‘SME Success
story’
3rd Pan-European SME Event
Vision 2020
Barcelona, 4th April 2014
How we started
Process
engineerin
g
company
•
•
•
2007
Own capital
150 K
Loan €100K
20 m2 office
in Barcelona
Vision to create an
R&D and advanced
engineering
company to ‘bridge
innovation gap’
Our positioning
Strategically positioned
between Universities and
Industry: specialising in
scaling up technology &
processes from lab to
production line
How we grew
48 staff
32 staff
Commercial
team
25 staff
20 staff
Investment
electronics lab
14 staff
Move to
‘Mediterranean
Technology
Park’
2 staff
2008
20m2
2007
3
R4SME
2 R4SME
projects
1 SMEAG
Agreement to
access Uni
labs
Investment in
own
laboratories &
workshops
2010
2009
3 R4SMEs
1 SMEAgs
3 R4SMEs
1 SMEAGs
2 private
contracts
Internationalisation (Ireland)
2011
4 R4SMEs
1 SME-AGs
1
MANUNET
1 NMP
3 private
contracts
44 staff
Operations &
procedures
2012
5 R4SME
1 SME-AG
2 DEMO
1
MANUNET
1 KBBE
5 private
contracts
ISO & UNE
Certification
2013
5 SME
projects
1 SME-AG
1 DEMO
1 MANUNET
1 KBBE
7 private
contracts
New product
development
‘To-market
orientation’
A successful campaign in FP7
25
%- PhD qualified
Continuous
investment
for Growth
40 projects
2 KBBE
1 NMP
3 MANUNET
31 Research SMEs/Ags
3 DEMO Actions
34 led by IRIS
Knowledge
Revenue
Talent
Experience
Networks
•
•
•
> €40 M in total
> €14.5 M for IRIS
€1.1 M from
projects led by third
parties
Engineering team
• Optical
48
staff test rigs
•• Building
Mechatronic
2
sites (BCN,
Dublin)
• Scaling
up prototypes
Electronics
• Integration
Engineering
Programmers&workshops
Modellers
• demonstration
Labs
(optics, telecos,
in industry
•• Laboratory
Software
analytical, wet
chemistry)
validation
• Telecommunications
Pilot facilities (Plasma,
• Industrialisation
• Mechanical
PEF, Ultrasound,
• Project
Management
Bioreactor, Coating
line,
• Knowledge
Management
Scientific team
HIS & NIR Management
integrated into a
•• Innovation
Chemists
• conveyor
Biologists line
•• Innovation
Hub
Microbiologists
(accelerator environment &
• Biochemists
• Physicists
sprint room)
Examples of scaled up results in FP7
IRIS evolution
Are there
any keys
to our
success?
1. Hard work
2. Continuous
improvement
3. Talent
4. Invest, invest, invest
5. Long-term vision
1.
What did
we do well
at proposal
level?
2.
3.
4.
5.
Ideas that make market
sense
Make our ideas as ‘physical’
as possible
Strong and relevant partners
(and win-win)
Branding
Impact, impact, impact
1.
What did
we do well
at project
level?
2.
3.
4.
5.
Good project managers and
procedures
Operations (from automotive
sector)
Create a ‘project team’
Understand who the client is
Risk management and quick
action
Lessons
we learned
the hard
way?
1.
2.
3.
TRLs (make sure technology
is ready to come out of lab)
Staff (right person right job)
Operational planning (no fire
fighting!)
The future is bright
We see H2020 as a great opportunity
A strategy for GROWTH and JOBs
• helping to bridge the gap between research and the market
• helping innovative enterprise to develop their technological
breakthroughs into viable products with real commercial potential
• promoting activities where businesses set the agenda
• prototypes, pilot implementations, demos, etc.
Innovation Union
V2020: Building our networks and forming
part of a community
IRIS has recently
joined as an SME
 A platform for meeting RTO and SME collaborators
member
 A community to share ideas, knowledge, advice and experience
 A source of partners and quality proposal concepts
 Visibility
Building opportunities
together
What’s on the Horizon for IRIS thanks to
our success in FP7?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Product launch in 2014
Branch facility in Hong Kong
3 patent applications
1 joint company (WHEYLAYER Ltd.)
Joint development with global multinational
for biomaterials development
Exclusive integrator for 2 optical hardware
companies
B2B contracts with leading food &
pharmaceutical companies