NI at the movies
Last week’s, well-warranted acclaim for the Oscar success of Terry George’s short film ‘The Shore’ has led to this week’s reflection that it could be portent and metaphor for our whole knowledge economy.
Growing up, I only remember one obvious actor with an Ulster accent, James Ellis or Sgt Lynch of Z-cars fame. Then, suddenly it seemed, out of the troubles came names like Liam Neeson and Kenneth Brannagh, who eclipsed Ellis, at least in the Hollywood stakes. Still I don’t think that took us out of the ordinary. My drama-teaching daughter, who has made Canterbury her home, swoons over its native, Orlando Bloom and I expect every conurbation has its share of stars.
Not every region can claim more than its share of technological inspiration for movie plots, I suspect. From our inventors of ejection seats (James Martin)to the “gas-pipe pigs” (Ernest Shannon) whose real jobs are awe inspiring enough, come terrifying and exciting adversarial tools in the hands of the Broccolis and their James Bond franchise. In his latest re-incarnation, Daniel Craig, as Bond, was saved by the portable defibrillator in his Aston Martin that might well have come from our own Heartsine and his condition was monitored and relayed by other technology, now available to the world from Intellisens. Both these companies, I’m delighted to say, had periods of association with the Science Park and are growing apace. We were pleased to recognise Professor John Anderson, as Innovation Founder 2010.
Then Northern Ireland became recognised as a location of choice for film making, not just for a grant, nor just for its historical and beautiful locations, important as they are, but also for its quality workforce. I was hugely impressed on my first visit to our neighbour, the Paint Hall Studio, and the set of “City of Ember”, when told that many of the local workforce (chippys and sparks) being trained by only one incomer from Pinewood, would merit jobs in any film studio world-wide. “If you don’t work to keep them, I’ll take them”, said Tom Hanks’ charge hand. The Science Park provided a temporary home for some back stage activity during that phase and also provided back haul to enable I-burst to provide dedicated wireless internet across Greater Belfast to that and other movies as they explored and tested Belfast’s mettle for the industry of international film-making.
We were not found wanting; as testament, HBO and others look set to stay but we thought that would be it; little did we know then that in 2011, we would go on to play a part in helping Terry George achieve Oscar glory as he sought private sector funding to realise his vision for the film.
Unable to make an appearance at one of our scheduled Halo Business Angel investment events to make his pitch directly, Terry agreed to go in front of the camera himself to record a pitch for uploading to Halo’s unique private video site. After our usual coaching, Terry went on to deliver a polished pitch. We then invited our members to view the video online, while posing the tempting question – Do you want a chance to be at the Oscars? With representatives from Loughshore Investments among those that viewed the pitch, they clearly saw the merits in the proposition and the rest makes NI history at the Oscars!
So it’s a full sweep for NI at the movies, actors, writers, technology ideas, funding and the whole nine yards and in the hardest market in the whole world, Hollywood! If you still need it, think only of this story from unlikely dream to glorious reality, to realise that we have all the necessary ingredients for realising many dreams in a knowledge based reality. But we all need the passion and persistence of Terry George!
Five-a-day of kids’ computing
I’m delighted to hear of the launch of the £20 Raspberry Pi and think we might just have made a leap in the nick of time to educate our children that there’s much more to a computer than surfing the net or buying media downloads.
First there was Apple, then Apricot and Acorn and probably more fruit-inspired names besides that I never knew. Apple was Californian; the others from the UK. The latter two have disappeared as independent brands but their legacy remains if you know where to look. Being in the heart of Silicon Valley, Apple knew much more deeply about the workings of the machine and all that it could do. Despite the odd arguments, well aired in the aftermath of the late Steve Jobs, it was able to reinvent itself regularly to follow market trends and hence to remain at the top of its game.
The brains behind the UK brands developed differently and ultimately reaped their financial rewards in a physically small but hugely valuable company, ARM a Cambridge University spin-out, selling not to the public directly, but rather to those who would go on to supply the burgeoning demand for mobile devices and other systems.
Either way, the required deep knowledge and understanding develops not from ICT –classes (which should be called essential Computer Literacy, in my view by the way) but from letting the kids play with the innards of the machine and experimenting freely. Now that’s a brave thing to do with a modern machine costing hundreds of pounds and upon which many households rely for serious purposes.
