presents:

Frontiers in Science & Technology

Join us for the inaugural Frontiers in Science & Technology event

Nature’s Cruise Missiles:
Can venom from snakes and frogs unlock a new era in pharmaceutical development?

Wednesday 6th June 2012, 12.30pm – 2.00pm

In partnership with:
Nature’s Cruise Missiles
The publication of the first draft of the human genome in 2001, coupled with the advent of  “designer drugs”, is generally agreed by scientists from many disciplines as a milestone in human endeavour. These were advancements worthy of marking the threshold of a new millennium.  In terms of pharmaceutical development, these were meant to provide a host of new drug targets and provide a base for rational drug design that would usher in a golden age of profitability for the industry and serve to generate a plethora of new therapeutics for the major intractable diseases of humankind.  Alas to date, this has not been realised and the pipelines of many if not most major pharma have been reduced to trickles if they have not effectively ceased to flow.

Is now the time to return to the traditional methods of unravelling the accumulated wisdom of Nature? Could the pinnacle of peptide signalling and targeted evolution reside in the arsenals of “smart” peptide weaponry found in animal venoms?

Chris Shaw’s remarkable research over the past 20 years has resulted in peptides that offer a new approach because they come from the cells and tissues of living organisms, namely amphibians, sourcing molecules of Life rather than Death.

Join us to hear Chris’s groundbreaking research and how he is changing the pharmaceutical industry.

About the presenter – Chris Shaw:
Prof. Chris Shaw is Professor in Drug Discovery within the School of Pharmacy, Queens University Belfast. Prof. Shaw’s exciting work involves the discovery and characterisation of biologically active agents within Nature, most notably from amphibian venoms that are harvested worldwide. High-throughput molecular technologies involving de novo peptide sequencing, “shotgun” cDNA cloning and pharmacological screening is directed towards the functional genomic understanding of peptidomes, thus allowing rapid acquisition of structural data and the generation of peptide molecular libraries for sourcing novel drug leads.

Cost:  Free of charge
Date: Wednesday 6th June 2012
Time: 12.30 – 13.00PM Registration
13.00 – 13.30PM Presentation
13.30 – 13.50PM Q&A
13.50 – 14.00PM Wrap up and close
Venue: Riddel Hall, Queens University Belfast
Contact: Roisin Clancy, Programme Manager, NISP CONNECT, Tel: 028 9073 7809,    Email: roisin.clancy@nispconnect.org
Note: Lunch will be provided

Click HERE to register

Who should attend?
Founders and executives of science and technology growth companies, business development personnel, investors, professional services firms, industry leaders, politicians, public officials,  press and representatives of the region’s economic development agencies.

About NISP CONNECT Frontiers in Science and Technology
Launching in June 2012, The Frontiers in Science & Technology lecture series aims to enhance the dialogue between the business community and Northern Ireland’s leading scientists, engineers and researchers.

These frequent lunch seminars provide access to a number of cutting-edge research efforts underway within Northern Ireland’s leading research institutes.

About NISP CONNECT
A leadership platform and catalyst between Northern Ireland’s entrepreneurs, research institutions, investors, technology corporations and professional service providers by linking entrepreneurs with the resources they need for success.

NISP CONNECT is an independent, non-profit organization fostering entrepreneurship by accelerating the growth of promising technologies and early stage companies. A collaboration between Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP), the University of Ulster, Queen’s University, Belfast and AFBI (Agri Food & BioSciences Institute), NISP CONNECT acts as an ‘honest, neutral broker’ within the region.

NISP CONNECT focuses on: research institution support, business creation and development, entrepreneurial learning, access to capital, public policy advocacy, awards, recognition and networking……by mobilizing and leveraging the private sector’s best on a pro-bono basis.

NISP CONNECT is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland 2007 – 2013.

Janne Uusilehto Head of Nokia Product Security will be delivering a presentation in ECIT on Friday 25th May from 09:30-10:30 on the following:

“Security engineering of consumer products.”

This presentation will cover the nature of security engineering, role of different security features, trade-offs you must make and how usability will impact product security. You also will learn how the global industry is working in this area and what kind of challenges there are in area of global consumer products security.

Janne’s bio is here: http://www.trustedcomputinggroup.org/about_tcg/board_of_directors/janne_uusilehto

If you plan to attend please email David Crozier (CSIT Technical Marketing Manager) at d.crozier@qub.ac.uk

By Angela Reavey of BDO

Programme Overview:
You are ready to commercialize your breakthrough research, you are ready to break free and spin-out your company or your start-up is ready for the international big-time. How are you going to finance your next phase of development when your friends and family are tapped dry or can only provide part of the funding? There is considerable government support available in Northern Ireland in the form of grants. Who qualifies for this support and what can you expect in the application process?

Benefits of Attending:
• An overview of the sources and purpose of state aid available to start-ups in Northern Ireland and the structure and objectives of economic agencies that deliver
• Case studies of start-ups and support available
• The most common reasons why start-ups do not receive economic development agency support

Who should attend?
Entrepreneurs, wantrepreneurs and businesses in the start-up phase.

Date: Thursday 7th June 2012
Time: 08.00am – 08.30am Registration
08.30am – 09.45am Programme
0930am – 10.00am Q&A
Location: Northern Ireland Science Park, Queens Island, Belfast
Cost: Free of charge
Contact: Roisin Clancy, Programme Manager
Tel: 028 9073 7809, nispconnect@nisp.co.uk
Note: Breakfast will be provided for participants
Parking: http://www.nisp.co.uk/Car-Parking-.aspx

Please register here

About the Presenter:
Angela Reavey FCA BSSc is a Partner in BDO’s Management Consultancy Division. Angela has two years experience within Invest’ NIs Financial Appraisal department, and continues to carry out a significant number of appraisals for Invest NI.

Angela is the Partner responsible for a wide range of public and private sector consultancy in BDO. She also regularly advises businesses including start ups. She is a former Board member of the Northern Ireland Science Park Foundation and former Chair of the Ulster Society of Chartered Accountants.

About NISP’s Frameworks Entrepreneur Workshops
NISP offers ongoing educational opportunities for entrepreneurs building and growing innovative hitech, biotech or cleantech companies and offers member companies the opportunity to provide expert content to a responsive, interactive audience.

Many of today’s business founders and future entrepreneurs have scientific and technical backgrounds but have had limited experience in industry, so they often lack exposure to critical information which is essential to leading a start-up. To fill this gap, NISP offers InnovaNET Entrepreneur Workshops to provide these bright leaders with the vocabulary, foundations and framework around which they can build awareness of the many disciplines they will oversee as “C” level managers”

About NISP CONNECT
NISP CONNECT is an independent, non-profit organization fostering entrepreneurship by accelerating the growth of promising technologies and early stage companies. A collaboration between Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP), the University of Ulster, Queen’s University, Belfast and AFBI (Agri Food & BioSciences Institute), NISP CONNECT acts as an ‘honest, neutral broker’ within the region.

NISP CONNECT focuses on:
•  research institution support
•  business creation and development
•  entrepreneurial learning
•  access to capital
•  public policy advocacy
•  awards, recognition and networking

……by mobilizing and leveraging the private sector’s best on a pro-bono basis

NISP CONNECT is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland 2007 – 2013

by Pinsent Masons

Programme Overview:
People are the key to any business and incentivising and retaining key staff is critical for any employer who wishes to grow its business. This seminar will look at different approaches to reward individual talent, develop committed employees and maximise individual and team performance using employee stock and stock options. The programme will be hosted by Pinsent Masons and with a highly experienced expert panel of successful entrepreneurs.

Key areas include:

•Evolving reward strategy
•Bonuses and incentives
•Share based incentives
•Share option based incentives, including Enterprise Management Incentive options

The seminar will be led by Christine Yuill from law firm Pinsent Masons.

Who should attend:
Entrepreneurs, wantrepreneurs and businesses in the start-up phase.

