The team at WhiteLight Consulting were delighted once again to work with our colleagues at the Regional Development Centre in Dundalk on another superb showcase event, this time highlighting the VITAL project.

Described as the ‘match.com’ for business, the VITAL – Ideas Connected to Business project officially marked the close of its activities with a special showcase event hosted by Conall Ó’Móráin, Today FM Sunday Business Show presenter, in Monaghan’s Nuremore Hotel on June 18.

The €2.56m VITAL initiative, funded by the EU’s INTERREG IVA Programme was designed to link innovative business ideas to SMEs and entrepreneurs in the hope of sustaining more innovative start-up projects in Northern Ireland and across the southern border counties. In the short 2 year history of VITAL, it successfully established 34 product and technology matches, by far exceeding initial targets set by the funder.

Implemented in partnership between Dublin City University, Queen’s University Belfast, led by Dundalk Institute of Technology, the €2.56m VITAL initiative created a pilot initiative support framework to allow good ideas to be commercialised effectively through a matching process. It further enabled SMEs and entrepreneurs to access new channels to market through targeted supports.

Speaking at the event, Mr. Kieran Fegan, Project Director was proud to report on the success of the scheme and the long-term impact it will have.

“Many promising inventions never come to fruition because of a lack of distinction between the concept owner and its executor. By creating a model which separates the idea generator from the implementer, this project ensured that fewer innovations would fail due to poor commercial awareness.”

WhiteLight Consulting were delighted to play our part in showcasing this superb project to this influential audience and look forward to working with the Regional Development Centre on other projects in the future.