Today the Western Development Commission and the Department of Community and Rural Development have launched their National Hubs Network Survey.

This survey is an opportunity for hubs around the country to engage with the governments National Hubs Network initiative. The data gathered by this survey will form the first national registry of hubs, which will allow Ireland’s hubs to be viewed, not just as stand-alone entities, but as a significant piece of collective infrastructure that can help to drive economic recovery and regeneration for communities throughout Ireland.

This project builds on the work of the Atlantic Economic Corridor Hubs initiative which The Western Development Commission and the AEC officer network have been working on for 18 months.

Take the Survey here

The development of a shared network of hubs, based on this registry, presents significant opportunities for both rural and urban communities to transform the way they live and work. This network of hubs provides a valuable solution for employers and employees seeking to adopt remote working arrangements. For employers, hubs offer the chance to have their employees working closer to home but still within an office environment. For employees, hubs offer the benefits of a reduced commute, access to office facilities, and reduce the risk of isolation or loneliness.

This network of high-quality hubs equipped with high-speed broadband and modern office facilities will provide a solution for those who are often required to travel around the country for work and aids the transition of employees moving from a fixed to a blended workplace model. The National Hub Network initiative will also support the development of a dynamic and creative community, supported by online services that will allow workers from different firms to mix, build relationships and exchange knowledge and best practices.

The National Hub Network will have a transformative impact on local economies and communities and can help to drive a more equal distribution of high-value knowledge economy roles throughout the country. With hubs in cities, towns, villages and townlands across the country the network will facilitate many to work where they want to, increasing regional employment and lowering transport emissions. It will also help to drive our collective understanding of ‘remote working’ in a post-Covid19 Ireland as something that happens not just in the home, but in the heart of thriving local communities.

The Western Development Commission and the Department of Community and Rural Affairs are now planning to roll out this National Hubs Network. By completing this survey, you will ensure that your hub is part of Irelands post pandemic digital recovery. By engaging with this process, you will be kept up to date on funding, timelines, onboarding, marketing campaigns and other important information.

Take the Survey here

The Atlantic Economic Corridor, the advocacy group for the Irish Atlantic Coast, has welcomed a video made by the one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, AbbVie – which recently completed the acquisition of Allergan, another West of Ireland giant. The video highlights the work and life opportunities offered by the West of Ireland.

The video is part of the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association’s ‘Innovate For Life’ campaign, a series of videos showing the many dimensions to pharma’s impact on Ireland. The latest video showcases the opportunities AbbVie provides in the North-West.

The Atlantic Economic Corridor (AEC) is driven by business representatives and communities and supported by national and local government and State agencies. The initiative seeks to consolidate and align the State capital investment programme with the potential investment of the private sector to strengthen the region’s economic contribution and make the Atlantic region a better place in which to live and work.

Allan Mulrooney, Head of Communications and Development for the Atlantic Economic Corridor, said the region was honoured that one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies would highlight the potential of the West.

“AbbVie is an investor and job creator in the West. It has been in Sligo for more than four decades, providing great jobs, supporting local causes and backing GAA clubs and teams. It is companies like AbbVie which are making the Atlantic corridor a hub for investment so that this part of the country can scale into the future.”

“AbbVie’s film is a stirring evocation of the region, presenting it as the great place to live and work that it is – the surf, the mountains and the calm of nature. The film features some great local voices, all of which attest to the region’s draw for top talent, an excellent quality of life and multinational investment. It should generate confidence in the West as a significant medicines innovator for decades to come,” Allan said.

The video, which is available to view online, shows the North-West at its best. Outside of the workplace, it shows surfing and hiking destinations are just minutes away, although many of AbbVie’s employees simply enjoy the allure of a more serene lifestyle and the beautiful views of the North-West.

The campaign, #InnovateForLife, opens a window on the world of medicines innovation right across the lifecycle – showing the process from discovery and development through to manufacturing and adoption by the health services. The campaign is organised into three pillars – Patients, Places and Pioneers – capturing the economic and societal impact of the biopharmaceutical industry on patients’ lives, on communities, and on science and medicines development.

West of Ireland native Bernard Mallee, Director of Communications and Advocacy at IPHA, said: “We are delighted to launch inspiring new content for ‘Innovate For Life’ ­­­– the campaign IPHA leads which draws together the many strands of our impact in patients’ lives, in communities across the country, and in science for the development of new treatments. During COVID-19, the role of our industry in the economy and in healthcare has been starkly revealed. Like other biopharmaceutical innovators, including Pfizer, Janssen, Takeda, Novartis and Astellas, AbbVie is part of ‘Innovate For Life’. We are proud of AbbVie’s contribution to the industry. It is making medicines for global supply, creating jobs in the region, improving patients’ health outcomes and helping to position Ireland for foreign direct investments. The new film helps to tell that important story for AbbVie as part of a wider industry narrative.”

Dr Jerry Bird, Head of the Science Faculty at IT Sligo, features in the video. He says he is proud that his former students are positively impacting the lives of patients in Ireland and around the world through the manufacture of innovative medicines with AbbVie – medicines of great value and significance to the medical industry, patients and their loved ones.

“It’s important that parents and families understand that when their sons and daughters come to us and train in pharmaceutical science and in medical biotechnology, what are they going to do? They are going on to work in an international company that is producing drugs that are changing the lives of people, changing the lives of people with extremely high-risk diseases, changing their outcomes and giving them new lives,” Dr Bird said.

