2015
On 5th November, 2015, Queen’s Management School hosted the Innovation in micro-business seminar at Riddel Hall, Belfast. The event was co-organised with the UK Enterprise Research Centre and the Department for Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) and provided new insights on the drivers of innovation in micro-businesses. Micro-enterprises, employing less than 10 employees account for 89% of all private sector businesses in Northern Ireland a proportion similar to that across the rest of the UK. Yet there is a lack of evidence on the characteristics of these businesses and the drivers of innovation and growth. In 2014, DETI undertook a survey of 1000 micro-businesses in Northern Ireland, providing the most detailed intelligence available on innovation in micro-enterprises.
With an audience from the academic, policy and business sectors, guest speakers included Ciaran McGarrity, Head of Innovation Policy at the Department for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, NI, Alan McClelland, Lead Statistician, Department for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, NI, Stephen Roper, Director of ERC and Professor of Enterprise, Warwick Business School and Nola Hewitt-Dundas, Director of Research QMS and Professor of Innovation Management & Policy, Queen’s University Belfast.
During the seminar, key insights from the survey work and analysis were presented with discussion from the delegates of the implications of this for targeting support for innovation.
Copies of the presentations can be downloaded here.
Ciaran Mcgarrity: Innovation Strategy in Northern Ireland
Alan McClelland: Innovation Survey of Micro Businesses in Northern Ireland 2014
Stephen Roper & Nola Hewitt-Dundas: What drives new-to-the-market innovation in micro-enterprises?