EU Employment and Social Affairs Ministers today agreed on a new facility to provide loans to people who have lost their jobs and want to start or further develop their own small business . The European Microfinance Facility will have a starting budget … Read more at EUROPA – Press Releases »

Let Youth Point Us in the Right Direction

As decisions are taken on how to address Youth Employment in Ireland and Europe, Young People want to be part of the solution not the problem. The National Youth Council of Ireland in Partnership with the Youth Affairs Unit of OMCYA are hosting a consultation with young people on Youth Employment and Social Inclusion in preparation for the European Conference on the issue.

Where: The Irish Aid Centre O’Connell Street, Dublin.

When: Saturday 27^th March 2010. 10.30-3.30

Who: Young people and Youth Workers over 18yrs.  We especially want to hear the experience of young people finding it difficult to access employment.

Cost: Free.  Travel expenses (public transport only) will be reimbursed and lunch will be provided.

Application Process: Booking Required, before Friday 19^th March. Application Forms available at international@nyci.ie

The results of this event will become part of the dialogue between young people and policy makers at a National and European level.  Participants from this consultation will represent Ireland at the EU Presidency Youth Conference in Spain on Youth Employment.

European Conference on Youth Employment  in Spain in 12^th-16^th April: Contact international@nyci.ie with an expression of interest.

For more information please see www.international.youth.ie or contact international@nyci.ie / Tel: 01 4255945

Jean-Marie Cullen

International Officer,

National Youth Council of Ireland,

3 Montague St,

Dublin 2.

Tel Direct: 01 4255945

Tel Org: 01 4784122

Email: international@nyci.ie

Wesite: www.international.youth.ie

Call for proposals 2010: Registrations are open for the CIP Eco-innovation European Info Day

Brussels, 13 April 2010: The 2010 CIP Eco-innovation European Info Day will give you a head start to tabling your next project proposal.  You will be the first to hear about the call for proposals that will be launched on the same date.

Register today to secure your seat: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fmi/scic/ecoinnov2010/registration.php

If you cannot make it, there will be a live broadcast of the event via the internet. Recordings will be available afterwards.

Check http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eco-innovation/events_en.htm

45 new projects paving the way for Europe’s green growth

45 best green projects will receive € 32 million funding under the 2009 CIP Eco-innovation initiative. Ranging from innovative materials for easy sorting and recycling to advanced production contributing to resource efficiency, the selected projects are set to strengthen Europe’s competitive edge while improving its environmental standing.

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eco-innovation/projects_en.htm

Don’t miss the ETAP Forum related to the Environmental Technologies Action Plan

Bilbao, Spain 20 – 21 April: The creativity and dynamism of SMEs means they have a crucial role to play both as eco-innovators and as adopters of green technologies. The European Commission invites entrepreneurs to speak about their daily challenges in a fast-moving environment.

Learn more at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecoinnovation2010/1st_forum/index_en.htm

Brokerage Event on Environmental Technologies

Seville, 26 May 2010: In the Framework of the 20th Annual Conference of SETAC Europe, CIT Andalucia as member of Enterprise Europe Network and it Environment Sector Group is organising a “Brokerage Event on Environmental Technologies” that will take place in Seville, Spain, 26th May 2010. The main objective of this event is the promotion of Technology Transfer and the exploitation of RTD results.
For further information, please visit: http://www.citandalucia.es/BE_setac/

After all, opportunity and challenge is our daily bread, innit?

EUROPE 2020, A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

(from the Executive Summary):

Europe faces a moment of transformation. The crisis has wiped out years of economic and social progress and exposed structural weaknesses in Europe’s economy. In the meantime, the world is moving fast and long-term challenges – globalisation, pressure on resources, ageing – intensify. The EU must now take charge of its future.
Europe can succeed if it acts collectively, as a Union. We need a strategy to help us come out stronger from the crisis and turn the EU into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion. Europe 2020 sets out a vision of Europe’s social market economy for the 21st century.
Europe 2020 puts forward three mutually reinforcing priorities:
– Smart growth: developing an economy based on knowledge and innovation.
– Sustainable growth: promoting a more resource efficient, greener and more competitive economy.
– Inclusive growth: fostering a high-employment economy delivering social and territorial cohesion.
The EU needs to define where it wants to be by 2020. To this end, the Commission proposes the following EU headline targets:
– 75 % of the population aged 20-64 should be employed.
– 3% of the EU’s GDP should be invested in R&D.
– The “20/20/20″ climate/energy targets should be met (including an increase to 30% of emissions reduction if the conditions are right).
– The share of early school leavers should be under 10% and at least 40% of the younger generation should have a tertiary degree.
– 20 million less people should be at risk of poverty.
These targets are interrelated and critical to our overall success. To ensure that each Member State tailors the Europe 2020 strategy to its particular situation, the Commission proposes that EU goals are translated into national targets and trajectories.
The targets are representative of the three priorities of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth but they are not exhaustive: a wide range of actions at national, EU and international levels will be necessary to underpin them. The Commission is putting forward seven flagship initiatives to catalyse progress under each priority theme: (keep reading…..)

The Green Economy is here lads, and Ireland would be wise to pay attention. For the rest of us, the article gives inspiration and insights we can take into our own entrepreneurial thinking.

SMEs – Sustainability Minded Enterprise

New places of work and new ways of working -

A response to emerging enterprise opportunities

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Wood Quay Venue, Civic Offices, 8^th March 2010

Registration from 14.30, event starts 15.00 sharp, networking from 17.30

The Dublin Hub Innovation Studios and Dublin City Council with partners invite you to a workshop event followed by refreshments.  We would value your input and collaboration on our ideas for stimulating and supporting green business in the city, such as the creation of a green innovation and hotdesking enterprise space with a uniquely tailored training programme.

