IT Tralee Hosts TRADEIT Summer Academy

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The TRADEIT Entrepreneurial Summer Academy Award winners were Esereosa Dilenu Ama Otiwa Omoarukhe, University of Reading (Food Enterprise Award); Breda O’Dwyer, Manager of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development (CEED) at IT, Tralee and Academy Coordinator; Ricardo Alhandro, University of Porto and CIMO – Mountain Research Centre of the School of Agriculture of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Portugal (Research and Business Collaboration Award); Dr Helena McMahon, TRADEIT Project Coordinator; Silvia Bellato, CRA-QCE Research Unit for Cereal Quality, Rome University (Research Centre Manager Award).

The TRADEIT Entrepreneurial Summer Academy, recently hosted by the Institute of Technology, Tralee, was a three day intensive entrepreneurial and innovative training programme to Post Graduate Food Researchers and Research Centre Managers active in the Traditional Agri-food Sector.

The 26 Academy participants were selected from the top food researchers and research centre managers in Europe.

The aim of the academy was to provide participants with the knowledge and skills to develop their entrepreneurial and innovative mindset. Participants were provided with the opportunity to consider setting up their own business and/or leading innovative solutions for an existing Traditional Food SME.

The programme is also open to Research Centre Managers enabling them to consider alternative strategies for integrating and scaling up their centres.

Commenting on the three day academy Breda O’Dwyer, Manager of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development (CEED) at IT, Tralee and Academy Coordinator said “the modules provided the participants with insights in the Entrepreneurial Mindset, Female Entrepreneurship, Social Innovation, Idea Generation, IP Management and Finance. One of the key messages was on value and art of networking, students were provided with training and insights on how to effectively utilize this business tool to develop and scale their proposed business ideas”.

The Academy was delivered by leaders from Enterprise and Academia, with lectures, break out sessions, pitching and panels sessions. The panels were comprised of key stakeholders from the TRADEIT network, with representatives from Enterprise Ireland, Bord Bia, Kerry Group, the European Federation of Food Research (EFFoST), international IP Consultants and traditional food producing SMEs.

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