€1.7m for Celtic link

(l – r) Nerys Fuller-Love, Project Director Wales, Aberystwyth University, Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Aled Jones, Aberystwyth University, Bill O'Gorman, Project Director Ireland, Waterford Institute of Technology.

(l – r) Nerys Fuller-Love, Project Director Wales, Aberystwyth University, Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Aled Jones, Aberystwyth University, Bill O'Gorman, Project Director Ireland, Waterford Institute of Technology.

09 July 2009

Small business owners and entrepreneurs in West Wales and South East Ireland are teaming up for a new entrepreneurial partnership designed to boost creativity, innovation and competition, as part of the recently launched Sustainable Learning Networks in Ireland and Wales (SLNIW) project.

The SLNIW project was launched in Wales at Aberystwyth University on Thursday 9th July 2009.  As part of the project, six sustainable, self-learning, business networks will be established in Ireland and Wales. The overriding aim is to develop a process that will assist entrepreneurs and owner/managers of micro-enterprises and SMEs to improve the creativity, innovation and competitive processes of their organisations and improve the economy of the regions within which they are situated.

The partners in the project are the School of Management and Business, Aberystwyth University, Wales, and the Centre for Enterprise Development and Regional Economy (CEDRE), located at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), Ireland.  The SLNIW project is headed by Dr. Bill O'Gorman, Research Director, CEDRE, and Nerys Fuller-Love, Lecturer, School of Management and Business, Aberystwyth University.

It's a very timely and innovative project, Dr. Bill O’Gorman, Project Director, explained. “Taking the current global economic environment into consideration, today, more than ever before, there is a need for enterprises within regions to work together in order to enhance the economic development and sustainability of their regions.

“However, bringing people together just to network is not the solution; rather there is an urgent need to bring entrepreneurs and owner/managers of micro-enterprises and SMEs together to learn from each other: to learn how to maximise resources; to instil and maintain creativity and innovation in their respective organisations; to compete in global markets and to grow and sustain their respective enterprises even in, or especially in, recessionary times. This is what the Sustainable Learning Networks in Ireland and Wales (SLNIW) project is about”.

The programme will feature three learning networks in Ireland and three learning networks in Wales. Each network will meet on a monthly basis, over an eighteen month period. The first six months of which will be specific, focused training and development for the network participants, the following twelve months will be the learning networks working.

The partners will also host at least four international (Ireland/Wales) network events during the twelve month section. Communication between network participants will be via face-to-face contact monthly, via the internet and the website (www.slniw.com).

The SLNIW project is funded under European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland-Wales  INTERREG 4A programme 2007-2013.

If you are interested in participating in the SLNIW project or wish for further information, please contact Anna Prytherch, Project Co-ordinator, Wales at abp@aber.ac.uk or 01970-622506.