When my son was five or so, I acquired a second hand Commodore VIC20, a single chip device with 3k of memory (that’s k for 1000 not M for million). Like the Raspberry Pi, it needed to be plugged into the TV but it was its own keyboard. A small amount of tinkering and soldering produced a device that could operate his Meccano and Lego, and allow simple components like LEDs and detectors to be plugged in and hence to build and programme burglar alarms and such. This was great fun for us both (yes, genuinely) for some years until my dodgy building caused its premature demise.
The Raspberry Pi takes this concept into the 21st Century with a better build standard and app support. There really is no excuse hereafter for not letting boys and girls loose with the computer, to destruction if needs be.
It will be important for the impact of the Raspberry Pi, for policy makers and teachers to understand that the benefits of this machine and its counterparts (e.g. Beagleboard and the Omnima MiniEMBWiFi) are not about learning the precise programming language it uses but about the acquiring of skill in the logical flow of commands and an absorption of all that it might do. In my makeshift VIC20-Lego set up the computer by means of timed programme loops could replace expensive gear boxes for speed control. Today’s programmers in the Science Park are devising and selling algorithms that can find faces in a video and analyse the features for stress; who knows what our children will be required to get them to do when they go to work.
So well done the Raspberry Pi Foundation and the very best of luck to their enterprise! I have a strong feeling we’ll all be the beneficiary of their success.
The ABC of our future economy
As the government officials and elected members settle, to read, digest and hopefully take heed of the various comments and suggestions made by all of us, in response to the latest draft programme for government, economic strategy and investment plan, I thought I’d share with you my observations on our process at the Science Park. As a “humble functionary” [Sir Humphrey’s phrase from my favourite sit-com] myself in a previous life and therefore, thankfully, banned from political or other public comment, I was only reluctantly and recently induced into such activity on behalf of the Science Park. Mind you, I have always enjoyed advocacy on behalf of others as, when the self is removed, it allows a greater sense of freedom.
The constituency of the Science Park has begun to grow and to extend well outside the borders of its 25 acres in Titanic Quarter and so, this time we held two events, one to gauge the views of our tenants and direct stakeholders and one to allow the members of our CONNECT to give voice to their ambitions and opinions. In direction and in substance, they weren’t much different.
In summary:
They were delighted by the continued Executive-wide focus on the economy as the route to continued peace and well-being for all the people of Northern Ireland and congratulated the Executive on its consensus. They broadly supported the thrusts of the Strategy quickly to rebuild the economy by job support measures, while continuing to rebalance the economy on the medium to long term.
The rebuilding should focus strongly on sustainable job creation programmes, utilising the existing reports and recommendations from expert stakeholders such as MATRIX, Action Renewables and others.
The rebalancing requires a rapid review of; governance and acceptance of risk by Government; Corporation Tax; the distinction between local and internationally trading companies with a particular emphasis on those which export and hence add more to GVA and economic resilience; and the development of growth stimuli such as Open Innovation and a second Science Park campus in the North West. The Strategy should have, in particular, a clearly articulated vision for the Knowledge Economy with a defined trajectory and SMART targets supported and ratified by the private sector.
The only real difference between our communities came in manner and intensity.
CONNECT is our San Diego inspired methodology to dissolve the siloes of business in favour of the knowledge-rich want-to-be entrepreneurs, who need role models, mentoring and support to help them create the future jobs for their peers and fellow citizens. Our first period of existence showed the willingness of the business communities to give of their time to the cause; so we increased our “ask” to cash support (membership and sponsorship) to match our government grant. In time we want to add philanthropy to replace the core funds but that story is for another day. All we can offer, in return for membership, is joint leadership of our activities. As usual when we do such things, heart ends up in mouth, and we hold our breath to see if it’ll work but also, as usual, the business community of Northern Ireland comes through. We’re breathing again and we have an excellent spread of members from corporations, accounting and legal practices and of course, the research base in all its aspects.
In recognition of their support and to follow-up our recent Knowledge Economy Index (if you missed it, do click KEI Page to catch up), we invited our members and their (not our) chosen guests to a dinner discussion, facilitated expertly and pro bono by Michael McCormack of BT. Unusually and maybe even uniquely for such opinion forming sessions, the average age was perhaps 35, tops. Any possible lack of experience was more than compensated by Ambition, Boundless energy and Consummate Competence, my new ABC. I,for one old “grey beard”, watched and listened with awe, as one after another bright and well-travelled business professional or academic provided the reportage from their table and urged us to take the high road quickly towards a world-class 10% knowledge economy, rising from a laggardly current 4%.
