2. Accredited skills provision & best practice workshops for businesses;
3. Specialist skills provision in environmental management;
4. Business led collaborative projects.
The event in Wexford on the 29th February will provide an overview of the GIFT project and introduce the GIFT team to Irish businesses and a wide range of other stakeholder groups. Dr Denis Harrington, Head of Graduate Business at WIT commented “With an increased emphasis on the significance of green enterprises in creating and sustaining a smart economy; and government, policy makers and businesses increasingly calling for change, searching for innovative solutions, and driving the development of new technologies; GIFT aims to establish a cross border innovation forum in order to grow a sustainable “green economy” in Ireland/Wales”.
Dr Eleanor Owens, GIFT project co-ordinator and lecturer at WIT added: “The GIFT project will be informed by green economy policy and research, and also through stakeholder engagement. With our partners in Wales, we will share knowledge, perspectives and experiences and together GIFT network members will forge innovative solutions in an effort to promote the green economy in the Interreg regions of Ireland and Wales. We are hopeful that these relationships will continue long after funding on the project has concluded”.
How to Register
To register for this event or get further information about the GIFT network, please contact Leana Reinl at the GIFT office, Waterford Institute of Technology, Tel: 051 834107. The GIFT project is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and registration for this event is FREE.
