BizSpark Innovation Accelerator

I left Bangor this morning at 6 am and after picking up some lost souls in Belfast, made my way south to the BizSpark Innovation Accelerator being held in the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel in Dublin.

The talks have been useful to me – though the panel on “Building an Innovation Economy” fell into the usual tricks of complaining about the local state aid agency (for those of us in the North, it’s InvestNI, for those of us in the South, it’s Enterprise Ireland, for Scotland it’s Scottish Enterprise). The percentages, the amounts, the timing, the bureaucracy and the lead time for funding were discussed at length and generally no-one said anything positive. Of course people want larger percentages of money with lower requirements for match funding, with larger amounts available at specified times with less red tape and less lead time for due diligence.

Of course people want these things.

I want a Moon Pony with a built-in toaster.