Do you know what? If we listen to their ideas, and let them take the wheel we can do it and every man-jack and woman-jill of us will reap the benefit.
Where Angels Dare to Tread
Business Angel Investment here has been flying high recently. The increasing importance of this type of funding within the current economic climate is receiving a lot of attention, particularly in the relative absence of the more traditional forms of business finance such as that offered by banks. With this in mind, I am delighted to report that in Northern Ireland we have one of the most successful Business Angel Networks in the UK and that it is growing from strength to strength.
Halo is Northern Ireland’s Business Angel network based at the Northern Ireland Science Park and is a joint initiative of Invest Northern Ireland and IntertradeIreland. Recognised as UK Business Angel Network of the Year in 2010, the network has witnessed significant growth and interest in its work in recent months. As a sign of its success it has helped companies to secure more than £3m worth of investment. It regularly holds events to help fund seeking entrepreneurs and high net-worth wealth individuals understand and capitalise on the mutual benefits of angel investments. The most recent was an information event held in Derry on Valentine’s Day in partnership with Londonderry Chamber of Commerce. It was a prelude to an investment forum event, again to be held in Derry on 24th May, where local companies will get the chance to pitch their investment ready business ideas to local business angels – the NI equivalent of Dragon’s Den if you like but aiming to make companies, not personalities.
As if to emphasise just how important Angel Investment has become to our economic recovery, Alan Watts, Director of Halo, was invited personally to No. 10 Downing Street. There he heard first-hand about how high up angel investment is on the UK political agenda. Here Prime Minister David Cameron and Lord Young chaired a discussion panel on the issues affecting the angel investment sector and enterprise creation in the UK. As the only representative from Northern Ireland, Alan joined business angels, entrepreneurs and professional advisers from across the UK and engaged directly with the Prime Minister on the importance of angel investment for new business creation and economic revival. To quote the PM directly he said that Business Angels “… were absolutely essential to Britain’s economic revival and I hope that it’s recognised that the government is trying to do what it can to help Angels and business investment.”
At this event the PM revealed details of a number of new tax incentives which if implemented will further stimulate business angel investment in Northern Ireland and these moves are to be welcomed.
The BBC Politics Show also got in on the act the weekend before last, as they focused on the funding needs of local SMEs and the current difficulties being experienced with banks. They filmed at a recent Halo Investment Forum in Belfast and spoke to a number of local entrepreneurs and angel investors who shared their views on the need for creative solutions to address the obvious funding gaps for local start-up businesses. The benefits of angel investment were made clear. Not only does it bring much needed funding for local start-ups, but it often brings a wealth of experience from seasoned business people who can help the business proposition to succeed. One thing that everyone agreed on was that Angel Investment had an important role to play in Northern Ireland’s economic future and that it was here to stay. For anyone keen to find out more about becoming an angel or in accessing angel investment visit www.haloni.com
Using Patents to Open Innovation
Intellectual Property (IP) is the name given to all creative ideas and expressions that have commercial value. Most nations have recognised the value to their economic success of attaching legal rights to IP including patents, know-how, copyrights and trademarks. Each has a distinct application, business value and set of protocols but for the purpose of this week’s column I am going to touch specifically on patents – their creation, exploitation and role in open innovation.
A patent describes a device or process which has never been openly disclosed to the public. It sets out the framework of an invention in which the patentee wishes to claim exclusive ownership and must be described in sufficient detail for one (skilled in the art) to replicate it. Ultimately it is this public disclosure which spreads the invention and in return, society rewards the inventor with a period, normally 20 years, of a monopoly.
The patent will need to be written, filed, defended and hopefully granted. Within a year to 18 months it will go international, thanks to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which today gives the inventor a choice of 44 countries in which to have exclusive ownership of the innovation. To gain widening geographic monopoly, the patent now has to pay fees to and run the gauntlet of patent officers and potentially interested parties in each of the chosen countries. The will be subject to a barrage of attacks, questioning its novelty, utility, obviousness and its interference with other patents. The constant aim of attack is to kill or restrict its coverage. The benefit however is that, if successful, an asset is created that can be sold, assigned, licensed or otherwise used to protect the core of a news business.
A patent can help spread an invention which ultimately contributes to the success of open innovation through the dissemination of ideas and technologies. At this stage you might be questioning what exactly I mean by open innovation – essentially open innovation is the process of looking outside a company’s internal R&D departments to innovations generated by others which could be of benefit to an organisation. Another way of thinking about it is that a good idea can come from anyone, anywhere and patents essentially provide a list of innovations which could be of relevance to a company, for example to help develop new products or overcome significant problems in a production process. By looking outside an organisation we can discover solutions that were previously clouded by our myopic viewpoint.
