Today I’m addressing the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s annual Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians in Hanoi, Viet Nam. The theme of the Conference is “The role of youth in accelerating the achievement of the SDGs through digital transformation and innovation”.

I will be speaking on measures that can be taken by Members of Parliament to improve policies in the promotion of innovation and startups, including youth related startups.

We all need to see renewed and reformed policies act as a driving force for inclusive and sustainable development.

I will be focusing on the use of Ireland’s innovation voucher programme which builds links between our publicly funded higher education institutes and public research bodies, and small and medium-sized businesses.

This is an innovative way to ensure that that relationship with industry becomes embedded within the research community, presenting researchers with the opportunity to solve practical challenges that support local jobs.

The following video gives an insight into this programme: https://youtu.be/U0BCePvaUEA?feature=shared

The other links that I will be using during my presentation cover :

Innovation Vouchers : https://bit.ly/3xCwLrw

Green Schools Programme: https://greenschoolsireland.org/

Junior Entrepreneur Programme: https://www.juniorentrepreneur.ie/

Student Enterprise Programme: https://www.studententerprise.ie/

Young Entrepreneur Programme: http://www.ibye.ie

Digital Hubs: https://connectedhubs.ie/

Learning in Hubs: https://tusflexiblelearning.ie/tus-learning-gate/

Digital Clusters: https://www.thedigitalhub.com/about/

LEADER Food Initiative: https://www.nationalruralnetwork.ie/leader/leader-news/nrn-leader-food-initiative-booklet/

Irish Food Tech Cluster: https://www.technologygateway.ie/network/clusters/irish-food-tech/

Local Enterprise Office supports: https://www.localenterprise.ie/Discover-Business-Supports