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BIA INNOVATOR CAMPUS

  • Client
BIA Innovator Campus CLG
  • Date

2017 to Date

  • Services

Strategic Planning | Training and Mentoring | Food Sector Specialisation | Grant Writing Support | Sustainable Impact

About this Place

BIA Innovator Campus arose from a 2017 feasibility study completed by Educate + Innovate and commissioned by BIA Innovator founders, Galway County Council, Teagasc, GRETB, LEO Galway, Western Development Commission, SCCUL Enterprises CLG and Athenry Community Council to establish the need for and impact of a Food Innovation Hub based at Teagasc, Athenry, Co. Galway. After raising over €8m, BIA Innovator Campus has been operational from Q4 2022. It comprises a multi-strand food and beverage incubation, scaling and innovation infrastructure, bundled with future-of-food supports including NPD, sustainability and trade development. Its ambition is to realise the creation of 360 jobs within 3 years for over 40+ businesses.

Our study recommended that the project needed to deliver a high level of innovation from the outset. Hence, the multifaceted offering has emerged as:

  • Twelve own-door food units for independent lease to companies in both starter and growth/HPSU sizes. Many of the tenants of BIA OBAIR are female.
  • BIA EOLAS consists of four specialist innovation kitchens that provides ’ pay as you go’ timeshare access to meat, dairy, seafood and a consumer foods kitchen, all equipped with the latest industry processing equipment and technical support. They will also serve as training units.
  • An in-house food tech team of food specialists (supported by Teagasc) are working with businesses to enable new/improved food product innovations in the region.

Key to success
  • Active board – In addition to a strong management team, the BIA Innovator Campus CLG Board is very active and has held over 100 official meetings since 2018. Each of the 10 Directors contributes at least eight volunteer hours a month. Six advisory sub-committees are in place and play a pivotal role in project advancement. In addition, 45 committee members contribute across Governance, Finance & Funding, Business Development, Capital and Climate Change, IT & AV, and Technical & Education subcommittees. These committees meet between 6 and 12 times per annum, and each member commits a minimum of 12 hours a year, but in reality, this is much more.
  • Building a Community – In 2022, they established a new Irish community & learning forum for food and drink entrepreneurs. Called Bread & Jam Ireland, (breadandjamireland.com), it is a food enterprise network, acceleration, and brand-building community, for the West of Ireland and nationally. They have upskilled over 600 food industry personnel over the last 12 months. Many in the industry may be familiar with the Bread & Jam food and drink initiative as it is already proven in the UK. Their online FOODHUB community has over 11,500 members and is a vibrant hub of the most exciting emerging and scaling food & drink brands. Bread & Jam Ireland has significant potential to be expanded to a shared island basis.
  • Focus on Climate Leadership – The growing impacts of climate change have starkly highlighted the vulnerabilities of the global food sector and its supply chains. As shared by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), this ongoing crisis poses a profound challenge to local, national, and global food systems, revealing their weaknesses and underscoring the urgency for resilience and sustainability. The situation emphasizes the critical need for the food and drink sector to adapt and innovate in response to the environmental changes and extreme weather patterns brought about by climate change. As one of the greatest challenges of our era, climate change not only threatens food security but also complicates the path towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The imperative now is to bolster the sector’s capacity to withstand and thrive amidst these challenges, ensuring a sustainable future.
  • Alignment with Education – Skills and retaining graduate talent in this region are a huge issue. Almost one in four companies in our region are challenged with staff resources. We need more talent in the industry. As highlighted by Ronan McArt, Programme Director and Placement Coordinator, ATU St. Angela’s, we are turning out many talented students but typically they leave to find employment. It was vital for students to be allowed and facilitated to become food business entrepreneurs to keep this talent in the region. A Service Level Agreement with GRETB and very close collaboration with Regional Skills Forum and ATU are key to skills advancement.
  • Cross border – BIA deliver training events on behalf of SAFEFOOD Ireland (the all-island body, that promote awareness and knowledge of food safety & nutrition) These courses were directed at small food businesses of the region and included topics such as; Shelf-life for Small Food Businesses, Effective Food Safety and HACCP.
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