The Gallaher Trust has committed Up to £168,000 to a new project that will help create over 50 jobs.
A total of 54 new jobs are set to be created in Ballymena over the next five years, through a unique pilot project entitled 4i Innovation designed and managed by Ballymena Business Centre and in association with Innovate NI.
The project will coach businesses how to improve their innovation and it’s hoped that the programme will boost the innovative capabilities of local businesses and improve the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council’s overall innovation ranking within Northern Ireland.
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Open to all businesses within the Ballymena area, regardless of size or sector, project participants will undertake Innovate NI’s Self-Assessment to discover where they are on its ‘Innovation Framework’. The project will support businesses to progress through Innovate NI’s Framework using the latest business modelling tools from Strategzer.com, FourSight individual profiling, innovation coaching and business support including access to potential funding.
Claiming that alongside boosting job prospects, Lauren McAteer, a Trustee of The Gallaher Trust’s Board said that the project would go a long way towards helping Ballymena businesses to become more agile in turbulent market conditions.
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Ms. McAteer said: “We are confident that this project will help businesses to learn to adapt to changing times and to become more agile in the face of turbulent market conditions. Through this project, we hope to help improve the region’s innovation capabilities, which would be a major achievement.”
Speaking about the project Stephen Scullion, Ballymena Business Centre’s 4i Innovation Manager said: “We’ve established the 4i Innovation project in a bid to address low levels of innovation. We’re aiming to demystify what innovation is and create a common language to help businesses understand how to apply innovation and in turn, how to utilise innovation to grow and expand their business.”
For more information click here: http://www.ballymenabusiness.co.uk/4i-innovation.html.
Source: Written from press release.