In conclusion, I am not a lawyer but I have learned in my roles as a researcher, manager and mentor, of the importance of patents and I would suggest that our technology creators still need them and ought to learn how to use them strategically.
The science that goes on behind the scenes on your behalf!
Norman and the Competitors
I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again, that one of the joys of my job is getting to meet some of the bright young researchers who live in the laboratories of our Universities. I was delighted, therefore, to be given the privilege by this year’s organiser, Dr Shirley Davey of UU’s Nanotechnology and Integrated Bio-Engineering Centre at Jordanstown, of chairing the judges at the Ireland heat of the World Lecture Competition. The competition is organised by the professional bodies for Materials Research in Ireland, North and South, (Materials Ireland and the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining; if you want to read more see http://www.materials-ireland.ie/ and http://www.iom3.org/ ). I was joined on the judging panel by other sponsors from Invest NI, InterTradeIreland and Bombardier and I have to say the only problem we had was to select excellent from excellence.
The competition is mainly about the quality of presentation rather than content, though naturally being science based, the originality and import of the study was never far from the judges’ minds. What a delight the event was in that regard and what a break from the graft of budget and corporate planning that was the main subject of the rest of my week. In a variety of accents that spanned Ireland and Eurasia, six enthusiastic and skilful researchers relayed studies in materials that spanned Bio-fuel cell research in Limerick to improved ways of preventing corrosion in anodic alumina in Dublin. Far and away the highest proportion were reporting studies in how to achieve the many benefits of polymers as implants into our bodies to repair defects of nature or of accident.
Biology has produced mechanisms of self-repair, the envy of the man-made world, but when it is pushed beyond its limits by accident or disease, we are all glad of the intervention of the surgeon and an implant. Unfortunately at that time, we encounter the brilliance of biology in detecting the foreign material and reacting against it. So these young researchers, on behalf of humanity, are learning and honing their knowledge and skills trying to devise ways of treating the surfaces to trick the body’s defences for long enough to get regrowth and repair or at least to fuse implant and body permanently and painlessly. Almost as importantly, they have been developing communication skills matching those of their science.
As with so much these days, communicating only to ones’ peers is only a tiny fraction of what is needed. If these men and women are to succeed they must persuade funders, medical authorities, hard-nosed business people and the public to support their work, a communication challenge almost as big as the science itself.
So I am glad to report our future is in good hands but now it’s time to do our part. These discoveries and inventions have wider uses than bone grafts and biology. Materials remain vital to much, maybe even all, of our advanced manufacturing industries. These young folk have made their move to communicate well; it behoves us to take a curious step in their direction to see if we can use the fruits of their labour for our economy, before others do, as they undoubtedly will!
IOP Innovation Awards
This month marks the beginning of the last six months of my four year tenure as Vice President for Business and Education in the Institute of Physics; so I hope you will forgive a plug and a small retrospective. As a charitable learned body, when I became involved in the leadership, IOP was just beginning to digest the consequences of the changes to charity law. In particular, it was still reeling from the shock that, as a membership body solely in support of Physics and Physicists, it was forced to lose its “Corporate Members”, organisations highly dependent on Physics and which had been the main-stay of its interaction with industry and business.
This provoked a review which was long overdue, in reality.
Advanced applied physics had been the servant of Government since its successes of WWII: Radar, Sonar and of course the Bomb. Every time Government thought they would get a breather from funding it, somebody would invent something else strategic like digital communications, encryption or liquid crystals to cause them to keep on. Anyway, the success of the great Star Wars spoof and the collapse of the Soviet Union allowed the mass privatisation and “civilianising” of the industries. IOP had reacted by entrenching back into academe despite the fact that half its membership were in industry and business. Physicists were in demand from banking to bioscience but their learned body had not come with them.
So my job was to find ways of re-connecting and of re-emphasising the importance of the subject to the economies of the 21st century. One output is our new award scheme recognising the role of Physics in Business.
Tomorrow (1st February) will see nominations open for the inaugural IOP Innovation Awards. These will recognise and celebrate excellence in physics-based innovation in companies in the UK and Ireland and I for one would like to see some Northern Ireland entrants come forward to compete with the best across these islands.
