Minimum Entry Requirements
Applicants should hold an undergraduate degree, First or Second Class Honours in any discipline, along with three years of relevant industry experience; or an Ordinary or Third Class Honours undergraduate degree, along with five years of relevant industry experience; or a recognised professional qualification and five years of relevant industryl experience. Candidates who do not meet the minimum entry criteria may be interviewed to ascertain their suitability for the programme.

Closing Date: July 2023

Apply at www.springboardcourses.ie

*Closing date
Since the programme is supported by Springboard+ with funds from the Irish government and the EU, applications are normally due before or around 15 August annually. However, if warranted, the application deadline can be extended until the programme commecnes in mid-September 2024.

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This course is typically suited for people with the following Career Interests. If these interests do not describe you, this course may prepare you for work you may not find satisfying.

Enterprising

Enterprising people like situations that involve using resources for personal or corporate economic gain. Such people may have an opportunistic frame of mind, and are drawn to commerce, trade and making deals. Some pursue sales and marketing occupations. Many will eventually end up owning their own business, or in management roles in larger organisations. They tend to be very goal-oriented and work best when focused on a target. Some have an entrepreneurial inclination.

Naturalist

Not surprisingly, some aspect of the natural sciences will run through the Naturalist's interests - from ecological awareness to nutrition and health. People with an interest in horticulture, land usage and farming (including fish) are Naturalists.

Some Naturalists focus on animals rather than plants, and may enjoy working with, training, caring for, or simply herding them. Other Naturalists will prefer working with the end result of nature's produce - the food produced from plants and animals. Naturalists like solving problems with solutions that show some sensitivity to the environmental impact of what they do. They like to see practical results and prefer action to talking and discussing.

Career Opportunities
Knowledge and innovation are essential helping the agricultural sector to meet challenges that the world is currently facing including food insecurity, climate change, sustainability, and health. Every challenge is an opportunity and with this course we will help you breakdown complex problems to find where innovation can help bring about change. This course will provide you with the essential skills in understanding modern innovation systems and processes and these skills can be applied to many aspects of life from business, social enterprise and communities.

This course can help any individual, farmers or those engaged within the agri-domain who often have great ideas but need a better understanding of the dynamics of innovation. We focus on turning insights / challenges /problems into a customer’s needs and then taking a step-by-step approach to designing products or services along with an enterprise to achieve successful commercialisation.

This course is also suitable for people that want to drive change within an organisation. Within existing businesses, skilled and engaged employees can pursue new ideas that support the mission and vision of the business, thereby supporting it to launch new products and services or pursue new markets. Delivering these skills to future innovators also addresses the fact that many businesses are now in an increasingly challenging, noisy and competitive marketplace, with millennial job hopping becoming more common. Enterprises that can support employees’ aspiration to try out are ideas through structured, supportive process may experience a higher retention rate of valuable, committed and enthusiastic staff.

We believe in instilling growth mindsets in all students to help achieve their potential, fostering a culture of respect and fairness among the staff and students involved and facilitating courage and bravery as foundations of innovation.

Career Opportunities

Employment in the agriculture/forestry/fishing sector in the Western (and broader BMW) region makes up 8% of regional employment (CSO, 2017). This has, for a number of years, exceeded that of the rest of the state which has about 5% in the sector. Agriculture, particularly in the West of Ireland, represents a significant proportion of Irish industry and exports (nationally, the sector is worth €13.54 billion according to Teagasc). This sector will benefit from the development of more innovation-driven, sustainable and scalable agri-enterprises.

We aim to create the job creators of the future both as new venture creators and innovators within organisations. Key words in Job titles that graduates would develop skills in are:

Founder
Innovation manager
Head of Innovation
Business manager
New product development
Design thinking
Sales
As a level 9 programme this course will advance your critical thinking skills, enhance your communication abilities and make you customer focused by building empathy for people. We also cover various topics in creativity, team forming, mindsets and bias awareness all of which are transversal skills across many sectors.