Waterford Institute of Technology: Office of Research and Innovation

Commercial Research Manager's Biography

Name: Clare Flinders

Position: Commercial Manager in The RIKON Group, School of Business, Waterford Institute of Technology, Waterford, Ireland.

Qualifications: BA Honours in International Business and Languages

Email: cflinders@wit.ie

Biography:

Clare graduated in 2003 from the Dublin Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in International Business and Languages. She has worked in industry in Spain, England and Ireland for the past six years where she has gained extensive experience in marketing, customer service, business research and corporate administration. Clare joined the RIKON Group in 2008 as a research assistant, and is now the Commercial Research Manager of the group which is based in the School of Business in Waterford Institute of Technology. In her role, she has been heavily involved in the commercial side of the group which involves assessing, diagnosing and designing research solutions to problems in a SME’s business development stages, particularly those relevant to the new product development process.

Research Interests

Clare is currently undergoing a Masters by Research at Waterford Institute of Technology, and her research interests include innovation, creativity and new product development processes in SMEs.

Research Project:

The titile of Clare’s research project is: ‘Creating a Community of Innovative Practice in the early stages of NPD in SMEs" and is based upon a longitudinal case study of a small, innovative firm in Co. Waterford, Ireland.

Other Works:

Flinders, Clare and Lynch, Patrick and Holden, Mary T. (2009) AN INTEGRATED MODEL FOR MANAGING INNOVATION IN THE EARLY STAGES OF NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IN SMES(RIKON Group). In: 11th European Conference on Creativity and Innovation, 28th - 30th October, Brussels.

Flinders, C., Lynch, P. and Holden, M.T. (2010) "Overcoming the Barriers to Managing Innovation in the Early Stages of New Product Development in SMES" In the Irish Academy of Management Conference proceedings, CIT, Sept.1st-3rd.