Consulting The n@sults people INNOVAFARM A European Centre for Thought Leadership Internal Proposal to Colm Reilly DMR Author Kieran O’Hea 29 May 2000 Version 1.0INNOVAFARM Proposal 29-May-2000 1. Introduction The purpose of this proposal is to put forward the business case for the establishment of a creative resource centre, trading on the slogan “Dublin — Intellectual Capital of Europe”. Facilitating thought leadership and the development of new directions in business strategy, the proposed location is a new 30,000 sq ft facility adjacent to DMR's premises, The centre will be run by DMR and will provide a modem location for a range of business support activities including incubator services, brainstorming, concept development, conferences and training. Innovatarm will be driven by a creative agenda, reflected in its philosophy, business offering and surrounding environment. 2. Rationale The Ireland of the present day is famous for its economic growth, technology, skills, culture and lifestyle. Statistics such as “Ireland — world’s leading software producer’ have captured the imagination. Yet the key to maintaining its competitiveness may well be creativity, innovative thinking and best practise. From Kells to Joyce, Ireland has provided intellectual inspiration throughout the ages. Now is an ideal moment to capitalise on this association. These are uncertain times for the enterprise and there is a window of opportunity to fill the need for a new approach to business thinking. The purpose of Innovafarm will be to provide a channel for unrestricted expression of new intellectual concepts as well as a co-ordinated approach to the acquisition and management of e- business and new media projects. It will offer its clients a one-stop resource of research, production and consultancy services. 3. Why Innovafarm? Innovafarm conjures up images of ideas, growth and productivity. It is globally marketable and all domain names are available (.com, .org, .net). Its agenda will be to promote creativity, innovation and best practise in business and to help clients to recognise and maximise creativity within their organisations. It will do this by fusing elements of creativity, design, business strategy and technology. Innovafarm will have complementary virtual and physical infrastructures and will have the technical infrastructure necessary to support digital creative expression 4. Clients and Services Innovatarm will be an intellectual research centre, offering a number of commercial services together with a portfolio of basic research, commercial research and blue-sky research. Basic research will be collaborative research typically in the area of new business models. DMR will hold IPR in any results, arising from this research. Commercial research will be carried out on behalf ofINNOVAFARM Proposal 29-May-2000 clients and will be similar to consultancy in that normally no IPR will result for DMR. Blue-sky research will be in-house research funded solely by DMR. Blue- sky research will be longer-term. Marketing will focus on attracting clients, residents and researchers. Residents are companies that DMR deems suitable for incubator status. It will have the option of charging these companies a fee, taking a share of the company or a combination. Companies may also take up residence for the purpose of collaborating in basic research with DMR. Researchers will either be DMR staff or researchers visiting on an exchange basis. In both its physical and virtual manifestation’s Innovafarm will be a global forum for exchange of experience. Innovafarm operational layers are shown in the following diagram. 5. Revenues Revenue streams will come from the following services: - incubator services, essentially providing residential facilities for suitable companies. Revenue comes from fees, shareholdings, patents.INNOVAFARM Proposal 29-May-2000 - hire-out services, allowing external companies to use the facilities for reasons such as brainstorming, training. Revenue comes from facilities hire and professional assistance. - consultancy services and training courses, in areas such as thought- leadership. Revenue comes from course and lecture fees. - intellectual recovery programmes that help busy executives refresh their capabilities in creative thinking. Revenue comes from programme fees. - _ Innovafarm franchising and technology transfer opportunities. - revenues from IPR, patents arising from research work In addition, the centre has the potential to become a strong partner in European research projects. There are significant opportunities to support creative and socio-economic research actions in the Information Society Technologies programme. Networking with suitable partners will facilitate this. The development plan for Innovafarm should include international replication, franchising and transfer of the model to other regions. The centre can also be marketed to companies as a “get-away-from-it-all” creative resource centre for key employees. Innovafarm will be an intellectual recuperation centre where clients will be able to recharge creative batteries by interfacing with their peers in a stimulating environment, collaborating on project concepts, participating in workshops, conferences, training and brainstorming sessions, away from the distractions of their normal working environment. The centre can also act as a showcase for the Innovafarm model allowing the concept to be promoted to investors, politicians, outside enterprises etc. Revenue from distribution, patents, licenses etc. may seem an unlikely revenue source but meeting clients needs may lead to opportunities to supply or develop systems and software, hence new revenue channels. This is a factor of the business which merits serious consideration, due particularly to Ireland's fiscal situation regarding patent income. 6. Investments and costs Up-front investment will be needed in premises and installations with on-going costs in staff, operating and marketing 7. Potential Collaborators DMR may wish to collaborate with other organisations on some elements of the project. The Edward de Bono Foundation is active in Ireland but does not have aINNOVAFARM Proposal 29-May-2000 base here. They are a not-for-profit organisation involved in education and business training, predominantly in the area of lateral thinking. They have been considering for some time the establishment of a European centre for creative thinking in Dublin. Discussions with their CEO have revealed their interest in collaborating with DMR. There is also the possibility of applying for Government backing for this venture because of its strategic importance. 8. Benefits for DMR The benefits for DMR will have to be measured in three ways. Firstly, there is commercial benefit. Third-party occupation of facilities and engagement of staff are the key revenue streams supplemented by income from patents, IPR, franchising eto. Effective marketing and management of the centre are the key to achieving maximum commercial benefit. The second way of benefiting is through positioning. This centre will be pioneering and will answer a growing requirement from industry. DMR has the opportunity to benefit by association as the area of thought leadership becomes increasingly high-profile, Thirdly, there will be benefits in terms of knowledge and IPR that can be re-used inside the organisation. 9. Profit & Loss On the following page are the profit and loss projections for years 1-5.