Bite-Size News

WATERFORD CHAMBER MEETS IVANA BACIK

Waterford Chamber recently held a positive and engaging meeting with Ivana Bacik TD, Leader of the Labour Party, where we discussed the challenges and opportunities for Waterford.

ORCHARDS IN THE COMMUNITY

The Men’s Support Group in the Solas Cancer Support Centre were delighted to be contacted by the team in Suir Engineering with the kind offer of fruits trees. The trees are part of a nationwide Host in Ireland project that aims to help protect bees and increase pollination and plans to plant in excess of 1,000 mixed fruit orchards all over Ireland.

David Phelan, Business Development Director at Suir Engineering explains more – ‘We are proud to be a part of the #DCsForBees 1000 'Orchards In The Community' Initiative. The orchard that we have planted in the Solas Cancer Support Centre is one of more than 1200 orchards across the country that will bring huge life support to our bees and other pollinators as they emerge searching for food each Spring’.

NEW DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AT WALTON INSTITUTE

Congratulations to Dr Deirdre Kilbane, who has been appointed Director of Research at the Walton Institute. Dr Kilbane will provide leadership and vision in shaping Walton’s strategic multidisciplinary research direction and agenda. Dr Kilbane will build on the success of the Walton Institute as a world class research centre and continue to promote, strengthen, and enhance a diverse multidisciplinary research culture, expanding its research activities through fostering enthusiasm, excitement, and motivation for research.

REPORTALL

WHISTLEBLOWING PLATFORM

Every enterprise has its own unique risk, reputation, and compliance challenges. Every ethical business enterprise recognizes the benefits of uncovering and properly addressing their employees’ and managers’ unethical or illegal activities regardless of personal cost. And every ethical business endeavours strive to maintain a pleasant and productive work environment. As a solution to this serious issue, a Waterford based company, Konnektable Technologies Ltd., has created a state-of-the-art whistleblowing platform known as ReportAll.

Blowing the whistle through anonymous, confidential or full disclosure reporting, ReportAll is an online, easy-to-use tool for both compliance officers and whistleblowers that fosters integrity, empowers people’s trust and makes the workplace safer and ethically active. Configured to meet all legal requirements, the system complies with all applicable legal frameworks, covering a big range of the market needs. Hence, it can be adopted by any company operating in every industry, law firms, HR agencies as well as educational and research organisations.

Learn more about ReportAll at www. reportall.eu and book a demo to identify how this powerful whistleblowing system can address your needs.

WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST MEMBERS

• Busy Barn Mini Farm • Initiate • Hunt Office Technology • Liquidline • SAOR Adventures • Source BioScience • Waterford Disability Network • Wellbeing Warrior

Walton Institute, in conjunction with Mulligans Pharmacy, is proud to announce the launch of their latest innovation, the Waterford Greenway app. The Waterford Greenway Augmented Reality (AR) app is a location based mobile application, which will help users to explore the 46 kilometers of car-free pathway stretching from historic Waterford City to the beautiful sea-side town of Dungarvan in west Co Waterford. The free app will provide users with a unique AR experience of the rich history and cultural heritage of the greenway including four main sites: Woodstown Viking site; The Fairy Forest; Kilmeadan Castle; and Waterford and Suir Valley Heritage Railway. The Waterford Greenway app is available now to download for free from the App Store on all Apple devices.

WELCOME PACKS FOR UKRAINIAN CHILDREN

As large numbers of people fleeing the war in Ukraine continue to arrive in Waterford, a team of volunteers from Sanofi, the global healthcare company that employs 800 people in the city, has assembled and packed more than €12,000 worth of direct aid to be distributed locally.

Funded through Sanofi’s CSR programme and boosted by donations from the site team, hundreds of personal care packs; schoolbags filled with classroom essentials for various age groups and a range of new clothing is being shared out among those staying temporarily in local hotels, sports centres and other emergency accommodation. The coordinating team has worked with Waterford City & County Council and Waterford Area Partnership to ensure they help meet real need locally. Their counterparts from neighbours Cartamundi also joined the effort - donating more than 200 board games to help entertain and occupy some of the younger new arrivals.

Energia Group, Waterford Chamber and char.gy have today unveiled the first char. gy lamppost and bollard attached electric vehicle (EV) charging points. Installed by Metalman Engineering and local electrician John Kavanagh Electrical Ltd, the char.gy bollard and lamppost attached charge points are now operational at Waterford Airport Business Park.

As Waterford Chamber’s sustainable energy partner, Energia Group is supporting the ‘Waterford Green Deal’ initiative which aims to make Waterford carbon neutral by 2040. Access to EV charging

COLLABORATION IS THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND ELECTRIC

VEHICLE CHARGING IN WATERFORD

is a key enabler of sustainable transport solutions and Energia Group is proud to be involved in this partnership.

Integrating the charging points into existing street infrastructure such as lampposts is an efficient way of increasing the coverage of EV charging points in our towns and cities.

This installation marks a first for Energia Group, Waterford Chamber and char.gy and the collaboration will see further EV charging points to provide greater access and encourage EV uptake in Waterford.

€12M INVESTMENT BY EIRGEN PHARMA

EirGen Pharma has acquired a new building in the IDA Industrial Estate in Waterford which will facilitate an expansion of its Oral Solid Dose manufacturing and packaging capabilities. The new facility will provide an additional 3,500m2 of state-of-the-art manufacturing and packaging capabilities for its global customer base. An Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Leo Varadkar welcomed the news, saying: “Congratulations to Eirgen on this significant expansion which will amount to a €12m investment in Waterford. This decision really reinforces the company’s commitment to Waterford and is a testament to the local team and talent pool we have in the South East.” CEO Damien Burke stated “The acquisition of this building and adjoining 1.2-hectare site strategically positions the business for sustained growth over the next ten years. It also represents a significant vote of confidence by the OPKO board in the capability of our employees, our leadership team in EirGen and Waterford as a locality to expand our business. This expansion will see up to €12 million invested locally throughout the construction phase in 2022/2023.”