Minutes of the 98th Meeting of the Board of InterTradeIreland, the Trade and Business Development Body.
Tuesday 27th October 2009 – Kearney Suite, Canal Court Hotel, Newry (09.30am – 11.50am)
Present:
Board Members:
Dr David Dobbin CBE Chairman
Mr John Fitzgerald Vice Chairman
Mr Brendan Butler
Mr Ray Doherty
Ms Rosaleen Doherty
Mr Sean Gallagher
Mr Jack Gilmour
Mr Hugh Logue
Mr Pádraig MacLochlainn
Ms Patricia McKeown
Dr Gerard O’Hare
Executive:
Mr Liam Nellis Chief Executive
Mr Aidan Gough Strategy & Policy Director
Mr Laurence Lord Corporate Services Director
Ms Margaret Hearty Acting Operations Director
Ms Orla McGlennon Board Secretary
98.1 Apologies.
Apologies were received from Mr Tom Scott.
98.2 Authorisation of Previous Minutes.
The Minutes of the 29th September 2009 Board Meeting were approved by the Board and authorised by the Chairman. The Board also approved the Summary of Board Minutes of the 29th September 2009 Board Meeting for publication on the InterTradeIreland Website.
98.3 Matters Arising.
Mr Nellis informed the Board that as requested at the last Board meeting the following information had been sent to members:
• Details of the event hosted by the US Ambassador to Ireland to mark the successful projects under the US Ireland Partnership;
• List of all staff and their roles;
• Additional information on expected actual programme and administration expenditure in 2009 against 2010 proposed expenditure.
98.4 Chairman’s Business
The Chairman advised the Board that this would be Rosaleen’s last official Board meeting as she had tendered her resignation due to her taking up a new job in the USA. On behalf of the Board he wished her well and thanked her for the positive contribution she had made.
The Chairman reported that he and the CEO had given two presentations on the Strategy Review to all staff members in advance of the Staff Conference. He advised that any issues raised by staff had been positive and that the conference would provide staff with the opportunity to input into the implementation and delivery of the new strategy.
The Chairman informed the Board that he had been invited by Declan Kelly, US Economic envoy to sit on an advisory group of business leaders from Northern Ireland. The Board agreed that Mr Kelly should be invited to meet with the Chairman, CEO and Strategy & Policy Director. It was also agreed that the same group should seek a meeting with the US Ambassadors to Ireland and the UK. The Board requested that and a one page summary document outlining InterTradeIreland’s collaborations with the USA should be prepared in advance of the meetings.
The Chairman also reported on the Northern Ireland Economic Conference on 30th September at which he had presented a keynote paper on North South economic collaboration and its potential contribution to assisting overall economic recovery. The feedback from this had been positive.
98.5 Chief Executive’s Report.
The Board noted the Chief Executive’s Report, which had been circulated in advance of the meeting which included items on the following:
The 2009 InterTradeIreland Seedcorn Business competition closed on Friday 25th September. A total of
225 plans were received, the highest number received since the competition began in 2003, and a 30% increase on last year. The business plan review process finished on 20th October, when the top 24 companies were shortlisted to go through to the regional final stage.
The halo business angel network on the island has recently been re-branded to HBAN and a new website www.hban.org launched. The HBAN programme in Northern Ireland continues to make progress with 4 deals done since May this year
Bob McGowan Smyth has taken up his role as InterTradeIreland’s lead equity advisor with effect from 29th September.
Four tri-partite US-Ireland R&D partnerships were launched at an event hosted by the US Ambassador to Ireland, Dan Rooney, on Thursday 15th September. Over 80 guests attended including Sir Reg Empey, Minister for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland and Dara Calleary, Minister for Labour Affairs in Ireland and other senior representatives from government and academia from both jurisdictions.
On 7th October the CEO provided the opening address at the Foundation for Science and Technology Debate which was held in Queen’s University Belfast. The theme of the debate was ‘Beyond the recession: what can science and innovation partnerships do for you?’ The three key speakers at the debate were Professor Peter Gregson, Vice-Chancellor of QUB; Eoin O’Driscoll, Chairman of Forfás; and Iain Gray, Chief Executive of the UK Technology Strategy Board.
After a tender exercise the new managing agent for the next phase of Go 2 Tender has been appointed. An island wide series of workshops will be delivered beginning in Dublin on 2nd and 3rd of December 2009.
In order to build on the Go-2-Tender experience, some companies who have participated on the Programme are receiving a monthly e-ezine from InterTradeIreland. To date we have 65 member companies receiving the e-ezine but we are in the process of adding an additional 65. Many participants have used the e-ezine to market their brochures and their company services to each other and the response to date has been very positive. The last phase of the Programme generated a return on investment figure of 99:1 so this should generate business opportunities for participant companies.
