STIMULATING AND SUPPORTING NEW BUSINESS IN IRELAND

CEO of WESTBIC Elected President of European BIC Network

By Joan Fahey, August 4, 2010

Joe Greaney, CEO of WESTBIC, was recently elected President of the European BIC Network (EBN). EBN was set up in 1984 as a joint initiative of the European Commission, European industry leaders and the first pioneering Business and Innovation Centres (BICs).

Speaking at the recent EBN Congress in Burgos in early July, Greaney noted that the core business model of the BIC has stood the test of time. “The processes of continuous self improvement and benchmarking of BIC services to innovative enterprise will continue to add value in the market by helping to turn creativity into commercial, competitive advantage through the process of applied Innovation”, said Greaney. “We have now begun to face our second major economic recession only, this time, the global context demands of us to optimise our networked effect and to continue to lead the development of the next generation of innovation enablers e.g. enterprise infrastructure, financing instruments, collaborative networks and so on. Our support role to EU, National and Regional Authorities in delivering enterprise creation measures is also of critical importance and our collective experience and talent pool is a true, quality assured `fit-for-purpose` resource that is already active and aligned with relevant policies and market needs” he said.

The EBN network is an umbrella organisation bringing together over 200 BICs from all around Europe and beyond. It provides help and support to these BICs by acting as an interface with other organisations including the European Commission by providing expertise in numerous areas including funding and by stimulating the sharing of best practices.

For further information Tel: (091) 730850 or email: info@westbic.ie