Date: Thursday 24th May 2012
Time: 08.00am – 08.30am Registration
08.30am – 10:00am Programme
09.40am – 10.00am Q&A
Location: Northern Ireland Science Park, Queens Island, Belfast
Cost: Free of charge
Contact: Roisin Clancy, Programme Manager
Tel: 028 9073 7809 Email: roisin.clancy@nisp.co.uk
Note: Breakfast will be provided for participants
Parking: Secured parking is available at 8am

About the speakers
Christine Yuill
Christine is a senior associate in Pinsent Masons corporate team and is based in their Glasgow office. She specialises in corporate tax and employee benefits including advising on the tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions, property tax issues including VAT and SDLT and in relation to a broad range of employee incentive schemes and employee benefit trust arrangements. She has advised in relation to the share schemes aspects of a number of acquisitions, public takeovers and IPOs.

About NISP’s Frameworks Entrepreneur Workshops
NISP offers ongoing educational opportunities for entrepreneurs building and growing innovative hitech, biotech or cleantech companies and offers member companies the opportunity to provide expert content to a responsive, interactive audience.

Many of today’s business founders and future entrepreneurs have scientific and technical backgrounds but have had limited experience in industry, so they often lack exposure to critical information which is essential to leading a start-up. To fill this gap, NISP offers Frameworks Entrepreneur Workshops to provide these bright leaders with the vocabulary, foundations and framework around which they can build awareness of the many disciplines they will oversee as “C” level managers”

About NISP CONNECT
NISP CONNECT is an independent, non-profit organization fostering entrepreneurship by accelerating the growth of promising technologies and early stage companies. A collaboration between Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP), the University of Ulster, Queen’s University, Belfast and AFBI (Agri Food & BioSciences Institute), NISP CONNECT acts as an ‘honest, neutral broker’ within the region.

NISP CONNECT focuses on:

• research institution support
• business creation and development
• entrepreneurial learning
• access to capital
• public policy advocacy
• awards, recognition and networking

……by mobilizing and leveraging the private sector’s best on a pro-bono basis

NISP CONNECT is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland 2007 – 2013

Rest of story at U.tv

RSVP: aoife.clarke@cbi.org.uk

Rest of Story at Career Cast.com

Rest of Story at SynchNI Blog

We would like to invite you to a presentation on the 14th May 2012 at 11am.
The seminar will be hosted by GGTC and will last around 30 minutes followed by a light lunch and a chance to chat to the hosts.

HMRC estimate that 150,000 companies should be claiming under ‘Research and Development Tax Credit scheme’ and yet only just over 7000 have claimed.

It is an EU initiative that is aimed at small and medium sized enterprises, SME’s, and seeks to recover development costs that companies have invested in innovative product and manufacturing processes.

The R&D Tax credit scheme benefits businesses developing and producing new products and manufacturing processes, including in house software development.

To qualify you need to be a UK Limited Company that has been in business for at least 12 months and be making PAYE and National Insurance contributions.
Do you employ fewer than 500 people? More than 500 still qualify for the larger company scheme.

You can get a tax refund for each of the past 2 financial years immediately, that’s £80,000! Based on an HMRC annual average claim value of £40,000 for SME’s.

There is no cost to attend but it is essential to book your place in advance. Please let me know by Friday the 4th May to book your place by emailing: gary.hexley@ggtc.co.uk

Full story at SynchNI Blog

Important Announcment: SpringUp has moved from Gogamingo to Farset Labs

Please see location details below

Register now and get your tickets

More info at www.springup.co

Belfast Telegraph Article

Norman Apsley, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Science Park; David Patterson, CEO of Sophia; acting US consul general, Kevin Roland; and Invest NI’s Ian Murphy.

Sophia, based at the Northern Ireland Science Park, has marked the launch of its new ‘Digital Librarian’ product with the announcement of four new contracts in the US publishing and government sectors.

The ‘Digital Librarian’ understands the meaning of documents including pdfs, word files, news feeds and social media, so that it knows what is discussed in them. It uses this inherent understanding to enrich each document with additional knowledge to make it more findable when people search. Sophia automatically enriches documents with information about its topic & sub topic and also adds new knowledge about its meaning. For example a document that refers to heart attack will be enriched with additional terms such as heart disease, or myocardial infarct to increase the number of ways users can find it.

The company now has a number of customers in the publishing space in the US using the ‘Digital Librarian’ to better understand the interests of their customers on-line.. One of them, Random House, is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. The software is also being used by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the largest science and energy national laboratory in the Department of Energy (USA), who are interested in the platforms unique discovery capabilities and the extra dimension this can bring to search.

David Patterson, CEO of Sophia, said: “We have set about addressing the limitations of conventional search engines by creating software that automatically understands meaning & context without relying on training, human guidance or ontologies.  We enable people to work smarter and become more productive by making information easier to discover within their organisations. Sophia has invested heavily in an export market strategy and have opened an office in Silicon Valley, California. We are now starting to reap the benefits of the lucrative US market with these significant contracts and will continue to adopt a global approach focusing initially on the scientific & publishing sectors.”

Sophia Search recently held its first annual global summit bringing together employees from their international offices in North America and Russia to the company’s headquarters at the Northern Ireland Science Park. At the event members of the Sophia team met with Invest NI and the US consul general to strategise and discuss maximising the commercial opportunities the US market presents.

Speaking at the event acting US consul general, Kevin Roland, said:“I applaud the Northern Ireland Science Park for supporting the research and development of this innovative digital platform. The creation of ‘Sophia’ underpins Northern Ireland’s capacity to provide world-leading, cutting-edge technologies and services to the global market”.

Norman Apsley, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Science Park, added: “Starting out as winners of the NISP CONNECT £25K Awards to receiving the largest ever investment made in Northern Ireland by Halo business angels, Sophia Search is going from strength to strength and is a great example of how companies at the Park are using it as a launch pad to global markets.

Belfast Telegraph Coverage
Irish News Coverage

Angel Masterclass

If you are interested in finding more about Halo (from an investor’s perspective and a company’s perspective), please get in touch with us!

AWSeedEISRadioUlsterApril2012

Pictured at the breakfast briefing event designed to promote the new SEED EIS Scheme and its potential to create a new wave of angel investing in Northern Ireland are (l-r)Alan Watts, Director, Halo NI; Fergal McCann, Chairman, Chartered Accountants Ulster Society; Nelson Gray, former European business angel of the year and Des Ryan, Technical Advisor, Venture Capital Schemes, HMRC London

‘The new Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) which comes into effect in April has the potential to more than triple business angel investment levels in local NI start-ups – equating to an estimate of £18million funding per annum.’

That was the message delivered to attendees at a breakfast briefing today delivered by the Halo Business Angel network (a joint initiative of Invest Northern Ireland and InterTradeIreland) and the Chartered Accountants Ulster Society. The event was designed to promote the new Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (E.I.S) which the UK government has heralded as a major step forward in creating a new wave of business angel investing in start-up companies.

The event targeted both business angels and their advisors and discussed the merits of the new tax incentive and its potential impact on business angel investment. Among other things Seed EIS offers individual investors an unprecedented 50% up front tax relief as well as the ability to roll capital gains into Seed EIS for the first year. Attendees heard expert commentary from Des Ryan, Technical Advisor Venture Capital Schemes, HMRC London and Nelson Gray former European business angel of the year.

Speaking about the importance of the scheme to NI entrepreneurs Alan Watts, Director, Halo said;

“The SEED EIS scheme offers such attractive tax incentives that it has the potential to more than triple the levels of business angel investment seen to date in Northern Ireland – equating to an estimate of more than £18 million per annum for local start-ups. SEED EIS is particularly suited to knowledge economy companies who typically need less capital investment compared to conventional companies. Given the increasing focus on this sector in NI, local tech start-ups can expect to see increasing interest from angel investors in the months ahead as the details of the scheme become better known. This event is part of our efforts to promote the scheme to would be investors and to highlight the benefits of angel investment generally.”

Commenting on the potential for local knowledge sector companies Nelson Gray, former European Business Angel of the Year said;

“In the past you could measure innovative exporting companies by the number of pallets being loaded onto lorries or even, in the case of the Titanic, sailing down Belfast Lough. Today’s knowledge economy companies work very differently and their products more often leave on fibre optic cables. Instead of having to buy expensive capital equipment, they work on a ‘pay as you go’ basically paying for only as much as they need from on-line and cloud-based services. This give these companies the ability to achieve far more with less initial capital, making this possibly the most exciting time ever for angel investors. And all of this is very well suited to investment through Seed EIS which is necessarily limited to smaller amounts of investment in start-up companies.