On 12th October the CEO had an opportunity to meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The CEO attended a “Meet the Minister” event organised by Ernst and Young to introduce this Years finalists in the Entrepreneur of the Year Competition to An Tánaiste Mary Coughlan. The final judging of the Ernst and Young awards took place on 15th October with the Awards night being on 22nd October. The winners were of a very high standard again this year.
On 15th October the CEO met with the new CEO of Forfás, Jane Williams to update her on the work of InterTradeIreland and discuss areas of cooperation. That afternoon he also met with Sean Gorman, Secretary General of DETE to update him on current issues, particularly the performance of InterTradeIreland and the importance of maintaining momentum in our programmes with reducing budgets.
The CEO met with representatives of the Irish Software Association and Enterprise Ireland to discuss possible InterTradeIreland involvement in an all island ‘Showcase’ event for companies in the technology sector next year. The event would allow the main agencies to promote their programmes to companies and help them understand what support might be available to them.
The CEO attended the Northern Ireland Economic Conference on 30th September at which the Chairman presented a keynote paper on North South economic collaboration.
The next sectoral meeting of the NSMC on Trade and Business development issues is scheduled for late November in Fermanagh. It is expected InterTradeIreland will introduce a discussion on research and development/innovation.
The next Innovation Lecture under the All-Island Innovation Programme will be on the subject of Open Innovation and will be delivered by Professor Henry Chesbrough, Director of the Centre for Open Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley. The lecture will take place in Queen’s University Belfast on Tuesday the 10th November at 6.00pm and in NUI Galway on Thursday the 12th November at 6.00pm.
The Taoiseach recently appointed an Innovation Task Force to advise the Government on its strategy for positioning Ireland as an International Innovation Development Hub and to assist in making the Smart Economy a reality. Aidan Gough is representing InterTradeIreland on the subgroup of the task force looking at the promotion of an innovation island and gave a presentation to the full taskforce on North/South cooperation. In addition we have been providing assistance to the Office of the Taoiseach to develop and carry out a consultation survey with Industry and academia to facilitate bringing forward recommendations on “How to Position and Promote Ireland as the Innovation Island”.
A meeting of the All Island Planning Managers Group was held on 28th September in Forfás, Dublin. This group comprises of Strategy and Planning Managers from InterTradeIreland, Forfas, Invest NI, Enterprise Ireland, FAS, IDA, Shannon Development and Údarás na Gaeltachta. The meeting covered the recent Regulatory Barriers report, the findings of the InterTradeIreland Business Monitor, discussions on actions being taken on economic recovery and opportunities for future co-operation. The group will meet again before the end of the year to scope potential co-operation in the areas of green technology/renewables, research & development commercialisation and executive leadership.
As a direct response to our recently published report on Cross- Border Regulatory Barriers, on the 14th October InterTradeIreland met with DETI officials to discuss how InterTradeIreland could assist with the review of the Northern Ireland Better Regulation Strategy, particularly in regard to cross border issues.
On 7th October we presented the Market Intelligence Report from the Composting sector to the Annual Conference of Cré (Composter’s Association of Ireland). The report was very well received and had attracted a lot of interest.
Mr Nellis informed the Board that both he and the Chairman would be attending the Inter Agency Liaison Meeting due to take place in November where he would explore the possibility of shared investments in our programmes with Enterprise Ireland and Invest N.I.
98.6 2010 Board Meeting Schedule
The schedule of Board meeting for 2010 was agreed as detailed in the Board papers with two amendments: the January Board meeting will now be held on Tuesday 2nd February and the original February Board meeting will be held on Tuesday 2nd March. It was agreed that David Sterling, DETI Permanent Secretary and Sean Gorman, DETE Secretary General should be invited to attend a Board meeting in 2010. It was also recommended that Stephen Kingon, Chairman of Invest N.I. and Hugh Cooney, Chairman of Enterprise Ireland should be invited to attend one of the Board meetings in 2010.
98.7 Board Sub Committee/Steering Committee Reports
Communications Sub Committee Report
Dr O’Hare reported that the Communications team had consulted on the new draft communications and marketing strategy with the Communications Sub Committee, Chairman and the Senior Management Team. The findings of the strategic review and feedback from the consultations had been incorporated in the draft communications and marketing strategy summary document as detailed in the Board papers. He complimented the team on their work and felt it was unfortunate that due to time constraints the newly appointed Communications Manager, Rachel Downing was unable to present to the Board today. He noted that the new communications and marketing strategy had considered how to achieve more with a greatly reduced budget.
Mr Lord advised that the new marketing and communications programme which seeks to achieve the following aims:
• Establish InterTradeIreland as a voice of authority on all cross-border issues
• Communicate our value
• Engage and be innovative
• Be clear and focused
Key aspects of the plan include:
• Centralised control of all communications budgets
• Driving communications online and maximising new technology
The Board approved in principle the new communications and marketing strategy and asked that the full Communications and Marketing Strategy document should be circulated to all Board members for information. The Board also agreed that the Communication Manager should give a presentation on the new Communications and Marketing Strategy at the November Board meeting.
