Events this month

Events for October - Please click here.

Hotdesk Facility re-located

As part of their Innovate programme, Leitrim County Enterprise Board recently launched their ‘hot-desk’ facility. Located at the Board’s head office in Carrick-on-Shannon.

View from reception

Work Area

Facilities available

• State-of-the-art computer with broadband connection

• Web-cam for video conferencing

• High Resolution Printer & Scanner.

• CD and DVD Writer.

• Voice-over-Internet calls. International calls at 2 cent per minute to anywhere in the world.
• Wireless (Wi-Fi) broadband connection - Access the Internet using your own laptop.

Recruitment & Enterprise Expo

Click here do download brochure [pdf document]

The Expo will be held on March 23rd 2007 in the Landmark Hotel, Carrick on Shannon from 2.00pm – 8.00pm..

This is one of a series of promotional activities planned for 2007 aimed at promoting County Leitrim as a place to work, live & invest.

A number of public agencies and private companies have been assembled for the event and will be available to discuss any of your queries.

If you would like any further information please contact us on:

Tel: 071 9620450

Email: info@leitrimenterprise.ie

Who should attend?

This event is open to any individual who has an interest in either:

Working, living or investing in Co. Leitrim
Developing/expanding a business in Co. Leitrim
Relocating a business to Co. Leitrim
Further education opportunities
Involved in community development work.

Why should you attend?

The Recruitment and Enterprise Expo will promote the development of Co. Leitrim and host the following:

Local business with positions vacant
Development Agencies / businesses
Third level opportunities in the region
Estate agents.

All these companies will be available to meet with you on the day to discuss possible opportunities and assist with questions you might have.

Companies

1. Publicjobs.ie
2. MBNA Ireland Ltd.
3. Masonite Ireland.
4. Tesco.
5. Vistamed Ltd.
6. Jetwash Ltd
7. Collins Mc Nicholas.
8. The Landmark Hotel
9. Aura Leitrim Leisure
10. HSE West
11. The Bush Hotel

Development Agencies

1. Leitrim County Council.
2. Leitrim County Development Board.
3. Leitrim County Enterprise Board.
4. Enterprise Ireland
5. Western Development Commission
6. Arigna LEADER.
7. FAS
8. Leitrim VEC.
9. Leitrim Partnership.
10. Leitrim County Childcare Committee.
11. Leitrim Citizens Information Service.

This Level Colleges

1. Sligo Institute of technology
2. Athlone Institute of Technology

Estate Agents

1. DNG Farrell.
2. Brady Real Estate Alliance.
3. Gordon Hughes Estate Agents.

Local Business Associations

1. Ballinamore Business association.
2. Drumshanbo Community Council

What is Innovate?

INNOVATE is a joint programme between Leitrim County Enterprise Board and Omagh Enterprise Company that provides businesses with the opportunity to improve profitability.

The INNOVATE programme provides a project manager, one based in Leitrim and one based in Omagh, who will help identify aspects of a business that can be improved. The project manager will visit a business and discuss the areas that may be developed. During these meetings, the project manager can also identify other areas of the business that could be improved through other functions of the INNOVATE programme. These areas may include the introduction of a new process or technology or the provision of specialised mentoring and/or training.
The INNOVATE programme will also present some of the latest practices in marketing, e-business and new technology. Business support from each project manager in addition to assistance from our strong mentor panel is also available to help implement some of these best practices.

Other elements of the programme include:
· The development of an Innovation Centre in Omagh and in Leitrim displaying some of the latest smart solutions for businesses
· Innovation evenings on a range of topics from internet and e-business to marketing
· Academic and Research & Development Links with Third Level Institutions and Universities.

Innovate is part-financed by the European Union through the Interreg IIIA Programme managed for the Special EU Programmes Body by the ICBAN Partnership.

400pc increase' in Irish bloggers

Original Source - Silicon Republic.com

15.01.2007 - The number of Irish people blogging on the internet is understood to have increased from around 1,000 to between 3,000 and 4,000 people, the organisers of the Irish Blog Awards have claimed. They said the exact figure may actually be higher. Scribes who make up Ireland’s blogging community will have a chance to prove they’re not just any Joe-who-blogs at the second annual Irish Blog Awards, which will take place in early March.

Last year humorous blogger Twenty Major was top of the blogs, winning the Best Blogger Award, the Best Blog Post Award and the Most Humorous Post Award.

The awards were organised by Damian Mulley of IrelandOffline to recognise new talent in this field.

The blogging community has asked Mulley for extra categories and as a result they have been increased from 13 to 21 to include new areas like best business blogs, best music blogs as well as podcasting and video.

“Being a community event, it was the bloggers themselves who chose the categories to nominate each other in,” Mulley explained.

“Anyone can nominate a blog and it will be the public who will vote to whittle the nominees down to a short list, from which a set of judges will take over to rate the best quality Irish blogs.”

Running concurrently to the Irish Blog Awards will be a competition for the Best Irish Bebo profile.

The social networking site now counts hundreds of thousands of Irish people as members.

“While still very new, Bebo in Ireland has more reach to the youth market than any radio or TV show,” said Mulley.

“The next web generation are learning the ropes on sites like Bebo and the point of this award is to show this generation that creating unique and entertaining content can win them recognition.”

The blog awards are free to enter and encompass a nomination round, followed by a public vote, followed by a final judging round. Nominations can be made on http://awards.ie/nominations.

The awards will take place at 7.30pm on 3 March at the Alexander Hotel in Dublin. MC for the evening will be 2FM DJ Rick O’Shea.

The awards are currently at the nomination stage and a short list will be released in February.

By John Kennedy

Innovation - a recent definition I heard

At our recent workshop I heard this definition of innovation - "creativity with successful commercialization" - just thought it was worth noting.

Other points

Dr. Robert G. Cooper

Larry E. Greiner

Welcome 2007

A new year, it's a great time to make some improvements.