Tag: skillnet

Skillnet Ireland to invest €80m in workforce development for businesses in 2026

Skillnet Ireland, the national workforce development agency, will receive a total of €54.2million in Budget 2026 to deliver skills supports to businesses throughout Ireland. Skillnet Ireland’s exchequer funding will be further bolstered by up to €26 million in private sector matched funding, amounting to a total investment of up to €80 million for workforce development within enterprise in 2026.
Speaking after the Budget announcement Skillnet Ireland Chairperson, Brendan McGinty said:
“This is an important investment in workforce development by Government as part of its support for Ireland’s businesses. Skillnet Ireland, which is industry led, continues to face growing and unprecedented demand for support by Irish enterprises in addressing their workforce development challenges and we continue to work closely with them to support them in that effort.
 
These strategic challenges continue to grow in the face of skills priorities, digital adoption, artificial intelligence, the green economy and the pressing need to boost productivity and innovation across all sectors. By working closely with enterprise, particularly SMEs, we will tailor and prioritise available funding supports to deliver impactful upskilling solutions that build resilience, innovation, and competitiveness, for businesses across the economy.”
Businesses of all sizes can avail of upskilling programmes and business supports through 70 Skillnet Business Networks and Skillnet National Initiatives. Skillnet Ireland will continue its strategic commitment to meet the talent and workforce development requirements of an increasingly digital future, foster the growth of a low-carbon and sustainable economy and to enhance the competitiveness of Irish businesses.
 
Mark Jordan, Skillnet Ireland Chief Executive, said: “The world of work continues to evolve at a rapid pace, and the ability of businesses to adapt depends on the skills of their people. As a knowledge-based economy nurturing our highly skilled workforce is central to our national competitiveness. Skillnet Ireland will continue our work with our partners across government, enterprise, and within the education sector, to address critical skills gaps, and enable employers fully capitalise on the opportunities presented by technological innovation, digitalisation and the green transition.”
To learn more about Skillnet Ireland visit www.skillnetireland.ie        
Skillnet Business Network search tool: https://www.skillnetireland.ie/our-networks/

Skillnet Ireland Announces the launch of IRDG Innovation Skillnet in collaboration with IRDG

Skillnet Ireland, the national talent development agency, and IRDG, Ireland’s business-led innovation network representing companies working together to achieve excellence in innovation, today announce a new partnership which will empower businesses to succeed through innovation with world-class skills training.

Since 1992, IRDG has identified and pioneered key areas of innovation skills training for industry in Ireland including Design Thinking, Lean Product Development, Applying Technological Innovation (5G, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, IoT) as well as Innovation Strategy and Management.  Businesses that are members of the IRDG Innovation Skillnet Business Network, will have access to ways of upskilling their workforce within these areas as well as other relevant elements of industry innovation.

Commenting on the new initiative, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney, said: “IRDG Innovation Skillnet’s mission is to raise the level of technical education in innovation, to develop and to deliver world-class training for existing and emerging leaders. It will support the adoption of ISO innovation management frameworks within businesses across the country to redefine effective innovation practices and equip industries with the skills to continually renew their business in a world of permanent change and flux.”

Dave Flynn, Director of Business Networks, Skillnet Ireland, said: “Strengthening our innovation capabilities is crucial for maintaining our competitive edge in an increasingly lean, green, and digital landscape. We are pleased to partner with IRDG on this national imperative in this, the EU Year of Skills,”

Dermot Casey, CEO of IRDG, added: “We will help organisations establish the leadership, internal culture and support required to successfully make innovation an ongoing activity that produces results – rather than leaving it to pockets of work or to chance inspiration. Globally we expect we’ll see an emerging profession of Innovation Management over the next decade and through the IRDG Innovation Skillnet and we look forward to being at the forefront of that progression.”

The IRDG Innovation Skillnet will work with businesses to;

  • Develop world-class innovation capabilities and resilience to change

  • Deliver innovation strategies effectively and create cultures of innovation

  • Navigate uncertainty and reduce the risk involved in innovation

  • Rise to the challenges of digitalisation and sustainability

The Innovation Exchange partners with RDI Hub to partner globally ambitious Kerry SMEs with large corporates

Skillnet Ireland has announced the partnership of The Innovation Exchange, with the RDI Hub (Research Development Innovation Hub) based in Killorglin, Co. Kerry.  The Innovation Exchange is Ireland’s innovation marketplace connecting large companies facing digital transformation challenges with technology companies that can fast-track the solution.