The event is being hosted by Dublin City Council in cooperation with Dublin Hub Innovation Studios and the College of Europe and invitees include city-based entrepreneurs, public authorities, NGOs and private sector.

Places are limited so please fill out a short form to request an invite. We’d love to have a diverse mix of people attending to demonstrate the wide range of interesting and dynamic entrepreneurs making up the micro-enterprise community in Dublin.

Click here for the invite request form.

We now have close to 120 people signed up to out HubDublin discussion group on Linkedin, and a reasonable estimate might predict another 50-75 interested but not using Linkedin. We have reviewed a handful of locations for the co-working space, but while there were definite opportunities presented by each of these, so far no single space possessed the magic formula of economics, location and quality of space we need for a creative community co-working environment. As the economic spin-down starts to level, but with little rebound so far in the property sector, it shouldn’t be long now before we locate the right office space at terms enabling our start up for start ups to open the doors. Over the autumn, we have also prepared a business plan, and this is now very close to completion.

Because the HubDublin vision is broader than hot desks alone, and because it emphasises the buzz of co-working in a collaborative community, we can do quite a bit as a group while we continue to search out spaces and terms. We are launching a skill-sharing facility via the main website, and encouraging any and all interested persons to list yourselves, skills you are willing to share, and expertise you may be seeking. There’s bound to be someone within our group of close to 200 people who either need you or can help you out. So let’s give it a go.

We’ll also restart our series of gatherings in February, and focus on continuing to build our co-working community as well as scheduling working sessions to bring us closer to opening the doors. If you have ideas about topics you’d like to explore at one of our Hub-meets, let us know, or better yet, post it for discussion and see how many others are interested. And of course, if you hear of a good bet for an open plan, flexible, inspiring and centrally located affordable space, let us know!

Finally, I’d like to underscore the “co” aspect of coworking. So far, the lion’s share of effort behind realising the Dublin Hub has been invested by three unpaid part time volunteers, with occasional backup from another three. We need a bit more energy at the core to spread the workload and enable us to pick up the pace. If you feel you have some time and inclination for this, we’d like to hear from you.

Erik

We’re really focussed on getting the Hub up and running ASAP so once we sort out the location we’ll be well on the way.

Here’s the shortlist….

http://www.daft.ie/527760 – beside powerscourt
http://www.daft.ie/547697 – ground floor, the capel building
http://www.daft.ie/541165 – Wicklow St
http://www.daft.ie/541159 – Off Fitzwilliam Sq
http://www.daft.ie/537412 – John Rogerson’s Quay
http://www.daft.ie/5128 – Coopers Yard, Smithfield Market
http://www.daft.ie/545497 – Earlsfort Terrace
http://www.daft.ie/544767 – Leeson St
http://www.daft.ie/545163 – Mount St
http://www.daft.ie/534304 – Harcourt St
http://www.daft.ie/543867 – Mercer St
http://www.daft.ie/543795 – John Rogerson’s Quay
http://www.daft.ie/547953 – Princes St
http://www.daft.ie/548715 – Great Strand St
http://www.daft.ie/545199 – Parnell Square

The Dublin Hub invites you to join us for the next step in the evolution of our – your – workspace.
We are gathering on site to put flesh onto bones, and ideas onto space. We will apply our collective design flair and great ideas to map out a space that will be appealing to work in, will spark our creative powers, will feel comfortable and welcoming, and will communicate a relaxed but professional air of confidence. We want a cool space to work in; attractive and inspiring, well suited to sharing experiences, knowledge and
conversations.

The Hub experience comes from a blending of people, place and purpose. At its heart, the Dublin Hub is about doing business differently, and better. We are not just thinking outside the box, we are redesigning the box, and that’s the point of the evening. We’re going to explore how an open space can be partitioned into potential meeting areas, a kitchen or canteen area, the main hot desk area, and whatever other thoughts we have (library, quiet area, chatting and chillout area, silent disco…).

We hope to grow as a convivial, collaborative community that’s conducive to creative thinking and cooperative working; one that will offer compelling opportunities to foster new business alliances, engage in virtual teams and develop meaningful and productive connections. We’re aiming for a flexible and responsive workspace designed by its members to meet their requirements and realities and leave room for their dreams.

Where is this space? Fumbally Annex, Fumbally Court, Fumbally Lane, Dublin 8, just off New Road / Clanbrassil Street. It’s on Thursday 17th September, starting at 6.30 pm and finishing round 9. Parking is free from 6.30 pm, just round the corner.

Please RSVP, feel free to bring along some others, and in the spirit of community, bring something to eat and some more to share.

As we like to say in the Hub community, you’re invited…

View Larger Map

* Central / Easily Accessible Location
* From 200 sq m to 300 sq m (2150 sq ft to 3200 sq ft)
* Open plan
* Flexible meeting spaces, e.g. two meeting rooms that can be merged to one.
* Large 50-person events space (integrating aforementioned: a space can be cleared by moving furniture)
* Flexible partitioning
* Space for café – or communal kitchen
* “Greenable” – we can add a rooftop garden, for example
* Unstructured cabling
* Natural light, airy and warm (or heatable)

If we find all of the above, brilliant, but we’ll settle for less depending on how strong an impression the space makes.

A quick word on what’s not good:
* Georgian houses, because there are too many rooms and too many floors to create a sense of community;
* buildings on more than one floor, except where there is a larger space for the desks and the other floor space can be used for meetings;
* fitted, modern, anonymous offices: not because of the fixtures, because of the cachet that the building has to have to encourage people to want to work there – Dublin is overstuffed with property developer’s throw-em-up-and-pile-em-in uninspiring workplaces. We think you deserve better. ]]> http://hubdublin.com/2009/08/what-were-looking-for-in-a-building/feed/ 0