The ‘Innovation Station’ looks at how to make your business fitter - the second episode in a new ‘Business Innovation’ podcast series for small business owners by InterTradeIreland
Creating a culture of entrepreneurship is a defining ‘success factor’ of businesses that innovate to grow. That’s according to Dr Lawrence Dooley, an enterprise and innovation expert from University College Cork.
Sitting down with InterTradeIreland for its latest ‘Innovation Station’ podcast episode, the leading lecturer makes innovation tangible for the small business owner, explaining in a masterclass at Queen’s University Belfast that businesses who embrace the ‘centrality of the entrepreneur’ and are close to market, develop a ‘sixth sense’ and can spot the needs of customers before they become apparent to customers themselves.
“This responsiveness to customer evolution and the marketplace is a huge way in which to create and go beyond sustainable growth. Companies should be looking in depth at their capabilities to spot the hidden opportunities.”
Dr Dooley goes on to highlight that innovation isn’t just a ‘world-first’.
“More often innovation is much more subtle, incremental and repetitive,’ explains Lawrence, ‘but over time all of this adds up to making the organisation more competitive and sustainable.”
Understanding how businesses need to be frugal yet agile, in this episode Lawrence shares practical tips and advice on how companies can become ‘fitter’ through recognising the natural innovation that is taking place, the in-house capabilities that influence what we do and the need to broaden the diversity of resources, both through the recruitment of new staff and the leveraging of our external networks.
Released fortnightly, the Innovation Station podcast series will feature international thought leaders in the field of innovation, sharing their experiences and insights on how to succeed in the current economic climate.
Each episode is captured live from an InterTradeIreland ‘All-Island Innovation Programme’ masterclass delivered by a world-renowned expert.
Attracting thousands of business leaders, policy makers, students and academics each year, the All-Island Innovation Programme’ series of free masterclasses explores a wide range of topics including upcoming industry trends, management development, as well as the latest thinking in business growth, with the aim of promoting innovation and to encourage cross border cooperation.
Together with Queen’s University Belfast, the National University of Ireland, Galway, University College Cork and Dublin City University the programme promotes and encourages small business owners to innovate by sharing practical advice, as well as international best-practice.
For more information on InterTradeIreland’s ‘All-Island Innovation Programme’ visit: https://intertradeireland.com/innovation/all-island-innovation-programme/
