Local enterprise key for regional economy, say hosts of QHubs
Innovation in regional co-working hubs: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney, with Siobhán Finn, CEO of the Community Enterprise Association Ireland, launching the new QHubs Quality and Innovation Management Programme.
Innovative community enterprises, operating in co-working centres and hubs, are vital to the development of Ireland’s regional economy, say the hosts of a new national quality performance standard for the National Hub Network across Ireland.
A global first, the new QHubs Quality and Innovation Management Programme, hosted by the Community Enterprise Association Ireland (CEAI) and newly launched at the National Hub Summit in Tullamore Court Hotel, Co Offaly, is the world’s only quality and innovation development programme for regional enterprise centres and hubs.
The CEAI’s programme will promote excellence in performance across the National Hub Network in hundreds of centres and hub locations across the country. The QHubs programme will foster innovation and help small community enterprises to continually improve key management systems.
Siobhán Finn, CEO of the CEAI, said: “The centres and hubs all around the country are all fit for purpose, created to help meet the needs of emerging local enterprises. There are a lot of strong community enterprises all across the country, and the regional hubs are built to meet the needs of each region they serve.
“The QHubs programme will bring a best-in-class management performance to support regional development. A significant number of these small businesses have the possibility of achieving more, and the programme will support them on their pathway.”
At the core of the new QHubs Quality and Innovation Management Programme are six key pillars reflecting the key strategic and operating functions of all locations across the National Hub Network.
The pillars will work together to achieve, sustain and improve the capability of the centre or hub location, to deliver services consistently and to the highest standard to the satisfaction of clients, tenants companies, remote employees, stakeholders and the wider community.
The pillars include Quality Management Systems; Environmental Management; Information Security Management; Governance of Organisations; Collaborative Business Relationship Management; and Innovation Management Systems.
To achieve the QHubs mark, participating hubs will pass a rigorous audit-based process, with biennial third-party verification and certification by the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI).
Siobhán Finn says that this NSAI certification adds significant rigour to the QHubs programme, which is designed to reflect key guiding principles agreed by government, agencies, stakeholders and members of the National Hub Network, to keep it simple and ensure transparency.
“The programme fosters a culture of continuous improvement, ongoing innovation and best-in-class leadership within centres and hubs nationally,” said Siobhán Finn. “We will have annual awards, and as the density of participation in the programme grows, we will have a bank of data on the performance and opportunities of the participants.”
CEAI is backed by the Government to design, develop, deploy, grow and sustain the QHubs programme. CEAI will act as the primary liaison body between the Government, the NSAI and the National Hub Network, overseen by a national steering group on behalf of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
Launching the QHubs programme this week, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney, said: “Enterprise centres and hubs are much more than physical locations accommodating remote workers. Through business development, innovation and collaboration, enterprise centres and co-working spaces are a catalyst for creating jobs, investment opportunities and sustained economic growth for the local and wider economy.
“The QHubs Programme, funded under my Department’s Regional Enterprise Development Fund, aims to become the recognised performance standard for the hub sector and will help support sustainable regional development across the whole country.”
Performance against pre-defined programme targets across the six key pillars is verified every two years, leading to independent verification and certification through the programme.
As the QHubs programme journey evolves and the performance measurement of the enterprise centre or hub progresses, each performance milestone will set out different thresholds to achieve ongoing verification and certification and will be recognised and rewarded accordingly.
Siobhan Finn said: “The QHubs Growth Programme empowers participating locations to set meaningful performance improvement goals on a mapped timeline, with mentorship and complementary programmes to drive progress.
“As a location’s participation evolves and the performance measurement of the location progresses, each performance milestone will set out different thresholds to achieve ongoing verification and certification and will be recognised and rewarded accordingly, providing ambitious, progressive and innovative services to drive performance and growth for the National Hub Network.
“The programme ensures that locations across the National Hub Network are recognised as key actors in the regional enterprise infrastructure and are equipped to meet the ambition of entrepreneurs and businesses in their region.
“It also offers centre and hub locations a valuable promotional tool to facilitate and support the interactions of FDI, micro and SME business offering opportunities for partnerships and collaborative engagements.”