Seed EIS is also of course a very good first step for other companies who will need to raise larger sums of money, but for whom SEIS forms a vital early investment.”

Fergal McCann, Chairman, Chartered Accountants Ulster Branch added; “This event is designed to highlight the great tax efficient benefits on offer under the SEED EIS scheme and to discuss the potential of business angel investing generally. Our members will be expected to assist their clients both with the mechanics of SEIS and but more importantly with explaining angel investing – which is still very new to many. We hope it will help demystify both subjects and in the process increase angel investment in local start-ups who need this type of smart funding to take their business ideas forward. ”

Hanging in the sun

There was a great turn out with over 40 golfers registered.  To get them started for the day ahead a bacon buttie and cuppa was provided to sustain them for the next 4 hours or so of golfing.

Dinner

The sunshine allowed for a great day of golf with some great scores.  After the golf and the scoring of the cards a well deserved meal was had before the prize giving.

Having a laugh

-Our overall winner was Robert Patterson who had a score of 44 and won a £100 voucher for The Merchant hotel sponsored by the Northern Ireland Science Park.

Robert and Philip

-The best team prize sponsored by inphoActive was won by the team called ‘Whatever’ with a score of 51 and the team members were Paddy Hearty, Declan McCaffrey, Les Curran & Patrick McCloskey.

-The best back 9 winner was Pat Wall with a score of 21 and his prize was sponsored by Titanic Walking Tours.

-The best front 9 was won by Niall McConnell with a score of 21 and his prize was sponsored by Mount Charles.

-Closest to the pin was won by Mark Haslam and his prize was sponsored by Fidessa.

-The longest drive was won by Dan Loughlin and his prize was sponsored by Loud Mouth Media.

The prize for the best swing goes to Les Curran who had been taking tips from Tiger Woods coach!

Les shows off his expertise.

Such a good time was had by all we are looking to make a date in the calendar for the next one and with scores ranging from the winning score of 44 to 8 we look forward to even the least experienced golfers participating.

Thanks to all who participated to make this such a wonderful day and a special word of thanks to the sponsors of the prizes and Roberta for coordinating the day.

See all the pictures from the day at The Park’s Flickr Page

WHEN: Thursday 26th April 2012

TIME: Breakfast served at 7.30am (close at 9.15am)

RSVP: Orla McKibbin on T: 02890439009 or E: orla.mckibbin@bdo.co.uk or

Cherrie Stewart on T 028 9065 6103 E: Stewartc@ansons.co.uk byFriday 13th April 2012

Part 1
Part 2

Get your tickets here

Get your tickets here

Rest of story at BBC Website

Programme Overview:
Raising money in today’s environment is no easy task — but it can be done if you focus on the right priorities and avoid common deal-killers. In this workshop, Peter Stafford from A&L Goodbody will provide you with actionable advice that will prepare you for raising capital from venture capital funds.

Benefits of Attending:
• An overview of venture funds and venture financings;
• Identifying the best approaches in dealing with investors;
• How the venture capital process works;
• Common terms used in transactions and what they mean.

Please register here:

Date: 26th April 2011
Time: 08.00am – 08.30am Registration
08.30am – 09.45am Programme
09.45am – 10.00am Q&A
Location: Northern Ireland Science Park, Queens Island, Belfast
Cost: Free of charge
Contact: Roisin Clancy, Programme Manager
Tel: 028 9073 7806, roisin.clancy@nisp.co.uk
Note: Breakfast will be provided for participants

Please register here:

About the Speakers
Peter Stafford
Peter Stafford is a partner in the Belfast office of A&L Goodbody, one of Ireland’s leading law firms.  He specialises in corporate finance work including public and private company acquisitions and disposals, management buy outs, private equity transactions and commercial contracts.  Peter regularly works for venture capitalists, business angels and investee companies.

Who should attend?
Frameworks Entrepreneur workshops are professional development programmes, scheduled throughout the year. Attendees are generally founders, CEOs and managers involved in strategic business growth and development, or scientists or technology experts considering a business start-up.

About NISP’s Frameworks Entrepreneur Workshops
NISP offers ongoing educational opportunities for entrepreneurs building and growing innovative hitech, biotech or cleantech companies and offers member companies the opportunity to provide expert content to a responsive, interactive audience.

Many of today’s business founders and future entrepreneurs have scientific and technical backgrounds but have had limited experience in industry, so they often lack exposure to critical information which is essential to leading a start-up. To fill this gap, NISP offers Frameworks Entrepreneur Workshops to provide these bright leaders with the vocabulary, foundations and framework around which they can build awareness of the many disciplines they will oversee as “C” level managers”

About NISP CONNECT
NISP CONNECT is an independent, non-profit organization fostering entrepreneurship by accelerating the growth of promising technologies and early stage companies. Our core purpose is to connect people, technology and capital to drive innovation and create wealth through building high value IP based companies in Northern Ireland. We want to help to establish a thriving entrepreneurial eco-system where innovation, vision and talent flourish.

A collaboration between Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP), the University of Ulster and Queens University, Belfast, NISP CONNECT acts as an ‘honest, neutral broker’ within the region through provision of direct delivery programmes, mentorship/coaching services, educational seminars and events geared at developing and encouraging entrepreneurial ideas, talent and leadership.

Application deadline extended to 4th May!

NISP CONNECT and Halo’s 2012 Pitchfest is underway!!

• Are you a Northern Irish science or technology start-up company that could benefit from exposure to some of our top executives, high-technologists and professionals living overseas?
• Need access to capital, talent or markets?
• Could you use £3,000 in cash???

First Prize: £3,000 & 2 runners up prizes of £1000

If so, apply today for Pitchfest 2012!

NISP CONNECT and Halo are excited to announce the open application window for Pitchfest 2012. Eligible companies must be based in Northern Ireland and must not have raised in excess of £500,000 in seed or institutional venture capital funding. If you’re a start-up business with an executive summary you owe it to yourself to complete our easy application process today!

Up to 12 finalists will be invited to give their 3 minute “quickpitch” on 7th June, 2012 at the Pitchfest event @ NISP.

You don’t need to be looking for capital right now – this is a broader pitch for influential people who can make things happen for your business.

Why should you apply? Where should we begin!

Applicants receive:
• A chance to pitch their business to an illustrious room of venture community exiles and locals — exposure you can’t buy!
• Potential for publicity within Northern Ireland’s business community and local media
• Hands-on assistance honing their pitch from Angel investors and professional services
• The opportunity to win £3,000 in cash!

Each application is reviewed by a screening committee of established local angel investors. Up to twelve companies will advance to final night, where they make in-person presentations to all attendees at Pitchfest 2012. There, the audience votes for the one company they think has the best chance of making it big, and the winner is presented a £3,000 cash award that night!

Pitchfest is very different from a Halo investor evening in that you will not be pitching to an investor audience for money. This means that your company will still be eligible to pitch at Halo at a later date.

Click here to download the application and see full program information.

All applications must be received by Friday, 4th May at 12:00pm.

EASY TO APPLY AN AUDIENCE THAT COULD TRANSFORM YOUR BUSINESS ASSISTANCE IN GETTING MAXIMUM IMPACT £3000 – APPLY NOW!

About NISP CONNECT
A leadership platform and catalyst between Northern Ireland’s entrepreneurs, research institutions, investors, technology corporations and professional service providers by linking entrepreneurs with the resources they need for success.

NISP CONNECT is an independent, non-profit organization fostering entrepreneurship by accelerating the growth of promising technologies and early stage companies. A collaboration between Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP), the University of Ulster, Queen’s University, Belfast and AFBI (Agri Food & BioSciences Institute), NISP CONNECT acts as an ‘honest, neutral broker’ within the region.

