Donegal Youth Service held the national launch of a new project last week to bring a new approach to youth innovation and entrepreneurship in the development of the Atlantic Area’s blue economy.
ATLIC is a pioneering project co-financed by the European Union through the Interreg Atlantic Area programme.
Operating across four countries; Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal, ATLIC will be delivered in Ireland by Donegal Youth Service and partner organisation Institute for Methods Innovation.
Speaking at the launch, Donegal Youth Service Regional Director, Lorraine Thompson, said, “We are very excited to kick off this project today which will foster and build youth innovation and entrepreneurship here in the Northwest’s blue economy, by bringing together both young people and stakeholders of the Atlantic Area.”
“Through transnational collaboration with our other partners in the Atlantic Area, the goal is to create a blue economy innovation community in which young people will take an even bigger role in the sustainable economic development of the region and the project will run through into 2026.”
Paul McCusker Lecturer in Business at ATU with his Business students
Speaking of the opportunities that the project will present, Donegal Youth Service Manager responsible for ATLIC, Frankie McGreevy, said, “The ATLIC project will be an amazing opportunity for young people aged 16-30, be they students, young entrepreneurs starting out or those with their own existing small businesses, to not only get the chance to collaborate with other young people and local blue economy businesses, but for some participants in the project to travel to and work with young people in France, Spain, Portugal and as far away as the Azores, developing new innovations for the blue economy.”
At the launch event on Thursday in the Waterfront Hotel Dungloe, which was packed to capacity, young people from across Donegal including some secondary schools and students from the Atlantic Technical University, along with stakeholders and blue economy businesses from Donegal, also got to hear about a wide variety of subjects from speakers in a panel discussion including technology development in the fishing industry, how app development and gamification can improve business, about the experiences of being a business owner in the blue economy and also what it is like to be a young entrepreneur just starting out on their career.
Expert panel
Speakers at the event included Kevin Sexton of ALPHA Innovation, who also led the panel discussion, Seamus Bonner, Secretary of Irish Island Marine Resource Organisation, Matthew Loughnane, owner of app development company Hexa Studios, Léila Worth, a weaver and young up and coming entrepreneur from County Donegal, James Garvey, owner of Rossnowlagh Surf School, and Dr Aaron Jenson, business owner and entrepreneurial psychologist.
Concluding, Mr McGreevy said, “This has been a very inspiring event and for those who sign up to take part in the ATLIC project there will be a great opportunity to not only broaden their horizons and increase their innovation capacities, but to increase their employment opportunities also. So we look forward to welcoming people to the project and we will be getting our participant recruitment drive underway in the next number weeks. Many of those at today’s event queued up afterwards to put their name down to find out more so there are exciting times ahead for the ATLIC project in the next few years.”
For more information about ATLIC contact frankie.mcgreevy@donegalyouthservice.ie or adrian.begley@donegalyouthservice.ie .