Andrés Rodrigo, General Manager at AbbVie (Ireland), said: “AbbVie roots in Sligo stretch back more than four decades. Over time, our two separate sites there have scaled as the world of medicines innovation turned. With that came demand for more people with new skills. IT Sligo has been key in helping us to source that new talent. We are a partner for Sligo’s economy. More than that, we have become part of the community. Our people in Sligo are supporting the global supply of innovative medicines in immunology, haematology and for Parkinson’s disease, to mention just a few. We are proud of their contribution to the economy and to society. We wanted to tell that story as part of ‘Innovate For Life’.”

AbbVie employee Matt Kavanagh features in the video too. He left commuting hell behind to embrace a new pharmaceutical career in the West of Ireland. He’s still at the forefront of global medicines innovation, but community appreciation of his company’s work is at a whole new level in his adopted home.

He said: “My work-life balance is pretty good at the moment. The fact that I can go hiking, even after the day’s work, having no traffic and very little crowds means everything’s very accessible and doesn’t take a whole lot of planning to go surfing or hiking. I get to do all that, as well as being in the front-line of innovation.”

AbbVie’s video can be viewed here

All videos are available at Innovate For Life

Partners in the Interreg funded SAFER project, The WiSAR Lab, at the Letterkenny Institute of Technology, will showcase three pilot initiatives related to the marine economy at the 10th annual Business2Sea. The highly anticipated international event will take place virtually, from the 16th to the 20th of November 2020.

SAFER, or Smart Atlantic Seafood Clusters, is a transnational innovation project co-funded by the Interreg Atlantic Area Programme 2014-2020, which aims to improve the innovation performance of the seafood industry by increasing technology adoption and transnational cooperation.

As part of the Business2Sea programme, a SAFER workshop will take place on Wednesday 18th November at 10.30 GMT (11.30 CET). The workshop, Demonstration of Innovative Technologies to the Seafood Industry under the Atlantic Area Project SAFER, will showcase the pilots implemented during the SAFER project, including three pilots built and engineered by the team at the WiSAR Lab.

The primary aim of the distinguished Business2Sea event is to foster relations and collaboration between international stakeholders who are piloting initiatives in different areas related to the economy of the sea.

Business2Sea is co-organised by SAFER project partner Fórum Oceano, Associação da Economia do Mar, which is responsible for fostering the Portuguese Maritime Cluster, and Centro Tecnológico del Mar, Fundación CETMAR, based in Spain. The event will explore how international alliances and knowledge transfers have led to innovations in the marine and maritime economy.

SAFER project partner Dr Nick Timmons, of the WiSAR Lab, acknowledged that this year’s Business2Sea event is more important than ever in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The maritime industry is facing a time of unprecedented challenge, arising from the Covid-19 crisis and therefore there has never been a more important time for regions in Europe to pioneer and share ideas and learnings in maritime industry innovations. We are delighted to be taking part in the 10th annual Business2Sea event and looking forward to showcasing our pilots to an international audience.”

For more information or to register for Business2Sea visit www.wisar.ie/news/

With #BuyDonegalWeekend just two days away and over 160 businesses involved in the inaugural campaign, the organisers spoke to one of Donegal’s most iconic brands and businesses, Magee of Donegal. Stephen Harron, manager of the Donegal Town store first started work here 27 years ago, as a teenager. Here he tells us more about the Magee story, its evolution and the importance of their local Donegal market.

Magee was founded on tweed over 150 years ago when John Magee first established a small drapers shop in Donegal. This hardwearing, coarse fabric was handwoven across Donegal by part-time fishermen and farmers as the perfect fabric for dissipating the damp and cold weather, so often found in the North-West of Ireland. The Magee of Donegal shop still stands on the same site on the Diamond in Donegal since first opened by John Magee and weaving remains central to brand with the Mill located just across the river from the shop. Today the fourth and fifth-generation are still at the helm – Lynn, Charlotte, Paddy and Rosy.

When Stephen first started in Magee in the early 90s, they were very much known for ‘’our Tweed Suits and Jackets which were popular with tourists, especially American visitors. They will always be part of our heritage, however, the brand has diversified and we now have full lifestyle collections in both men’s and women’s which cater for both our local market and our international customers from all over the world.’’

Like most bricks and mortar stores and businesses in Donegal and across the country, this year has been a very challenging one, both in the retail and wholesale sectors of the Magee business. Building their online presence is something Magee have grown with their well established Magee1866.com digital platform, Stephen and his colleagues now have an even greater opportunity to focus on this business stream. “For us it’s vital that we can still trade through initiatives like click & collect and also offer a service to our customers should they want anything from the stores that is not on our online platform, to provide that extra element of customer service”.

Magee has also expanded beyond its core Donegal base and has two shops in Dublin, Magee of South Anne Street and Magee at Arnotts. In addition the Magee wholesale business caters for many independent retailers within Ireland, the UK and the rest of the world.

Not forgetting the importance of their domestic Donegal market, ‘’support from all of our local customers is so important to us. We very much look forward to getting our stores open again before Christmas and we hope that people will shop local and support all local businesses at this very unique time.’’ Also while this year has been challenging, it has also presented opportunities for Magee with staycationers frequenting their famed Donegal store during the summer months, many of whom had not been in Donegal ever before, or for quite some time.

Speaking about the #BuyDonegalWeekend initiative, Stephen said they were “delighted when we heard about the campaign from Donegal County Council. It’s really great to be involved in something like #BuyDonegalWeekend, which is not just about shopping local, but showcasing Donegal and our range of great businesses to a wider and global audience. We are planning a special offer for our Donegal customers over the weekend, so keep an eye on our Facebook page for the latest updates” #BuyDonegalWeekend takes place this weekend, Friday 6^th until Sunday 8^th of November. Find out how to get involved at www.buydonegal.com.