NISP CONNECT focuses on: research institution support, business creation and development, entrepreneurial learning, access to capital, public policy advocacy, awards, recognition and networking……by mobilizing and leveraging the private sector’s best on a pro-bono basis. NISP CONNECT is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland 2007 – 2013

About Halo
Halo is the business angel network for Northern Ireland. It’s role is to match companies with growth potential with high net-worth individuals – the angels – who may wish to invest in them.Halo is funded by Invest NI and Intertrade Ireland and is delivered by the NI Science Park where it works closely with NISP Connect. Halo has proven very successful with investments exceeding £1m pa. Halo was named British Business Angels Association Angel Network of the Year 2010.

Further Information:
To learn more about The Quick Pitch competition, please visit www.nisconnect.org
To learn more about Halo Angel Investors please visit www.nisp.co.uk/Halo/home_3.aspx

Questions?
Please contact Meagan Blanton at +44 02890 737806 or meagan.blanton@nispconnect.org

If so, IBM Global Entrepreneur can provide the support and resources to help you change the way the world works.

Register for the event here

If your company is privately owned, in business less that 5 years, and with a turnover of less that $1,000,000.00, then this event is for you. The IBM Global Entrepreneur initiative is free to join, and you gain access to software, technical enablement support to help you develop your product and get to market faster.   IBM launched the Global Entrepreneur initiative in early 2010. This initiative is designed to help start-up companies capture emerging business opportunities in fast-growing industries like energy and utilities, healthcare, communications and government, and work with a new generation of entrepreneurs to tackle some of the world’s most pressing issues — like water, transportation, healthcare and the environment — that will transform the way people live and work.

Part of the IBM Global Entrepreneur initiative is IBM SmartCamp. This is an exclusive networking and mentoring event that identifies early-stage entrepreneurs who are developing business ventures that complement our Smarter Cities efforts by bringing together business, venture capital, academic, civic and government leaders for a conversation about innovation, human capital and economic development in a city environment.

Registration is from 10am and Sir Ken Robinson PhD, an internationally recognized leader in the development of education, creativity and innovation, will kick off the event at 10.30am

Register for the event here

The event is launched in conjuntion with:
Northern Ireland Science Park, Derry City Council, Invest NI, Momentum and University of Ulster

Rest of story from Daily Mirror

Rest of story at SynchNI Blog

In partnership with Arthur Cox

Program Overview:
It’s easy to get into a venture, but it is harder to get out of one. As a founder or co-founders it helps to have clarity on your intentions for what the outcome of your venture will look like. The path that you choose will have a profound effect on your availability to attract investment and experienced talent to join your team. Which is the appropriate option:- full exit: trade sale- expansion capital: IPO- lifestyle business- royalties: license to someone else to execute.

So what are your options and what do you need to be aware of about the end of your journey as you set off. Join us for a discussion and learn:

• More about each of the exit options and how they relate to different types of venture

• The black art of buying a company

• The importance of timing the market

• The current M&A outlook

Who should attend?
Entrepreneurs, wantrepreneurs and businesses in the start-up phase.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Date: Thursday, 19th April 2012
Time: 8.00am – 8.30am Registration and breakfast (provided)
8.30am – 9.40am Programme
9.40am – 10.00am Q&A
Location: The Innovation Centre, Northern Ireland Science Park, Belfast
Cost: Free of chargeContact: Roisin Clancy, Programme Manager
Tel: 028 9073 7809 Email: roisin.clancy@nisp.co.uk
Note: Breakfast will be provided for participants
Parking: Secured parking is available at 8am

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

About NISP’s Frameworks Entrepreneur Workshops

NISP offers ongoing educational opportunities for entrepreneurs building and growing innovative hitech, biotech or cleantech companies and offers member companies the opportunity to provide expert content to a responsive, interactive audience.

Many of today’s business founders and future entrepreneurs have scientific and technical backgrounds but have had limited experience in industry, so they often lack exposure to critical information which is essential to leading a start-up. To fill this gap, NISP offers Frameworks Entrepreneur Workshops to provide these bright leaders with the vocabulary, foundations and framework around which they can build awareness of the many disciplines they will oversee as “C” level managers”

About NISP CONNECT
NISP CONNECT is an independent, non-profit organization fostering entrepreneurship by accelerating the growth of promising technologies and early stage companies. A collaboration between Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP), the University of Ulster, Queen’s University, Belfast and AFBI (Agri Food & BioSciences Institute), NISP CONNECT acts as an ‘honest, neutral broker’ within the region.
NISP CONNECT focuses on:
•  research institution support
•  business creation and development
•  entrepreneurial learning
•  access to capital
•  public policy advocacy
•  awards, recognition and networking
……by mobilizing and leveraging the private sector’s best on a pro-bono basis
NISP CONNECT is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland 2007 – 2013

Entrepreneurs/Executives in Residence are invited to serve based upon their experience in raising venture capital and growing successful companies.

If you would like to become a Entrepreneurs/Executives in Residence please contact: Joanne Jennings

Below is a list of our current EIRs with a link to their LinkedIN profile or a short pen picture, where available: -

Brian Baird

Les Curran
Background: CEO at I-Track Networks, former CEO at Kelsius,
Expertise: Software, technology, M2M, international sales, management, experience leading a venture capital backed technology company

JG Doherty
Background: Chairman, Cirdan Imaging Ltd; Founder and former CEO, Amphion Semiconductor Ltd; former Director, APT Ltd (CSR); former Director, QUBIS Ltd.
Expertise: Company start-up, raising venture capital, IP licensing, market positioning, global business development, electronic engineering

Gareth Dunlop
Background: Former MD at iON, former Chairman at WeddingsOnline.ie, former MD at Tibus
Expertise: Growing profitable internet related businesses, geographical expansion, strategy, acquisitions

Steven Gunning
Background: Co-Founderand Chairman at JamPot Technologies Ltd, Former Co-Founder and CEO at Tomcat Systems Ltd (sold to Philips)
Expertise:Tech start-ups, solid foundations inc board / share structures, strategic planning,business dev / sales / exporting, chartered accountant, successful company exit

Roger Johnston
Background: VP Business Development Nuix, previously executive at Active Navigation, Ever Team, Meridio and ASE. 26 years in technology
Expertise: Business strategy, software, international expansion, sales, marketing, business development, channel development, fund raising, content management, e-commerce

Jude Lynch

Richard Miliken
Background: Group Financial Director of Almac Group, member of NISP board, Director of Belfast Harbour Commissioners
Expertise: Chartered accountant

Denis Murphy
Background: Chairman and CEO at Anaeko, Chairman at Whisple Cloud Services, Board Member and Investor at Dang Networks, Director at My Good Points, Board Member at QUBIS
Expertise: Mobile and Cloud technologies, fundraising, team building , market insertion strategy, sales, marketing, growing and exiting venture backed companies

Michael O’Neill
Background: Non-Executive Director of First Derivatives plc (formerly COO)
Expertise: Technology, financial markets (investment banking), management

Clare Passmore
Background: Founder at Clear Spirit Design Ltd
Expertise: NPD, design, innovation and research support in health and well being

Scott Ritchie

Des Speed
Background: CEO PathXL, Chairman Farmvet Systems; previously CEO Lagan Technologies, Director Sx3
Expertise: Entrepreneurial strategy & leadership, software, international sales & business development, market positioning, fundraising, VC relationships, Exit, Life Sciences

Sinclair Stockman
Background: Executive Director Digital NI 2020 at NI Science Park, Member Advisory Board at UN Digital Health Advisory Board, Technology Advisor at Blueprint Digital, Founder at Active Minds World
Expertise: Programme management, telecoms, IT systems, software engineering, smart business networks, outsourcing, transformation, innovation

Andrew Walmsley
Background: Development from System Manager, to Wholesale News Director, to Director at Eason
Expertise: Change management, strategy, logistics, supply chain, operations, sales management, operations, wholesale, finance, IT project management, corporate governance

Alan Watts
Background: Halo Director at NI Science Park, Vice-President and Trustee of IET, cofounder and former Director of Sales and Marketing at Yelo Ltd
Expertise: IT, technology, company funding, technical marketing, strategic direction, start-ups, market development, exits

Seed E.I.S Scheme Set to Create New Wave of Angel Investing

The Halo Business Angel network, a joint initiative of Invest Northern Ireland and InterTradeIreland, has joined forces with the Chartered Accountants Ulster Society to promote the new Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (E.I.S) which the UK government has heralded as a major step forward in creating a new wave of business angel investing.

