Challenges to SMEs outlined at major conference in Trim

Small and medium-sized enterprises are being stymied in their attempts to grow by the fact that they spend very little on research and development and their lack of knowledge of the opportunities available in the innovation area, Meath Fine Gael councillor Jim Holloway said this week. He was commenting on the outcome of the Southern and Eastern Regional Assembly 10th annual conference held recently in Knightsbrook Hotel, Trim. The Southern and Eastern Regional Operational Programme 2007-2013 is co-funded by the Irish Government and the European Regional Development Fund and the programme forms part of the Government's contribution to achieving the goals set out in the Lisbon Agenda for the southern and eastern region. The conference, attended by up to 60 delegates, was used as a platform to provide small and medium enterprises an opportunity to discuss the obstacles and challenegs they face in introducing innovation into their business model. The conference was opened by Cllr Kevin Murphy, cathaoirleach of the S&E Regional Assembly, and key speakers included Ivan Yates, Celtic Bookmakers, Newstalk FM broadcaster and presenter of TV3's 'Business Matters'; Tim Fritzley, CEO of InTune Networks; Tom Hayes, Enterprise Ireland; Professor Kieran Byrne, Waterford Institute of Technology, and Cllr John Ryan, S&E Regional Assembly. Cllr Holloway, who had been chairperson of the authority for the past year, said the obstacles to the growth of the small and medium-sized firms were illustrated by the fact that total business expenditure in research and development was 70.6 per cent of that carried out by foreign-owned firms and 29.4 per cent by Irish-owned firms. However, of that 29.4 per cent, an even smaller percentage was carried out by SMEs. Besides the lack of awareness by SMEs of the opportunities available in innovation, other obstacles they encountered included local authority charges, inadequate infrastructure, weak management capability and the relatively poor performance of broadband penetration. According to Cllr Holloway, a major obstacle to the growth and success of these fierms was the inability to access finance. "This is my major concern, as the draw-down of funds from the EU under the operational programme is dependant on the spend of national funds under the National Development Plan, which is itself dependant on the availability of seed capital for any SME." However, on the positive side, the councillor said that Dundalk Institute of Technology and the Waterford Institute of Technology were well resourced in terms of their capacity to foster innovation and to work in collaboration with SMEs. "This is crucial as the global leaders in innovation, such as Finland and Sweden and Germany are characterised by the direct co-operation between academics and researches in third-level institutions on the one hand and entrepreneurs and companies on the other hand," said Cllr Holloway. "For all these reasons, it would be a disaster if the benefits of the EU funding to be leveraged on the basis of the Southern and Eastern Regional Operational Programme 2007-2013 agreed at the signing in Brussels in November 2007 could not be realised because of the bankinbg crisis. The assembly members, including myself as chairperson, were insistent that the conference needs to be shared by those on the ground and that the focus should also be people who don't normally attend these conferences," Cllr Holloway added.