NWRC; Developing skills, fostering innovation, driving applied research

North West Regional College’s (NWRC) Business Support Centre assists businesses from fledgling entrepreneurs and micro companies, to long-standing indigenous and multinational and foreign direct investment businesses with tailored solutions to meet their needs.

We offer support to industry in two main ways:

Our Innovation and Skills Centres assist businesses to source funding to support upskilling and mentoring in applied innovation, research and development and then foster innovation by delivering tailored solutions, to support businesses to be more competitive.

Our Skills team identify their business skills needs through a training analysis and tailor bespoke training and upskilling specific to the business needs. Many of these skills courses are in priority areas and linked to employment opportunities.

NWRC has 5 dedicated innovation and skills centres across the areas of food and hospitality, manufacturing and engineering, extended reality (XR), health and care, and industry 4.0 automation, that deliver high-quality skills and innovation support to students, entrepreneurs, industry and the wider economy. These are the Foodovation Centre, Design Innovation for Assisted Living (DIAL) Centre, Product Design Centre (PDC), XR Hub and i4.0 (industry 4.0) Centre.

Support available for early-stage entrepreneurs, micro and SMEs includes:

Bespoke upskilling and training and one-to-one mentoring,

• Access to state-of-the-art equipment and industry-standard workshops including new technology demonstrations and NWRC staff with the associated skills,
• Technical staff with knowledge and expertise in idea generation, proof of concept creation and prototype development right through to scale-up of production, and
• Conducting industry applied research and development (r&D).

We aim to assist business to find new markets, scale-up production and to rapidly and effectively bring new ideas and products to market to increase sales, reduce costs, while enhancing workforce skills and creating employment. In so doing, NWRC is playing our part and supporting the Department for the Economy NI’s vision to grow the economy of all areas of Northern Ireland.

With the Department for the Economy-funded InnovateUs programme we provided 60 hours of upskilling and mentoring at our Product Design Centre to Coleraine-based orthodontists Cinchortho, to help design and 3D print their new anti-snoring device ‘Soundly.’ The product is now FDA approved for the American market and Cinchortho was awarded the Platinum Level Innovation Award by the Department for the Economy as part of their Innovation Accreditation programme. And we assisted local tourism company Derrie Danders through our XR Centre to innovate their blue-plaque tours utilizing augmented reality. With the InnovateUs programme funding we support over 60 businesses annually to bring innovation into their businesses. These range from single-person businesses up to those employing 50 staff.

NWRC delivers more than 30 innovation voucher projects to businesses across the province via the Invest NI and Enterprise Ireland-funded programmes. Through the PDC, i4.0 and XR centres, we have recently supported MIM NI, NuPrint, Ge Spares, BubbleBum and the Millennium Forum to develop new and improved, products, processes and experiences for their respective markets. Food entrepreneurs, restaurants, B&Bs, artisan food and indeed long-standing food manufacturing businesses have availed of the innovation vouchers and the support of the Foodovation Centre to enhance processes, develop new products, advise on allergens, undertake nutritional analysis and even provide shelf-life testing.

From supporting restaurants such as Red Pepper and El Greco in Castlederg, Whoosh in Coleraine and Hidden City Café in Derry, to developing new retail products, the spread of projects is wide. Foodovation has assisted drinks companies such as So Good Juice in Derry-Londonderry and Kombucha na Dalaigh in West Donegal, and even assisting Scottie Paws with their dog treats. An inspirational example is Caroline Lynch who has taken an idea for gluten free products and created a successful business called Coelies, producing gluten free sandwiches and tray bakes and is now selling them into shops across the North West. Caroline’s daughter is coeliac and when you see an entrepreneur identify an opportunity and make a success out of their business idea it fills you with a sense of pride that you have supported them along the way.

The DIAL Centre is at the forefront of innovation and training in the health and care sector. At a recent health and housing conference, funded by the DfE Connected programme, several advancements in product development and construction were highlighted.

The College can help companies tap into InterTrade Ireland programmes such as Innovation Boost and Business Explorer. These have seen the innovation centres engage with companies right across the island. For example Donegal-based businesses such as Hanna Hats, Inishowen Engineering, Lynch Windows, Killybegs Electrical Refrigeration, Kinore and Noone’s Poultry are included in the more than 100 Republic of Ireland-based companies that the NWRC has collaborated with on 12 and 18-month projects over the past 5 years.

In recent months NWRC has announced details of a new Innovate UK Accelerated Knowledge Transfer project with Broighter Gold from Limavady. NWRC wrote the research and development funding bid, secured £35K for it and the project is now being delivered by the Foodovation Centre, analysing the company’s waste with a view to developing waste by-products.

And for those businesses with longer-term strategic R&D projects NWRC has partnered with the likes of AE Global, Braidwater Homes, and Gallagher & McKinney to revolutionize their businesses. The College has supported companies such as these to draw down over £100K funding each via the InnovateUK Knowledge Transfer Partnership programme to innovate within the businesses, incorporating the latest digital technologies and processes such as drones, augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence, 3D design and building information modelling expertise to improve business efficiencies and develop new services, both internally and externally.

For the past ten years NWRC has grown and matured and will continue to evolve and invest in its facilities. The uniqueness, and forward thinking of the innovation centres, has been exemplified by visits from Scottish Colleges and more recently East Kent College. Upon visiting the NWRC, the CEO of East Kent College, Graham Razey said “there are not many things that shock me in Further Education but what this College is doing in the innovation space is both inspiring and ground-breaking. I never thought FE could operate in this area but they are living proof it can be done.”

With this praise the staff at NWRC’s innovation centres are not resting on their laurels and planning for the future via Peace Plus, the Derry City & Strabane City Deal and an extension of Foodovation in Limavady through the Causeway Coast and Glens Council’s Growth Deal, keeping moving forward, continuously innovating and evolving.

If you are looking for support for your businesses, contact the NWRC Business Support Centre because assisting your businesses is our business.