Food Incubators Transforming Regions (FITR) seeks to forge an effective & replicable model to provide the learning and strategic structure to develop food kitchens &incubators as enterprise, training and support drivers at regional level. The aim of the FITR- Food Incubators Transforming Regions project is clear. In Ireland (Roscommon), UK (Banbridge), The Netherlands (Friesland) and Slovakia (Nitra) we will forge an effective & replicable model to provide the learning and structure to develop food kitchens & incubators as enterprise drivers. This in return will spur productive & sustainable economic development through an increase in available resources to start small businesses and creation of jobs in this sector.
The benefits for communities
– Access to Food Incubators business strategy – this will be training on the nuts and bolts of running a food incubator , licensing options for operators, kitchen management protocols and adding value to your incubator e.g. shared sales & distribution platforms
– Help to stimulating demand – tools to develop a pipeline of new food entrepreneurs in your region through Pre-Incubation supports and gaining knowledge on creative marketing
– Access to resources – training in innovative access to public finance, crowd funding potential and attracting corporate sponsors.
– Developing connections to collaborations & communities- the potential of co-working, new methodologies for creative collaborations, parameters of same and success tools.
The benefits for development agency stakeholders
– Improved understanding of the new potential of food incubation and its importance as a driver for regional entrepreneurship in a fast growing sector
– Access to a specific toolkit and operational strategies that will help catalyse the evolution of food incubators and maximise their contribution to regional growth
– The development of a robust regional partnership formula for use in developing food incubator(s) in Roscommon
– Improved networking to dozens of other regional actors and the opportunity to contribute to policy at regional level.
– The process of revitalisation on a local community level through the development of food incubators in dilapidated buildings. These buildings are an economic drain in communities and through FITR they can be turned into a hub for economic prosperity.