As the newest regional channel partner of The Innovation Exchange, the RDI Hub is a world-class centre for design-led, digital innovation located in Ireland’s South West.  It focuses on digitisation, ideation and commercialisation of innovation and research in the Digital, AI, Data and related technologies’ sectors. The RDI Hub is also part of the Fexco’s Innovation division and operates as a not-for-profit public-private partnership with Munster Technological University and Kerry County Council.

There are currently six companies signed up from Kerry; one corporate, Astellas, as well as five SMEs; Graphite Note, Quodos, Galarus, Salaso and Turtle Transformation. Cork-based, RDI hub member Perkforce is also signed up.

The initiative will allow globally ambitious tech SMEs located in Kerry the unique opportunity to pitch to, and collaborate with, large companies looking to access innovation as part of a diverse and curated community of startups and scaleups. As a part of this collaboration, the RDI Hub will bring both corporate entities and scale-up businesses situated in Kerry together as members of The Innovation Exchange, expanding its growing community.

Attending the launch, Norma Foley TD, Minister for Education and TD for Kerry, said: “Ambition in any field should be limitless, but for it to be limitless we must ensure that the right supports are in place. Today we launch The Innovation Exchange, an initiative of Skillnet Ireland. It gives an opportunity to provide a level of support which will be a catalyst for so many businesses to go further and to go beyond; there is great insight here, being provided by the experts. The spirit lauded by this new initiative and development is that together we can go further and further; limitless opportunity, limitless abilities being celebrated and given an opportunity to advance.”

Speaking at yesterday’s announcement, Paul Healy, Chief Executive, Skillnet Ireland said: “Today we see the Innovation Exchange developing its footprint in Kerry as part of our drive for a nationwide expansion of this successful programme. The Innovation Exchange is serving an important role in promoting innovation and economic growth in Ireland by building deep links between SMEs and large corporations, encouraging ideation and facilitating the development of new business projects between these sectors. We encourage local SMEs and larger companies with a presence in the South West to join the programme and take advantage of the many benefits it offers.” 

The aim of the Innovation Exchange is to establish a nationwide footprint by onboarding up to 10 regional channel partners throughout 2023. Earlier this year The Innovation Exchange announced its partnership with the Galway Technology Centre, which supports innovative, global trading companies in the ICT sector. The expansion of The Innovation Exchange, which currently has in excess of 350 participants, will offer even more SMEs access to the programme’s benefits, including an instant sales pipeline, market intelligence and the capability to sell to large companies

Conor Carmody, programme director of The Innovation Exchange commented on today’s news: “We are thrilled to be collaborating with RDI Hub, as we continue to bring our offering to SMEs and corporates across Ireland. Our main focus is to showcase the amazing talent and capabilities of the companies in the region, while also helping them to scale their businesses. We see this partnership with Skillnet Ireland as an opportunity to expand our network and leverage RDI Hub’s resources and expertise to support our members and drive their success.”

Liam Cronin, CEO of RDI, said: “The ethos at the RDI Hub is all about making connections for start-ups, scale-ups, SMEs, corporates, and enterprises to create, digitalise, innovate, and scale businesses for future economies. The Innovation Exchange is a perfect partnership for us as it supports the key focus of the RDI Hub   of creating new jobs, products, and services in the Southwest. This is a fantastic opportunity for agile companies to innovate and solve specific problems for large corporates, and for corporates to gain fresh perspectives on their business challenges.”

Bertie Murphy, Chief Strategy Officer Fexco and RDI Hub Board Director, said: “This new partnership between the RDI Hub and the Innovation Exchange creates a brilliant opportunity for innovation between SMEs and scaled businesses. This reinforces our vision at Fexco for the RDI Hub as a key enabler of innovation. We have already achieved success at the RDI Hub in creating an ecosystem that has generated exciting new technologies, services, and jobs. This announcement provides an opportunity for the RDI Hub to further build on that success and, in addition, facilitate the ability of SMEs to introduce innovative and transformative ideas and services to larger corporations in the region.” 

Skillnet Ireland has committed €5 million to fund The Innovation Exchange which is designed to address the barriers that exist for scaling companies when selling to large companies and multinationals. The programme will support over 1,000 companies between 2022-2025.

Scale-ups and corporates in the Kerry region are being encouraged by The Innovation Exchange to sign up at www.theinnovationexchange.ie.

Skillnet Ireland and IDA Ireland launch collaboration to accelerate disruptive innovation in multinationals through partnerships with Irish SME’s

IDA Ireland and Skillnet Ireland have today announced a new collaboration between IDA Ireland’s Disruptive Technologies Partnering Portal (DTTP) and The Innovation Exchange from Skillnet Ireland. The partnership has an objective to accelerate world class partnerships between multinationals and Irish SMEs in digital, disruptive, and sustainable technology solutions that can drive enterprise competitiveness, growth, and transformation.