They are jointly hosting a breakfast briefing event on Thursday 5th April to discuss the new tax incentive which comes into effect in April and are targeting both wealthy individuals and their business advisors. Prime Minister, David Cameron and Chancellor, George Osborne have recently been pushing this scheme strongly as a way to support exciting new start-ups, but as yet many local business people and their advisors aren’t familiar with it – never mind the role of business angel investing itself.

Among other things Seed EIS will offer an unprecedented 50% up front tax relief as well as the ability to roll capital gains into Seed EIS for the first year. The Event will include expert commentary from Des Ryan, Technical Advisor Venture Capital Schemes, HMRC London and Nelson Gray former European business angel of the year. Speaking about the importance of the scheme to NI entrepreneurs Alan Watts, Director, Halo said;

“Various commentators have been astounded about these facilities and many believe it has the potential to turn the current wave of angel investing into an avalanche – creating an alternative funding stream for start-ups the on one hand, while being very tax efficient for wealthy individuals on the other. In the current climate, where more traditional forms of funding are all but gone, this is a crucial route for local innovators and entrepreneurs to secure the necessary funding support to take their business plans forward.”

Michael Black, President, Chartered Accountants Ulster Branch added; “This scheme offers great tax efficient benefits to individuals while also encouraging private investment in start-up businesses and has to be applauded. Accountants will be expected to assist their clients both with the mechanics of SEIS, but more importantly with explaining angel investing – something very new to many and which is relatively poorly understood. This event will help local business advisors understand the benefits of both and we are encouraging all our members and other relevant business advisors to attend.”

The event will be held at 8am on Thursday 5th April in the Chartered Accountants Ulster Society Offices, 32-38 Linenhall Street, Belfast at a cost of £10. Anyone wishing to attend should visit http://ulster.charteredaccountants.ie/ to book online.

25K Awards Media Book

Silicon Republic Coverage

Synch NI Coverage

Inside Ireland Coverage

Rest of story at Silicon Republic Online
Daily Mirror Coverage of the launch

Under the Patent Box regime, which is still at the draft legislation stage and subject to amendment, the reduced corporation tax rate of 10% will apply from 1 April 2013. Relevant profits should include patent royalty income and also profits arising from the exploitation of a patent in a company’s own trade. The full benefit of the regime is expected to be phased in over five years by applying a percentage to the relevant profits on a sliding scale, with 60% of such profits included in FY 2013, 70% in FY 2014, 80% in FY 2015 and 90% in FY 2016. There is also a potentially complex calculation that will need to be undertaken to establish the profits arising from relevant patents.

It is important to consider whether a new patent could be registered to maximise the benefit of this reduced rate of corporation tax.

The reduced rate of corporation tax for patent income sits in tandem with R&D tax credits to further encourage investment in R&D and the creation of intellectual property. Currently, for every £1 of expenditure on R&D, a company can claim a tax deduction of £2. From 1 April 2012, this tax deduction will increase to £2.25. This means that, for a company paying corporation tax at the small profits rate of 20%, for every £1 of expenditure on R&D the company should be able to obtain 45p of corporation tax savings.

Qualifying R&D can include the creation or appreciable improvement in a process, material, device, product or service. Therefore, the range of activities that can qualify are very wide.

Further expected improvements to the R&D tax credit regime include:

• Removal of the £10,000 de minimis limit for qualifying R&D expenditure
• For loss making companies, the cash payment available from HMRC will no longer be restricted to the amount of PAYE and Class 1 National Insurance payments

Please do not hesitate to contact Ian Farley on 028 9043 9009 for further details.

This event will be hosted by subject matter specialists from Belfast based consultancy Goldblatt McGuigan (www.goldblattmcguigan.com) with a highly experienced expert panel of successful entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.

Programme Overview:
What is your career path? Do you have the tools you need to grow and lead a successful team of talented people?  Are you confined to a tech founder’s life of start-up after start up or can you play a leading role in helping to grow a business that you have founded?

Join us on 21st March for an information workshop to discuss the key challenges and opportunities facing start ups in the development of strategic leadership capabilities to help propel a business to the next level, covering:

• EQ versus IQ.
• Role evolution with organisational growth.
• Connecting with employees and followers.
• Leading growth.
• Experiences and stories from those that have made the transition.

The seminar will be led by Michael Clarke and Caroline Duffy of Goldblatt McGuigan, supported by a panel of successful entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. The approach is one that allows time for significant interaction between the panelists and the attendees to provide a real insight into the actual leadership management challenges and opportunities faced by entrepreneurs, supported by an introduction to leadership theory and best practice.

Who should attend?
Frameworks Entrepreneur workshops are professional development programmes, scheduled throughout the year. Attendees are generally founders, CEOs and managers involved in strategic business growth and development, or scientists or technology experts considering a business start-up.

To register CLICK HERE

Date: Wed 21st March 2011
Time: 08.00AM – 8.30AM - Registration
08.30AM – 10.00AM - Programme (including Q&A)
Location: Northern Ireland Science Park, Queens Island, Belfast
Cost: Free of charge
Contact: Roisin Clancy, Programme Manager, NISP CONNECT
Tel: +44 (0) 28 9073 7809, Email: roisin.clancy@nisp.co.uk
Note: Breakfast will be provided for participants

To register: CLICK HERE

About the Speakers

Michael Clarke
Michael leads the Goldblatt McGuigan Management Consultancy Team. An experienced Consultant, Michael specialises in Strategic Change and Transformation in the Public and Technology Sectors. He has a BSc (Hons) Degree in Mathematics, a PhD in Physics and a Masters in Business Administration. Michael joined Goldblatt McGuigan in 2005.

Caroline Duffy
Caroline Duffy is an accredited coach & facilitator. She is an honours graduate in European Business Studies and holds a Masters in Human Resource Management from Strathclyde Business School. She has consulted in both the public & private sectors throughout the UK & Ireland. She backs this with international experience in the USA & Europe.

About NISP’s Frameworks Entrepreneur Workshops
NISP offers ongoing educational opportunities for entrepreneurs building and growing innovative hitech, biotech or cleantech companies and offers member companies the opportunity to provide expert content to a responsive, interactive audience. Many of today’s business founders and future entrepreneurs have scientific and technical backgrounds but have had limited experience in industry, so they often lack exposure to critical information which is essential to leading a start-up.

To fill this gap, NISP offers Frameworks Entrepreneur Workshops to provide these bright leaders with the vocabulary, foundations and framework around which they can build awareness of the many disciplines they will oversee as “C” level managers”

About NISP CONNECT
NISP CONNECT is an independent, non-profit organization fostering entrepreneurship by accelerating the growth of promising technologies and early stage companies. Our core purpose is to connect people, technology and capital to drive innovation and create wealth through building high value IP based companies in Northern Ireland. We want to help to establish a thriving entrepreneurial eco-system where innovation, vision and talent flourish.

A collaboration between Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP), the University of Ulster and Queens University, Belfast, NISP CONNECT acts as an ‘honest, neutral broker’ within the region through provision of direct delivery programmes, mentorship/coaching services, educational seminars and events geared at developing and encouraging entrepreneurial ideas, talent and leadership.

A joint event by Halo, the NI Business Angel Network and Chartered Accountants Ulster Society.

VENUE: Chartered Accountants Ulster Society Offices, 32-38 Linenhall St, Belfast
DATE: Thursday 5 April 2012
TIME: 8am start (breakfast of bacon rolls available); concludes 10am
COST: £10.00 inclusive of VAT (£8.33 plus £1.67)

To attend this event, please use the following link:

http://ulster.charteredaccountants.ie/Events/SEED-EIS-Seminar-Extra-Tax-Relief-for-Investors-5th-April-2012/

Seed EIS tax relief with an amazing 50% up front tax relief will start in April. David Cameron has strongly put his weight behind this and stated that he hopes this will start a large wave of new angel investing. The one year only ability to roll capital gains into SEIS is designed to turn this wave into an avalanche.