While it may seem obvious to some, the fact that physics-derived innovations are at the core of the successes of many modern businesses will come as a surprise to many. From autonomous forklifts in supermarket warehouses to the complex algorithms underpinning the risk management software of large insurance markets, physics is at the heart of the commercial world. And now more than ever it is time to bring this “hidden” physics into the light.
That’s why the IOP’s Council decided last year to create the IOP Innovation Awards to complement the longstanding scientific and leadership awards. The Innovation Awards will be won by companies of all sizes and from all sectors that have built their success on physics. A new innovative development in, say, a fighter jet’s engine is built on physics as much as a new application of technologies in a retail warehouse system, or a bank’s investment modelling software. The Innovation Awards will celebrate them all.
They’re open to companies or business units with a commercial base in the UK or Ireland. Companies can nominate themselves and will need to demonstrate commercial growth following the implementation of a product or service derived from a physics-based innovation.
The IOP Innovation Awards are a prestigious high-profile mark that demonstrates that companies have built their successes on physics. The winners will be able to showcase their achievements at an exhibition in the autumn and will be presented with their awards at a prestigious Awards Dinner.
The deadline for nominations is 30 April. To enter, or for more details, visit http://iop.org/innovation
The role of a “CONNECT” as invented in San Diego
Since I converted from science to business or at least from the science of science to the business of science, the most important thing I learned was that there is no plagiarism in business. Good ideas are valuable from wherever they spring and emulation is an acceptable form of flattery. (Incidentally, this is the origin of the eastern predilection for copying and its misunderstanding in the west.)
I guess most readers know that in the Science Park we elected to use the San Diego CONNECT model to provide the back bone of our programmes and networks. One of the key founders of CONNECT is Prof Mary Walshok, who has been a continuing source of advice to us as we seek to achieve the same effect to our economy. Since then she has worked in many problem areas of the USA and elsewhere in the world and these experiences have only re-enforced and consolidated her early work in San Diego.
In a recent paper for the IEDC (article 10171), Mary reviewed the roots of CONNECT’s success. Without a hint of embarrassment and with deep gratitude to Mary, I replicate the abstract here for you.
The Early Roots of San Diego’s Innovation Economy, The IEDC Economic Development Journal, vol.10, No 4, p. 44-50, Fall 2011
By
Mary Lindenstein Walshok
University of California, San Diego
“As regions across the United States focus on how to grow innovation clusters, they are placing a major emphasis on the role of research institutions and venture capital as crucial to any kind of change. However, academic research is suggesting that, while such assets are necessary, they are not sufficient. A culture that values innovation and enables collaboration is essential. Such a culture is supported by frequent and high-quality social interactions among the diverse partners in cluster development. This, in turn, is greatly enabled by two critical factors: geographic propinquity and dynamic boundary-spanning activities and organizations.
San Diego, California, which today is home to some of the nation’s most robust technology clusters such as wireless, biotech and software, is an interesting example of how early regional land use decisions by the public sector coupled with “venture” investments and practices on the part of the private sector jump-started the growth of the new economy. The cluster of R&D institutions, high-tech and biotech companies, IP law firms, venture capital firms and related business services now agglomerated on the Torrey Pines Mesa was largely enabled by geographic propinquity and a collaborative culture. This collaborative culture has deep historical roots and, over the last 30 years, has been reinforced by the science and technology boundary-spanning organization known as CONNECT, which organizes close to 300 events a year to bring together all the players in the innovation ecosystem. The knowledge flows, high levels of trust, collaborative capacity and nimbleness needed in entrepreneurial ventures are significantly enabled by this combination of geographic propinquity and boundary-spanning activities.”
Mary has reviewed our work in Northern Ireland and reckons that, while we have a way to go, we are getting there. Let’s all keep on keeping on!
What do we do?
I first was asked this question by my children, once they had reached that age when, in human geography lessons, they heard, for example, that wheat and corn comes from the North American prairies, wool from Australia, cars from Germany, electronics from Japan etc etc. School Atlases were devoid of anything up to date from the UK and Ireland and all the comments chose to bemoan the loss of our Victorian style industry and black satanic mills.
I don’t think it’s changed much. A child skimming through the press and political announcements today would be forgiven for thinking that only the City of London makes worthwhile contributions to our GDP. With that self-same rationale for our recent political decisions in relation to Europe, still ringing in our ears, I think it’s worth a little personal research, as at the beginning of 2012, we prepare to rebalance and to rebuild our economy.
