L-R: Dr Michael Brougham, Regional Director, Enterprise Ireland, David Bradley, Co-Founder, GEN Ireland, Michael Carey, Chairman, Bord Bia and CEO, Eastcoast
Bakehouse, Maree Helena, Co-Founder, GEN Ireland, Kevin Stewart, Director of Services, Meath County Council, Gary O’Meara, Manager, Meath Enterprise and
CEO, Boyne Valley Food Hub, Owen Brennan, Chairman, Devenish Nutrition, Pat Cooney, CEO, Boann Distillery, Aidan Cotter, CEO, Bord Bia, Ros Coyle, Tayto Park,
Rosita Moyles, Director, JM Foods & Co-Founder of Meath Artisan Network, John Cunningham, Managing Director, Epicom Food.
Food Innovation - Regional, National to Global
Ireland’s agri-food sector has great potential and
the Boyne Valley Food Hub is well placed to take
advantage of huge opportunities in the global food
market
T
he vision for the Irish
agri-food industry, set
out by Food Wise 2025,
identifies significant
growth opportunities across all
subsectors of the Irish agri-food
industry. According to Food Wise,
cumulatively, it projects exports
have the potential to grow to €19bn
per annum in value by 2025. This
projected growth will further cement
the agri-food sector’s position as
a strategically pivotal sector of
the Irish economy. The substantial
increase in exports and in valueadded outputs will, firstly, increase
direct employment in the sector, with
the potential for 23,000 additional
jobs to be created up to 2025.
Given that two thirds of all new
jobs are created in the first three
to four years of a startup, and the
agri-food sector is predominantly
made up of indigenous Irish
businesses, it seems the national
food hub in County Meath, spawning
scalable start-ups with research and
innovation at the core, is an essential
initiative that can help realise the
vision of Food Wise 2025, as well as
have significant social and economic
impact locally for the region and
nationally on a global scale. With
the support of some of Ireland’s
key business leaders within the
food sector across public/private
entities, the Boyne Valley Food Hub
is poised to become a central pivot
of entrepreneurial activity within the
sector.
Following months of research,
planning and negotiation, the
inaugural meeting of the Boyne
Valley Food Hub Advisory Group
took place during Meath Enterprise
Week, which celebrated its events
alongside Global Entrepreneurship
Week (GEW) in November 2015.
The meeting was chaired by
Gary O’Meara, Manager at Meath
Enterprise and CEO of the Boyne
Valley Food Hub, and was hosted at
Tayto Park by the park’s founders
Ray and Ros Coyle. A group of
committed business leaders from
the public and private food sectors
in Ireland talked about how the food
hub could play an integral role in
developing scalable start-ups, and
growing mid-sized food companies.
Guest speaker, Aidan Cotter,
CEO, Bord Bia, talked about global
opportunities for the Irish food
sector, mentioning the emerging
whiskey and craft beer market
as one of the fastest growing
sub-sectors in Ireland offering
opportunities for scalable start-ups,
where exports in Irish Whisky has
increased 60 per cent since 2009.
He also highlighted the vision for
Ireland’s agri-food sector for 2025
and how Bord Bia’s Origin Green
Initiative plays a lead role.
David Bradley, Co-Founder
of GEN Ireland, talked about
opportunities for collaboration
across the globe through utilising
the vast networks of GEN and how
the food hub can be an integral part
of Ireland’s entrepreneurship ecosystem of supports for start-ups as
well as an example to the world.
The Boyne Valley Food Hub,
which is one of the key initiatives
in the Government’s ‘Action Plan
For Jobs’ for the mid-east region,
will have a strong emphasis on
innovation and research and an even
stronger emphasis on developing
scalable, sustainable and profitable
businesses with high-growth export
potential.
“This initiative has long-term
benefits that could help harness the
region’s strengths, build capacity
and generate the critical mass
needed to compete effectively
and competitively at a national and
global level,” says Gary O’Meara.
“We intend to establish the region
as a major national and international
‘food hub for scalable start-ups’ and
by 2025 to become recognised as a
global model for regional economic
development.”
This ambitious and innovative
project will be part of an
overarching, long-term economic
development strategy for the region
that will help raise the standard
of living by supporting existing
industry clusters, developing new
clusters, and attracting new regional
economic drivers.
Boyne Valley Food Hub
Advisory Group
Gary O’Meara - Manager,
Meath Enterprise and CEO, Boyne
Valley Food Hub, Kevin Stewart
- Director of Services, Meath
County Council, Damien English
TD - Minister for Skills, Research &
Innovation, John Cunningham MD
- Epicom Ireland Ltd, Raymond
Coyle - Chairman, Largo Foods,
Maree Helena - Co-founder,
GEN Ireland, John Harkin - CEO,
Boyne Valley Group, Rosita
Moyles - MD, JM Foods & Cofounder, Meath Artisan Group and
Boyne Valley Food Series, Gerry
Fahy - Accounting and Banking
Professional, Lecturer, Dublin
Business School, Dr Michael
Brougham - Director, Enterprise
Ireland, Midlands Region, Owen
Brennan - Chairman, Devenish
Nutrition, Patrick Cooney - CEO,
BOANN Distillery, Michael Carey
- Chairman, Bord Bia and CEO,
EastCoast BakeHouse, Conor
Simpson - Regional Manager, IDA,
Keith Finglas - MD, Innovation
Delivery, Dr James Curtin - Head
of Food Science and Environmental
Health, DIT, Patrick Wall - Prof.
of Public Health, UCD, Yomi
Aiyegbusi - MD, DEKO Foods,
Diane Roberts - CEO, Founder,
Xcell Partners.