Angel investing will be largely very new to many and it is relatively poorly understood. Did you know that 56% of angel investments fail, that the average time to invest and win is 6 years, but the average time to invest and lose is 3? Or that a NESTA/BBAA report claims that the average pre-tax return to angels in the UK is 22% IRR?

This breakfast briefing is designed to  explain both how the new tax scheme works, but possibly more importantly to give an introduction to angel investing. There is no point in rushing in because of the tax relief only to lose money through not understanding the dos and don’ts of angel investing.

Speakers

Des Ryan, Technical Advisor Venture Capital Schemes, HMRC London. He will explain the detail of the scheme which will have by then been announced in the Budget.

Nelson Gray is a Chartered Accountant, entrepreneur and leading angel investor. He has invested in over 20 companies personally and managed 2 early stage investment funds. He has provided advice on funding to Scottish Enterprise, the Scottish Executive and the Enterprise Committee of the Scottish Parliament as well as a number of internationally based development agencies. In 2008 Nelson was named Business Angel of the Year  by the European Business Angel Network. Nelson will explain how angel investing can work well – both well and badly.

Alan Watts is the Director of Halo, the Northern Ireland Business Angel Network where he draws upon his previous experience both as entrepreneur and as a business angel.

Frank Hewitt, Chairman, Northern Ireland Science Park; Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster and Roy Adair, CEO of Belfast Harbour.

A £6m development which will accommodate up to 500 knowledge jobs at the Northern Ireland Science Park was ‘topped off’ this week during a ceremony led by the Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster.

The new facility which is expected to open in August 2012 is already fully let and will become home to both thriving local start-ups and major global corporations including Kana Software, Export Technologies, Fidessa and Parity. The development is the second of three buildings known as ‘The Concourse’ and is funded by Belfast Harbour. As with other NISP facilities, Concourse Phase II will include agile and connected workspace on flexible terms to facilitate the growth of companies in a wide range of technologies (ICT, life science, engineering and biotech) as they take on global markets in many expanding sectors.

When fully completed the three building Concourse complex will represent an investment of more than £20m.

Frank Hewitt, Chairman, Northern Ireland Science Park said: “Given the challenging economic climate we are delighted that the Northern Ireland Science Park is continuing to grow. The Park is bucking the commercial property trend not only through its focus on knowledge and science based enterprises and its commitment to cost-effective quality and flexibility but also for its growing reputation as a (perhaps the) key node in NI’s innovation ecosystem, where companies can avail of the whole suite of resources for growth that NI has to offer. It is gratifying to note that we have new tenants keen to move to the Park but also existing tenants who need to support their growing operations here. Vacated space is also being occupied by other growing ventures as the innovation ecosystem continues to be a sought after environment for emerging, developed and large technology companies.

“With Concourse II already full, interest has begun in Concourse III and we are working to secure commercial funding to complete the Concourse development and we hope that, as economic conditions begin to stabilise, local Banks and others will be in a position to help us fund our developments.”

Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster said: “The Northern Ireland Science Park provides flexible workspace for emerging local, as well as international and innovation-based businesses. It is extremely encouraging that Concourse II is full to capacity and the need for additional space clearly shows that despite a difficult economic climate, businesses associated with NISP have been flourishing.

“The availability of this kind of high quality business accommodation is fundamental for economic development as it offers both indigenous companies and inward investors cost effective property options to facilitate investment and expansion. The infrastructure and facilities here are second to none it sends a clear message to the business community that we want to nurture and accommodate value-added, innovation-led ventures.”

Belfast Telegraph Coverage 5th March 2012
News Letter Coverage 6th March 2012

VENUE: Chartered Accountants Ulster Society Offices, 32-38 Linenhall St, Belfast
DATE: Thursday 5 April 2012
TIME: 8am start (breakfast of bacon rolls available); concludes 10am
COST: £10.00 inclusive of VAT (£8.33 plus £1.67)

To attend this event, contact michelle.mainwaring@charteredaccountants.ie and she will send you a booking form.

Seed EIS tax relief with an amazing 50% up front tax relief will start in April. David Cameron has strongly put his weight behind this and stated that he hopes this will start a large wave of new angel investing. The one year only ability to roll capital gains into SEIS is designed to turn this wave into an avalanche.

Angel investing will be largely very new to many and it is relatively poorly understood. Did you know that 56% of angel investments fail, that the average time to invest and win is 6 years, but the average time to invest and lose is 3? Or that a NESTA/BBAA report claims that the average pre-tax return to angels in the UK is 22% IRR?

This breakfast briefing is designed to  explain both how the new tax scheme works, but possibly more importantly to give an introduction to angel investing. There is no point in rushing in because of the tax relief only to lose money through not understanding the dos and don’ts of angel investing.

Speakers

Des Ryan, Technical Advisor Venture Capital Schemes, HMRC London. He will explain the detail of the scheme which will have by then been announced in the Budget.

Nelson Gray is a Chartered Accountant, entrepreneur and leading angel investor. He has invested in over 20 companies personally and managed 2 early stage investment funds. He has provided advice on funding to Scottish Enterprise, the Scottish Executive and the Enterprise Committee of the Scottish Parliament as well as a number of internationally based development agencies. In 2008 Nelson was named Business Angel of the Year  by the European Business Angel Network. Nelson will explain how angel investing can work well – both well and badly.

Alan Watts is the Director of Halo, the Northern Ireland Business Angel Network where he draws upon his previous experience both as entrepreneur and as a business angel.

Alex Attwood, Environment Minister and Frank Hewitt, Chairman, Northern Ireland Science Park at the Dock

The Thompson Graving Dock, an iconic part of Northern Ireland’s industrial history and the largest authentic Titanic landmark in the world, is being given a new lease of life after 100 years.

Environment Minister Alex Attwood today announced a £1.5million investment to preserve the historical site based at the Northern Ireland Science Park.

For over 100 years, the existing steel dock gate which measures 150ft at its widest point, 44ft deep and 887ft long has divided the dry dock from the sea. Due to its age, the working gate has been degrading over recent years and there is a real threat of future flooding which could see the historic treasure damaged along with the Dry Dock and
Pump-House.

Work has begun to protect the 880-ft long Thompson Graving Dock. This is the largest single investment ever by DOE in support of a scheduled historic monument. The Thompson Dock is a key part of the historic infrastructure of the Belfast Shipyards, and is specially protected as a Historic Monument.

The work involves the construction of a permanent structure in the style of a gate, outside the original dock gate. When completed, this new gate will sit in the ‘Titanic slot’, an outer position in which the original gate would have been positioned to accommodate the sheer length of the Titanic.

A temporary coffer dam is being constructed to provide a dry working area around the original gate and Titanic slot, and to allow the construction of the permanent structure that will safeguard the dock. The work is being taken forward by the DOE’s Northern Ireland Environment Agency, which is funding the scheme, and the Northern Ireland
Science Park, who currently maintain the dock.

Alex Attwood said: “The importance of the Thompson Graving Dock should be acknowledged; when it was completed in 1911 it was the largest dry dock in the world and without it the Titanic and its sister ships Olympic and Britannic, could not have been completed.

“The dock is now over 100 years old and it is important that we take action to ensure its long term viability. The work will not only preserve the original dock gate but will also allow better public access to the dock and the working dock floor.

“This work is very timely given that the Titanic centenary is just a few months away and the opening of the Titanic signature project only a few weeks away. When the work is completed, the Thompson Graving Dock will complement other Titanic attractions and help to showcase Belfast’s industrial and maritime history. A lot of us who have visited the dock know of its scale and impact. It is a vital element in the Titanic experience and in itself conveys the achievement of the original build, the devastation of the loss of life and the engineering achievement of the ship designers and builders.”

Tourism Minister Arlene Foster said: “This a very significant project and will be another important part of our tourism offering.

“It will maintain the dock gates and ensure the Thompson Dock continues to be an integral part of the whole Titanic experience.

“My Department developed the scheme along with the Science Park and transferred the funding to the NIEA so that it could use its built heritage powers to complete it.

“This is an example of joined up government in action and it will help preserve a priceless piece of our history for future generations.”

