Cork 2023: Bringing both innovation and collaboration to the community

It’s been a time of expansion, building on the foundations set from previous years, with Ludgate Hub steadily evolving from its beginnings in 2016.

The Skibbereen-based hub has helped start-ups and entrepreneurs in the region develop their business by facilitating remote and co-working spaces and offering the best in expertise and services to help them.

Its most recent development is another step towards solidifying its strong reputation. It partnered up with the Innovation Exchange, which helps businesses facing digital transformation challenges by connecting them with innovative solution providers with the talent to help achieve their ambitions.

Gavin Jeffery, business development manager with Ludgate Hub, said the partnership ticked all the right boxes, allowing it and businesses located in the region to tackle challenges and create innovative solutions.

“It’s a huge opportunity,” said Jeffery. “Our mission is focused on rural regeneration through digital transformation, so we have to be selective about what projects we get on board with as there are so many opportunities available.

“The Innovation Exchange fits in nicely with our mission statement, as it supports the SMEs and start-ups that are part of the ecosystem here and links them into the corporates and multinationals.”

The Innovation Exchange, an initiative of Skillnet Ireland, facilitates collaboration between large companies and solutions providers, creating opportunities for business development and commercial success for all involved.

The collaboration will allow Ludgate Hub to bring both corporate entities and scale-up businesses in Cork together and expand its growing community.

The opportunities it provides go beyond just connecting large organisations with SMEs. The Innovation Exchange offers entrepreneurs learning opportunities and skills development through training, events, masterclasses and guides on pitching, procurement, negotiation and scaling.

Also, SME's get valuable market insight through direct feedback from corporate members, which can inform their commercial strategy.

With the aim to establish a nationwide footprint throughout 2023 and beyond, the collaboration dovetails neatly with Ludgate’s aims. With its emphasis on providing a welcoming and productive environment for start-ups and SMEs, this collaboration adds another string to its bow.

This is on top of the long partnership and support provided by both Enterprise Ireland and AIB, ensuring that Ludgate Hub has been able to build on its strong foundations and providing additional routes for SMEs and businesses to take to achieve their goals.

Each business undertakes its own journey and the collaboration allows extra flexibility for those under the Ludgate Hub banner. By having more options, each start-up and SME will have more opportunities to grow and develop in the way that best suits it.

The result is that both experienced companies and new entrepreneurs can benefit from each other through collaborations, partnerships and more.

“We know that companies will benefit in many ways,” Jeffrey said. “When you’re in a start-up, you’re performing many roles yourself; it’s hard to be expert in everything. The additional training provided by the initiative is going to be a bonus to them. There are huge benefits beyond the opportunity of doing a major deal with a corporate.”

And yet the learnings go way beyond official programmes. The ecosystem Ludgate Hub has developed means that mentoring is a consistent feature, with entrepreneurs giving up their free time to help and advise those who need it.

That camaraderie and goodwill turns the hub into something greater. “It’s what makes Ludgate Hub really special. A lot of the magic that happens here isn’t written or spoken about. Experienced mentors give their time generously to younger entrepreneurs and that gives them a platform to succeed.

“That’s a massive part of what Ludgate does,. It’s unseen work but the knowledge, the experience and the time people give up to help others is incredible.”

While Ludgate Hub is based in a rural location, it shares strong ties with both Cork city – with strong ties with Cork Chamber of Commerce and other entities – and the region, as well as further beyond.

It’s part of Connected Hubs, a network of over 300 hubs. Ludgate is also part of the Irish Tech Hub Network, connecting best-in-class hubs across Ireland. Consisting of the likes of Dogpatch Labs in Dublin, the RDI Hub in Kerry, and Republic of Work in Cork, it’s a place where strong collaboration and support are the norm.

It’s currently preparing to host another of the network’s First Fridays For Start-ups meeting in July, something Jeffery is looking forward to.

“It brings amazing people to the hub where learning, collaboration and networking happens,” he said. “First Fridays is Ireland’s largest monthly start-up ecosystem event.”

“I come from a commercial background, so going into a social enterprise and seeing everyone collaborating is wonderful. That everyone is working together and trying to help each other out, you don’t see that in all industries or other sectors but you certainly do in the hub networks.”

The future’s looking brighter and brighter for those in Cork, with greater opportunities and a strong ecosystem across all levels. Jeffery is excited about what possibilities may emerge for the hub and the wider collective.

“You look at Project Ireland 2040 and there’s huge growth there in line for Cork. It’s definitely an exciting place to be and where better to take advantage, other than here in west Cork?” he said.

“We’re quite proud of what we’re doing here, and it’s great to be tapping into what’s happening in Cork city.”