EquityNetwork Sub Committee Report
Dr O’Hare reported back from the EquityNetwork Steering Committee held on 14th October. FGS McClure Watters had presented the outcome of the Phase 2 research – ‘Option for innovative/effective mechanisms to support seed, start-up and early stage SMEs access to appropriate early stage finance’. Ms Hearty advised that the key recommendation of the report is the establishment of an all island Entrepreneurs Fund aimed at this market. The option for a feasibility study or an in-house economic appraisal was proposed. After discussion, the Board agreed that the most appropriate way forward initially would be to consult with relevant active players and experts in this area to assess the potential for setting up an Entrepreneurs Fund and develop a more detailed proposal and actions for the Board to consider at a future Board meeting.
As a result of the recent budget cuts, it was envisioned that the 2010 Private Equity Conference would have to be cancelled. Dr O’Hare reported that the committee had expressed concerns over cancelling this event in the current economic climate. The Committee had discussed and recommended that it may be possible to go ahead with the event at a reduced budget by seeking sponsorship, undertaking some activities in-house, reducing marketing spend and implementing other cost cutting measures. With the endorsement of the EquityNetwork Steering Committee, the Board ratified the decision for members of the EquityNetwork Steering Committee to seek sponsorship for the 2010 Private Equity Conference.
Dr O’Hare expressed the concern of the EquityNetwork Committee over the 50% reduction to the Seedcorn Competition budget in 2010 and sought Board approval for the Executive to explore sponsorship opportunities on a regional and all-island basis. The possibility of a reduction in the prize fund was discussed and it was agreed that the Executive should explore various options to deliver the Competition in a more cost effective way and present the findings for discussion and consideration at the November Board meeting. The Board approved the request for sponsorship to be sought for the Seedcorn Competition.
Dr O’Hare advised the Board that from January 2010, Sean Gallagher will become Chairman of the Equity Network Steering Committee and he will take up the position of Vice Chairman.
Acumen Steering Committee Report
Mr Gilmour gave a report from the Acumen Steering Committee meeting held on the 30th September. With the endorsement of the Acumen Steering Committee, the Board approved the 14 Acumen II projects presented, noted the 2 rejections and 3 deferrals. The Board approved 9 Acumen graduate project applications and noted 2 deferrals. After discussion on the need to achieve more with a reduced budget, the Board also recommended that with immediate effect, the salary costs for the Graduate element of the Acumen Programme should be capped at an upper limit of £15k.
Audit Committee Report
Mr Fitzgerald reported back from the Audit Committee meeting held on 29th September. He advised that a Draft ‘Report to Those Charged with Governance (2008’) had been finalised with minor amendments. The main findings were concerning:
• A payment to a managing agent in advance of the work being satisfactorily completed. This amount has since been recovered (priority 1) and
• The level of bank balances held by the Body (priority 2)
At the Audit Committee meeting, it was agreed that both the Body’s Travel and Subsistence Policy and the Body’s policy on Hospitality and Gifts should be revised. The Board requested that a copy of the revised policies, when agreed by the Audit Committee should be circulated to all Board members for approval. Mr Fitzgerald advised that the Audit Committee had agreed the Risk Register. The only adjustments to the previous report were around scoring of the following risks:
• Deteriorating economic conditions reducing ITI funding and impacting adversely on outputs from ITI programmes;
• Political and Institutional Relevance and
• Complexities of the Governance Environment
98.8 For Noting and Approval -
Governance and Financial Matters & Summary Business Plan Progress Report.
The Board noted the Governance and Financial Matters Report and the September Summary Business Plan Progress Report.
98.9 For Information
The Board noted the following reports:
• Cross Directorate Team’s Report No 1. – Efficiency and Effectiveness
• The Accounts and Financial Commentary for September 2009;
• The Communications Update for October 2009;
• September 2009 detailed Business Plan Progress Report;
98.10 Any Other Business
Ms Hearty left the Board meeting for this agenda item. Mr Nellis reported that the Body has currently 4 unfilled permanent posts:
• Director post (previously called Operations Director which has been vacant since August 2008);
• Finance Manger;
• Communications Executive and
• Strategy and Policy Executive.
Mr Nellis gave a summary of the job description for the Director post and outlined the key functions of the role. Following a general discussion, it was agreed that the job title should be “Director of Programmes and Business Services” and recommended the following should be included to the job description:
• Marketing and promotion of InterTradeIreland programmes to existing and prospective business partners;
• Contributing to emerging technology to better promote and deliver programmes and services.
The insertion of a clause in the job description to allow for flexibility to the duties of the appointed person when required in line with organisational need was also recommended. The Board gave approval to proceed with the recruitment of all of the current vacant positions immediately.
…………………………………………Authorised by:
Dr David Dobbin CBE
Chairman, InterTradeIreland
24th November 2009