Tom Rooney Synergy Centre

Supporting Enterprise & Innovation

Information Literacy SeminarJune 11th 2014

Synergy Incubation Activity

Synergy Centre 1,000 sq.. Synergy Global at City West 1,000 sq.. Centre of Applied Science for Health 1,500 sq..

Dedicated Research & 3,500 sq..

Enterprise Commitment

Our Programmes

New Frontiers 1 - Part-time over 12 weeks- Focus on Qualified Professionals- Create multidisciplinary teams- Business case

New Frontiers 2 - Since 2001, record of success- 6 Months to trading investor ready- Clinics, mentoring, peer learning- Alumni & networking

Business Idea

New Frontiers 1 Programme

Business Idea

New Frontiers 1 Programme

Viable Concept

New Frontiers 2 Programme

Viable Concept

New Frontiers 2 Programme

Trading Business

New Frontiers 3 Strategy Start up

Trading Business

New Frontiers 3 Strategy Start up

New Frontiers 3- Bringing product/service to market- Investment Procurement- Export & Job milestones

Client Companies

o High technology and/or knowledge intensive o High export potentialo High employment potentialo Link with ITT Dublino Willingness to embrace incubation concept

o 32+ Client Companies from 1 to 12 people

Zoodazzle

Value of Information Literacy as a transferrable skill

Relevance of Information Literacy Skills for Business

Information literacy

Ability to (1) retrieve, (2) evaluate and (3) use information effectively

Awareness of term…..

o The term ‘Information Literacy’ is not common within the Business World – nevertheless these core skills are absolutely necessary to accomplish certain business projects

o How can businesses make informed strategic decisions without it????

Core Skills for…..industry progression

o To ‘acquire new information (from databases or through online search engines) about events and relationships in the external and internal environment

‘Environmental Scanning’

Environmental Scanning for established organisations

As a way of managing organization strategies

• Supporting managers for the purpose of achieving the organization goals and objectives

• Supporting fundamental decisions about the future direction of an organization, its purpose, its resources and how it interacts with the world in which it operates

(the environment of the organization)

For our Start-ups Companies

o Entrepreneurs are very focused on the ‘new business idea’

o Need to be able to take a step back and conduct ‘unbiased’ research to evaluate the ‘market potential’ for their new product service

o Information literacy skills are of huge Relevance in their ‘business evaluation’

Core Skills for…..our Start ups

o Business Start-Ups must carry out Market Research when exploring the potential to develop a new product or service or explore a new market area market and identify its potential customers and its competitors

o New participant companies on New Frontiers Phase 2 are introduced to the extensive research resources of ITT Library on Day 1 of their 6 month programme

1. Retrieve Information

o Ability to be able to formulate a proper search strategy to retrieve information from databases or online search engines

o Awareness with regard unethical or illegal activities when hiring ‘open source or public domain information

2. Information Evaluation Skills

o How much information do we need and what is the quality of the information received. Is it :-oAccurateoReliableo Timely

3. Use Informationo Strategic planning to support new

product / service development (information which underpins the Business case for start-up)

o Further support planning for the expansion of business activities into new market areas /

It continues throughout the lifetime of the business

Importance of Information Literacy

o Transferrable skill into the workplace which is highly sought by employers in terms of their continuous business progression

Today knowledge has power. It controls access to opportunity and advancement.

Peter Drucker

Thank You

Tom.rooney@ittdublin