Our Innovation Ecosystem

This podcast episode from Innovate Ireland features a conversation between Alan Doherty and Kathryn Lynch about mapping Ireland's innovation ecosystem.

Kathryn discusses her project to catalog the publicly funded innovation resources available across Ireland, revealing 275 different entities, funding sources, and support organizations. She explains how small and medium enterprises often struggle to navigate this complex landscape despite Ireland's reputation as an innovation performer on European scorecards.

The mapping project began as a response to feedback from smaller businesses who didn't know where to turn for innovation support. Kathryn describes how she manually compiled a spreadsheet of all publicly funded innovation resources (excluding private initiatives) to create a comprehensive ecosystem map available on the Innovate Ireland website (innovateisland.net).

Key discussion points include:

• The disconnect between headline innovation performance and the experience of indigenous businesses
• The challenge of defining "innovation" consistently across different organizations
• How technical readiness levels vary widely among innovation supports
• Sectors well-served by innovation funding (advanced manufacturing, health tech)
• The importance of relationship-building and trust in innovation collaboration
• The need for Ireland to make strategic "big bets" in specific sectors rather than trying to fund everything
• Practical ways SMEs can engage with academia through student placements, masters projects, and co-PhDs
• The cultural challenges that sometimes prevent effective innovation in Ireland

The interactive ecosystem map allows users to filter resources by sector, geography, and type of support, with the ability to contribute updates as the innovation landscape evolves. Alan and Kathryn emphasize that innovation "takes a village" and that understanding the ecosystem is the first step to accessing Ireland's rich network of support resources.

You can find the Ecosystem Map at:

https://www.innovateisland.net/map/

Visit the Innovate Island community on:

https://my.innovateisland.net/feed

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