Director of corporate real estate and facilities for the Northern Ireland Science Park, Mervyn Watley added: “The Science Park is the hub of the knowledge economy in Northern Ireland and lies at the centre of a proud tradition of engineering innovation and world-renowned maritime heritage. To date the Park has invested significantly to
maintain the Dock as a dry dock however due to funding limitations has only been able to provide temporary solutions. We are delighted that DOE have come on board to provide a more permanent measure to prevent the gate falling into disrepair and to improve access to the historical site.

“From April 2012 the public will be given access to the floor of the colossal Thompson Dry-Dock for the first time ever. This unique attraction will further add to the Titanic experience at the Science Park along with the 100 year old Edwardian Pump-House which includes a state of the art Interpretive Centre.”

News Letter Coverage 1st March 2012
Belfast Telegraph Coverage 1st March 2012
Belfast Telegraph Coverage 2nd March 2012
Belfast Telegraph Coverage 2nd March 2012
News Letter Online Coverage
Yorkshire Post Online Coverage

Northern Ireland Science Park tenant, Glantek, won the ‘Green Business’ category in the Ulster heats of the Awards and will now go head-to-head with organisations from across Ireland to compete for the prestigious all-Ireland Ulster Bank Business Achievers Awards.

Glantek is a unique collaboration of companies working together to develop and promote clean technology products and processes, and bringing together industry leaders into a single supply chain network.  The organisation focuses particularly on areas of waste, waste water, renewable energy and resource efficiency.

Judges for the Ulster stage of the awards included Ian Jordan, Ulster Bank; Sam McIlveen, the Belfast Telegraph’s digital publisher, Liam Nellis of InterTradeIreland, Donal Durkan of Invest Northern Ireland and Grainne Kelly owner of BubbleBum UK, which picked up the ‘Best Business Start-Up’ category last year.

Companies were judged on a variety of merits including business milestones and achievements, business strategy, business financial performance, development of innovative products or services, importance of the business to the local area, the leadership and vision of the entrepreneur.

Starts: Thu 12 Apr 2012 @ 12:30

Ends: Thu 12 Apr 2012 @ 15:30

For more information and to register.

The Halo Business Angel Network, Northern Ireland’s very own Dragon’s Den has welcomed news of the Oscar success for Terry George’s short film ‘The Shore’.

It was following a pitch made to the Halo Business Angel Network in 2010 that a number of private funders came forward to support the film. It represents one of the more unusual projects that have received funding to date through the Halo Network, a joint initiative of Invest Northern Ireland and InterTradeIreland, which has helped companies here to secure more than £3m worth of private sector investment so far.

Welcoming news of the prestigious award, Alan Watts, Director, Halo NI said;

“Little did we know that when this interesting proposition first came our way in 2010 that we would play our part in helping it achieve Oscar glory. From day one we were impressed by Terry George’s passion, commitment and firm focus on his business proposition and were happy to support him as he sought private sector funding to realise his vision for the film.

“Unable to make an appearance at one of our scheduled investment forum 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? The rest makes NI history at the Oscars!

“A band of angels subsequently viewed the pitch and were interested in taking the idea forward. Ultimately a number decided to invest in the film and became non-executive producers, though we haven’t heard how many rubbed shoulders with the stars. With Oscar success behind it, it seems that this investment is now more likely to reap a healthy cash return. We wish everyone concerned well and urge them only to remember there’s more good investment, where that one came from.”

If you are interested in applying to Halo, please read the ‘Entrepreneur’ section of the website, where you will information on who should apply, what to expect from the process and the ‘dos and donts’ of pitching to investors.  You can find the application forms here.

The Voucher can help the client business to access the expertise from participating Providers (BDO, plus legal and marketing firms) and can be redeemed against the cost of practical advice and expertise on specific issues. There can only be one active voucher at any one time.

The business must be a registered Small Business (25 employees or less) with an annual turnover not exceeding €5m/£4.5m.
The assistance requested must relate to cross border trade and business.
The company must be a manufacturing or internationally tradable service company.

There is an application process, detailed below:

http://www.intertradeireland.com/firststopshop/tradeacceleratorvouchers/business/

Providers are as follows:

http://www.intertradeireland.com/firststopshop/tradeacceleratorvouchers/listofproviders/accountants/

To facilitate this for all tenants  we would like to invite you to meet  Peta Benson, Business Development Manager of Employers For Childcare Charitable Group who will have a display at The Innovation Centre on Friday 23^rd March, 11am – 2pm, to show tenants (both employer & employee) some of the benefits of the schemes available.

Should you be interested please come along to The Innovation Centre.

Rest of story at SynchNI Blog

The £1 million prize, awarded biennially, was established at the end of 2011. Announced by all three Party Leaders, its aim is to become the pre-eminent international award for engineering achievement. Our judging panel includes some of the top names in international science and engineering.

We will be using traditional and digital/social media as our main channels to ‘get our message out’ and to inspire the engineering community to submit nominations.

We hope February 28^th will start to imprint the Queen Elizabeth Prize in the minds of the engineering community and stimulate the debate about the importance of modern engineering among the wider public. To this end, we would be most grateful if you could assist with the following:

• Promote the prize over the coming months. Material to assist with this will be available on our new website (www.qeprize.org), which will go live on 28^th February. You will be able to download press releases and other information relating to the QE Prize, as well as print out a brochure or ‘postcards’.
• Twitter – If you or your organisation are familiar with Twitter, please help us by following our @QEPrize twitter handle from Friday, 24^th February and re-tweeting our news to your network from then on.
• Website – our website (www.qeprize.org) goes live on 28^th February. It would be great if you could point visitors to our site and use our logo on your corporate website. Until that date information regarding the QE Prize is on the Royal Academy of Engineering website http://www.raeng.org.uk/qeprize
• Film – from launch day, we will have a QE Prize film on our website and on YouTube and it would be great if you could promote this through your social networks.

In March 2012, NISP CONNECT’s Frameworks workshops are coming on the road.

You are invited to attend a Frameworks Entrepreneur workshop to be held at Coleraine campus, University of Ulster with a presentation on:

Frameworks: “Financing Options: Bootstrapping v Debt v Equity” – Coleraine

In partnership with Northern Bank:

Program Overview:
For entrepreneurs, deciding to form a company, or become involved with a start-up, presents enormous challenges. Navigating around fund raising and other issues can often seem overwhelming and the traps for the unwary or uninformed are numerous. However, successfully avoiding the most common pitfalls made by entrepreneurs can make a significant difference as to whether or not a company is fundable; the sources and types of capital that will be attracted, who controls the company, the economic impact on founders upon exit and a company’s likelihood of success. In this interactive workshop, Craig Holmes of Horwood & Holmes Corporate Finance and a panel of entrepreneurs and experts will discuss these and other issues.

The discussion will be practical, and will reflect on the common questions being asked by founders, CFOs and CEOs of start-up companies.

Who should attend?
Entrepreneurs, wantrepreneurs and businesses in the start-up phase.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Date: Tuesday 20th March 2012
Time: 12.00noon – 12.30pm Registration and lunch (provided)
12.30pm – 1.40pm Programme
1.40pm – 2.00pm Q&A
Location: H215, University of Ulster, Coleraine Campus, Cromore Road, Coleraine, BT52 1S
Cost: Free of charge
Contact: Roisin Clancy, Programme Manager Tel: 028 9073 7809 Email: roisin.clancy@nisp.co.uk
Note: Lunch will be provided for participants
Parking: Parking is available on campus

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

About Craig Holmes
Craig was previously a Director at Enterprise Equity, a Belfast-based Private Equity Fund, before becoming a founding partner of Horwood & Holmes Corporate Finance in March 2011. Having joined in 2005, he was a member of the management team that bought-out Enterprise Equity Fund Management in 2008.

He previously represented Enterprise Equity on the Boards of Intelesens Ltd, Bluechip Technologies Ltd, Kelsius Ltd and Chambers Coach Hire Ltd. He is retained as a Consultant by Enterprise Equity and continues to represent them on the Board of Sepha Holdings Ltd.
Craig trained at PricewaterhouseCoopers qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 2001. He then joined Deloitte where he specialised in business advisory and strategic planning, working mostly with Northern Ireland SMEs.

Educated at Queens University Belfast and Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille (Lille I) he attained a BSc (Hons) in Industrial Management in 1996 before completing an MA in European Business at the University of Ulster in 1997.