I had a head start thanks to conversational updates during those hours spent in the airport lounge last year, en route to London-based meetings, alongside so many other NI business people. For those interested, I’m going to point to a series of websites.
http://www.glendimplex.com/ , http://www.wrightbus.com/site/default.asp?CATID=2 ,
http://www.belfast.aero.bombardier.com/ , http://www.powerscreen.com/en/,
http://www.intelesens.com/, http://www.heartsine.com/en/ , http://www.andor.com/ ,
http://www.wcrx.com/about.jsp , http://www.almacgroup.com/ , http://www.randox.com/
There are many more (see for example http://www.nisp.co.uk/?page_id=28 for another 100) but I think these, especially the first, are among the most surprising. Taken together, you will see a clutch of vibrant growing Northern Irish companies that have grown as well as any in the world, by taking on the world and impacting nearly every market place. From machines for mining and mass transit, to medical marvels and top flight consumer durables, there is something here to interest every technically minded person in the country. These advances have been made by our fellow country men and women and it behoves us all to get behind and shove.
Better still is what may still come!
I’m writing this before the holiday, but being sad and disinterested in X-factor, Strictly Come Dancing and such, I expect to while away the sloth of over-indulgence in front of National Geographic, Discovery Channel or some BBC equivalent. Most of the world’s current advances in technology on show, through such channels, are no more than two degrees of separation away from the companies above. For example, Terrex, the owner of Powerscreen, makes the world’s biggest excavators and is a literal powerhouse in the world of mining; Caterpillar, the owner of FG Wilson, is another. Immediately therefore, the NI economy is connected with the most vital element of current times, the global supply of scarce resources.
I know it’s tough on the high street, and in the administrative corridors, with both having consequentials for the construction industry but I do think it’s important to balance the news especially as we give it to the young; so give yourself and yours a lift and check out our amazing companies!
Cloud Computing
Last month I became a regular user of the “Cloud” but I didn’t have to go back to school or swot up with computer science text books in my own time.
No, I just bought the eponymous e-book reader.
Now wherever I am and whatever internet devices I buy or have access to, anywhere in the world, I can read my favourite classic authors or the latest detective fiction, at my choice. No longer am I subject to the inflated prices of books and magazines in airport and other waiting rooms. I can free up my bookcases and give them over only to the best books; ones that I treasure for some attribute beyond just the information they contain. It’s not just for published material either; I can carry my own working papers for meetings in London in the same container, in my coat pocket and freed of briefcase and lap-top. I can access family photos to personalise a room or apartment anywhere in the world, so long as it has an internet connection.
Best of all, this personal library is stored on computers networked all around the world and backed up for ever, without my having to do a thing. I can buy a book so fast, with or without a trial read, that I’m glad the provider offered an emergency button to un-buy any item purchased by a clumsy finger.
So why am I writing all this?
Strange as it may seem, nothing has brought home to me more graphically the changes going on in our world. Yet, especially at this time of year, we’ll still expect people to be flocking with open wallets into our high streets, to create the usual year on year increases in sales. I’m afraid one person’s technology boon can so easily be another’s bane; so what’s to do?
The only answer is to embrace the change, add it to what you know and love and go for it!
If you need inspiration, look no further than the list of Management Today’s list of their top 100 entrepreneurs; see http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/features/1055791/Britains-Top-100-Entrepreneurs-2011-Premier-League . Out of its top hundred, Northern Ireland boasts two family companies. For the first time ever a statistic in which we achieve better than our demographic due.
One is Christopher Watson of Chain Reaction Cycles.
In 25 years, Chain Reaction Cycles has grown from a small family-owned village bike shop in Ballynure, to the number one online bike store in the world, thanks to a £1,500 bank loan and the technology of Science Park based Export Technologies.
The others are Paul and Jeremy Eakin of TG Eakin.
Co Down-based TG Eakin was formed in 1974 to manufacture ostomy products, by Tom Eakin, a pharmacist. Based on the experiences of his customers, he spotted an opportunity to provide better disposable bags and pouches for urostomy and colostomy patients. The company pioneered new designs, materials and adhesives and now supplies colostomy and wound care products to more than 30 countries.
The only constant is change and we all have to make it work for us, especially since it’s now easier than ever to follow the lead of the Watsons and the Eakins, to ensure Happy Christmases into the long term. Checkout the services of http://www.whisplecloudservices.com/ or http://www.dni2020.com/home , for example to see how easy it is to go global from Northern Ireland.
