How to retain local brains in a village of 7000 souls like Buncrana, Ireland? Developing innovation and digital through a technology hub close to home.
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00:00Welcome to Buncranagh, a village of 7,000 people in the far north of the Republic of
00:07Ireland, where sheep and leprechauns peacefully co-exist with innovation.
00:12There's innovation in everything. Just within the last week, I've had conversations with
00:19people involved in the marine industry who are doing very innovative things in the local
00:24area and in agriculture as well.
00:31Anne-Marie runs In a Show in Innovation, a hub for local minds to develop their full
00:35potential. Anthony and Aidan, for example. A year ago, they closed their company in Derry,
00:41Northern Ireland, and launched an underground drone software business here in Buncranagh.
00:47I suppose initially it's just the flexible rent terms, but there's also access to various
00:55kind of government assistance. I'm currently working up a grant proposal. Government officers
01:01come here and you can speak to them and get that kind of assistance and expertise.
01:07In fact, the local government contributes significantly to the project. This hub is
01:13in a converted former County Donegal administrative building.
01:16I'd say that with our occupancy in the last two years, it's breaking even, which is very
01:22good news for us, and very much needed here in the Buncranagh area to bring new high-skilled
01:27jobs and innovative jobs, and hope as people might start here, small, grow, and then form
01:33a bigger company in the surrounding area, create employment and opportunities and so
01:36on.
01:37The creation of the hub is part of the European Erudite Project. The project has seen more
01:42than 2 million euros invested in the seven involved regions, almost all from the European
01:48Union's Cohesion Policy. A special feature of Erudite is its innovative Soroy Plus methodology,
01:55which actively involves local companies and residents in defining objectives and analysing
02:00the social and economic return on investment.
02:05You analyse interventions not only from the financial aspect, from the monetary aspect,
02:10but also you consider societal and environmental values. We work from the very beginning of
02:15the project with our stakeholders, consulting them what could be the impact, and also to
02:20have more information about the needs, and then to direct interventions in a way that
02:25fit into those needs.
02:28Needs such as environmental protection. For example, living just five minutes away from
02:33the hub, like Anne-Marie, helps reduce pollution.
02:37We have a very sustainable building, very proud of that from the beginning. The building
02:41has air to water heating. We recycle as much as possible, generate as little waste as possible.
02:47We have solar panels on the building. We have electric vehicle charging as well.