@JohnBreslin @Tech_Innovate and @Insight_Centre @NUIGalway

Entrepreneurship is in our DNA

Did youkNowAbout the Irishman who coined the term ENTREPRENEUR?

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

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Descendants ofeNtrepreneursin Agrifood

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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

Dealing withuNanticipatedAdversity in tech

Digital Equipment Corporation’s hardware plant closure in 1993

Picture of DEC workers in 1974 7

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DevelopingiNnovation and ReseArch centres of excellence

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DevelopingiNnovations inAgriculture

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

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● 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

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

PROTOTYPE

3. Value CreationWhat 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. SalesHow Do You Sell Your

Product?

8. Overall EconomicsDoes Your Product Make

Money at a Company Level?

9. Design and BuildHow Do You Produce the

Product?- Product Design- Product

Development

1. EntrepreneursWhy Are You in Business?Mission, Passions, Values, Initial Assets, Initial Idea

2. Initial Ag MarketWho Is Your Customer?

- Brainstorm (Many Markets)

- Narrow (4-10)- PMR and Matrix

(1 Beachhead)

10. ScalingHow Do You Scale Your Agricultural Innovation-

Driven Enterprise?

EMPATHISE

1. IntrapreneursNew Opportunity /

Market / Customer for Your Existing Company

TEST

2b. Gather Raw DataObservation, Interviews, Focus Groups

2a. Define Scope Goals and Objectives, Techniques, Recruitment, Secondary Research, etc.

2c. Interpret Raw DataFrom Problems to Needs Statements

2d. Organise the NeedsHierarchy

2e. Establish ImportanceSurveys

2f. Reflect on the ProcessContinuous Improvement

IDEATE

DEFINE

9a. Planning

9b. Concept Development

9c. System-Level Design

9e. Testing and Refinement

9d. Detail Design

9f. Production Ramp-Up

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-

Hustlers Hackers Hipsters

Know Know Know

Business Engineering Design

Must Know How to

Talk to Humans

(User/Customer)

DoNotAccept the status quo

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DevelopeNtrepreneurialAttitude + skills

Springboard+ TechInnovate Entrepre- neurship Development Programmefor the formerly self-employed/unemployed/homemakers

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)

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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)

Drivea commoNAgenda to address challenGes facinG the West

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Gather the innovation ecosystem stakeholders

Original slides by Dr Phil Budden and Professor Fiona Murray, MIT

Define shared metrics to set agenda and create impact via action

Original slides by Dr Phil Budden and Professor Fiona Murray, MIT

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Don’t be Silicon Valley: have own comparative regional advantage

Original slides by Dr Phil Budden and Professor Fiona Murray, MIT

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Increase innovation and entrepreneurship capacity

Original slides by Dr Phil Budden and Professor Fiona Murray, MIT

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REAP = Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Programme

Original slides by Dr Phil Budden and Professor Fiona Murray, MIT

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● 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