The Innovation Exchange – DTPP collaboration provides a new business-2-business engagement framework. This framework enables multinationals to raise business challenges and needs aligned to business objectives and provides a platform for Irish SMEs to present their innovative technology-based solutions to address such.

The engagement framework is enabled by the DTPP, an online searchable platform developed by IDA and Enterprise Ireland that profiles enterprise capacity and needs in digital, disruptive, and sustainable technologies, enabling companies to directly connect for partnership opportunities.

In addition to the DTPP, the engagement framework will include The Innovation Exchange programme, where multinationals will voice their challenges and needs and provide an opportunity for Irish SMEs to present solutions to accelerate innovation within both the large and smaller firms. Under this framework Irish SMEs can avail of mentoring, training and other supports to build the necessary skills to position these solutions to multinationals.

Skillnet Ireland will invest €5 million in The Innovation Exchange over the next 5 years to support more than 1000 businesses, while IDA will continue to offer free access to the DTPP for companies and access to a variety of supports to enable business transformation.  This collaboration between Skillnet Ireland and IDA Ireland is a fantastic opportunity for Irish SMEs and multinational enterprises to work together in partnership to drive digitalisations and collaborative opportunities, utilising the best of the Irish innovative infrastructure.

IDA Ireland’s Michael Lohan, Head of Life Sciences and Talent Transformation & Innovation, commented: “This is a great example of the way the infrastructure works together for the benefit of enterprise. I welcome our on-going and close working partnership with Skillnet Ireland.   A key objective for IDA Ireland is to engage SMEs and multinational companies for the benefit of enterprise and the economy.  Irish companies are innovative and smart and are supporting our multinational community to thrive and innovate in Ireland. This is a very exciting initiative and adds huge value to the DTPP.’

Skillnet Ireland’s Mark Jordan, Chief Strategic Officer, said: “Our focus at Skillnet Ireland is on driving business success and enabling innovation within both multinationals and SMEs. The Innovation Exchange has been very powerful in doing exactly that, by connecting large firms seeking business solutions with SMEs that can provide them. We welcome this collaboration with IDA Ireland which will add greatly to driving innovation across a wide range of areas including digitalisation, climate and advanced manufacturing.”

To find out more about The Innovation Exchange and to apply online, visit https://theinnovationexchange.ie/. To learn more about the DTPP and register your enterprise profile, solution and/or need, visit https://www.dtpp.ie/. Successful application to either programme will enable participants to avail of both initiatives.

Minister Harris launches Skillnet Ireland programme to tackle the staff shortage in the Wind Sector

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris T.D. today announced the expansion of Green Tech Skillnet’s Wind Turbine Technician programme at Raheenleagh Wind Farm near Arklow, Co. Wicklow.

With energy prices increasing, the need to move to domestically generated sustainable energy is becoming ever more apparent. The programme will provide a vital pipeline of workers with the green energy skills needed to meet Ireland’s 2030 targets for CO2 emissions reduction and renewable energy provision.

The programme is aimed at people with electrical, mechanical or engineering backgrounds and once complete the trainee will be certified with Wind Turbine Technicians. The course is delivered in two stages, the first phase being in-person technical training followed by an industry placement. The Green Tech Skillnet, the facilitator of the programme, works to support companies such as ESB, GE, EDF and Energia to name but a very few, in order to ensure that this industry has the skills and talent required to meet our climate action targets.

Launching the programme, Minister Harris said: “We have set ambitious climate targets for 2030 and ensuring we have the right talent is vital in making those commitments a reality. Today we launch the Wind Turbine Technicians programme from Green Tech Skillnet and Skillnet Ireland, which will play a critical role to ensure industry identified skills and talent requirements are met. My Department and I are delighted to support this programme through the National Training Fund, ensuring that we have qualified people ready to take up roles to tackle the climate crisis.”

 Speaking at the launch Paul Healy, Chief Executive Skillnet Ireland said: “Skillnet Ireland are committed to delivering a talent pipeline so businesses are equipped with the skills needed to take climate action which we all know is urgently needed.  We are working across multiple sectors, from FDI to SMEs to develop industry led training and upskilling initiatives which will be critical to achieving our climate action targets.”

Also commenting at the launch, Justin Moran, Director of External Affairs, Wind Energy Ireland: “With a massive ramp up in investment in Onshore and Offshore Wind in the coming years, there is a skills shortage in the number of wind technicians in Ireland. This programme designed in partnership with enterprise will train 30 wind turbine technicians in 2022, providing essential skills needed help meet Ireland’s Climate Action Plan targets.”