About Northern Bank
Northern Bank is one of Northern Ireland’s leading retail banks, providing straightforward banking to local consumers and businesses. We combine the efficiency of leading edge  technology with the expertise of highly experienced relationship managers supporting businesses though both the challenges of the economic downturn and opportunities for business growth.Progressive and responsive to market conditions, Northern Bank offers the full range of specialist support to the business community including Asset Finance, Invoice Finance, Merchant Acquiring, Cash Management, foreign exchange and interest rate hedging products, and money market deposits.

Beyond the provision of bank lending, Northern Bank’s dedicated teams of local business specialists are on hand to provide guidance on everything from optimising cash flow management to putting in place the right equity platform.  Structuring debt, making the most of a company’s balance sheet and thinking about the right product for the specific needs of the business customer have never been more important.For all the challenges that remain in the market – locally and globally – there has to be room and support for innovation and entrepreneurship – all of which can only help to boost our economic performance.  Northern Bank is delighted to be in partnership with NISP, and to play its part  in the necessary collaborative effort to get behind Northern Ireland’s potential for real innovation in these high performing, fast-moving sectors.

About NISP’s Frameworks Entrepreneur Workshops

NISP offers ongoing educational opportunities for entrepreneurs building and growing innovative hitech, biotech or cleantech companies and offers member companies the opportunity to provide expert content to a responsive, interactive audience.

Many of today’s business founders and future entrepreneurs have scientific and technical backgrounds but have had limited experience in industry, so they often lack exposure to critical information which is essential to leading a start-up. To fill this gap, NISP offers Frameworks Entrepreneur Workshops to provide these bright leaders with the vocabulary, foundations and framework around which they can build awareness of the many disciplines they will oversee as “C” level managers”

About NISP CONNECT

NISP CONNECT is an independent, non-profit organization fostering entrepreneurship by accelerating the growth of promising technologies and early stage companies. A collaboration between Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP), the University of Ulster, Queen’s University, Belfast and AFBI (Agri Food & BioSciences Institute), NISP CONNECT acts as an ‘honest, neutral broker’ within the region.

NISP CONNECT focuses on:• research institution support• business creation and development• entrepreneurial learning• access to capital• public policy advocacy• awards, recognition and networking
……by mobilizing and leveraging the private sector’s best on a pro-bono basis.

NISP CONNECT is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland 2007 – 2013

You are invited to attend a Frameworks Entrepreneur workshop to be held at the Belmore Centre, Enniskillen with a presentation on:

Frameworks: “Financing Options: Bootstrapping v Debt v Equity” – Enniskillen

In partnership with Northern Bank:

Program Overview:
For entrepreneurs, deciding to form a company, or become involved with a start-up, presents enormous challenges. Navigating around fund raising and other issues can often seem overwhelming and the traps for the unwary or uninformed are numerous. However, successfully avoiding the most common pitfalls made by entrepreneurs can make a significant difference as to whether or not a company is fundable; the sources and types of capital that will be attracted, who controls the company, the economic impact on founders upon exit and a company’s likelihood of success. In this interactive workshop, Craig Holmes of Horwood & Holmes Corporate Finance and a panel of entrepreneurs and experts will discuss these and other issues.

The discussion will be practical, and will reflect on the common questions being asked by founders, CFOs and CEOs of start-up companies.

Who should attend?
Entrepreneurs, wantrepreneurs and businesses in the start-up phase.

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Date: Tuesday 20th March 2012
Time: 12.00noon – 12.30pm Registration and lunch (provided)
12.30pm – 1.40pm Programme
1.40pm – 2.00pm Q&A
Location: The Clinton Centre, Belmore Road, Enniskillen, BT74 6AA
Cost: Free of charge
Contact: Roisin Clancy, Programme Manager Tel: 028 9073 7809 Email: roisin.clancy@nisp.co.uk
Note: Lunch will be provided for participantsParking: On street parking is available

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

About Craig Holmes
Craig was previously a Director at Enterprise Equity, a Belfast-based Private Equity Fund, before becoming a founding partner of Horwood & Holmes Corporate Finance in March 2011. Having joined in 2005, he was a member of the management team that bought-out Enterprise Equity Fund Management in 2008.

He previously represented Enterprise Equity on the Boards of Intelesens Ltd, Bluechip Technologies Ltd, Kelsius Ltd and Chambers Coach Hire Ltd. He is retained as a Consultant by Enterprise Equity and continues to represent them on the Board of Sepha Holdings Ltd.
Craig trained at PricewaterhouseCoopers qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 2001. He then joined Deloitte where he specialised in business advisory and strategic planning, working mostly with Northern Ireland SMEs.

Educated at Queens University Belfast and Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille (Lille I) he attained a BSc (Hons) in Industrial Management in 1996 before completing an MA in European Business at the University of Ulster in 1997.

About Northern Bank
Northern Bank is one of Northern Ireland’s leading retail banks, providing straightforward banking to local consumers and businesses. We combine the efficiency of leading edge  technology with the expertise of highly experienced relationship managers supporting businesses though both the challenges of the economic downturn and opportunities for business growth.Progressive and responsive to market conditions, Northern Bank offers the full range of specialist support to the business community including Asset Finance, Invoice Finance, Merchant Acquiring, Cash Management, foreign exchange and interest rate hedging products, and money market deposits.

Beyond the provision of bank lending, Northern Bank’s dedicated teams of local business specialists are on hand to provide guidance on everything from optimising cash flow management to putting in place the right equity platform.  Structuring debt, making the most of a company’s balance sheet and thinking about the right product for the specific needs of the business customer have never been more important.For all the challenges that remain in the market – locally and globally – there has to be room and support for innovation and entrepreneurship – all of which can only help to boost our economic performance.  Northern Bank is delighted to be in partnership with NISP, and to play its part  in the necessary collaborative effort to get behind Northern Ireland’s potential for real innovation in these high performing, fast-moving sectors.

About NISP’s Frameworks Entrepreneur Workshops

NISP offers ongoing educational opportunities for entrepreneurs building and growing innovative hitech, biotech or cleantech companies and offers member companies the opportunity to provide expert content to a responsive, interactive audience.

Many of today’s business founders and future entrepreneurs have scientific and technical backgrounds but have had limited experience in industry, so they often lack exposure to critical information which is essential to leading a start-up. To fill this gap, NISP offers Frameworks Entrepreneur Workshops to provide these bright leaders with the vocabulary, foundations and framework around which they can build awareness of the many disciplines they will oversee as “C” level managers”

About NISP CONNECT

NISP CONNECT is an independent, non-profit organization fostering entrepreneurship by accelerating the growth of promising technologies and early stage companies. A collaboration between Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP), the University of Ulster, Queen’s University, Belfast and AFBI (Agri Food & BioSciences Institute), NISP CONNECT acts as an ‘honest, neutral broker’ within the region.

NISP CONNECT focuses on:• research institution support• business creation and development• entrepreneurial learning• access to capital• public policy advocacy• awards, recognition and networking
……by mobilizing and leveraging the private sector’s best on a pro-bono basis.

NISP CONNECT is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland 2007 – 2013

This Valentine’s Day, fund seeking companies in the North West and potential investors came together to find out the attraction of business angel investment at a briefing event held by Halo, NI’s business angel network, at the Chamber Offices Derry. The event was designed to highlight the reciprocal benefits of angel investment and encourage applications for the 2012 North West Investment Forum from local business seeking finance.

Developed by Halo, a joint initiative of Invest Northern Ireland and InterTradeIreland, the briefing event was delivered in partnership with Londonderry Chamber of Commerce and the University of Ulster.

The event was held in advance of the Halo North West Angel Investment Forum, which will take place on 24th May 2012 in the Great Hall at University of Ulster Magee Campus. At the event, innovative companies seeking investment will get the chance to pitch for finance from high net worth angels actively pursuing investment opportunities. In addition, business people from the North West will have the change to attend as guest angels to see for themselves how Halo works.

Local companies and business angels wanting to get involved in the North West Angel Investment Forum can find out more at www.haloni.com.  Companies are encouraged to apply now, the deadline for applications is 11th April.