What drives innovation? How can an organisation manage creativity? What can social enterprises learn from the for-profit sector? How can we create an entrepreneurial culture? The Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship is committed to developing research, insight and outcomes to help individual and organisations to answer these questions.

The Ryan Academy and its associates are engaged in research in a number of areas including entrepreneurship, minority entrepreneurship, social enterprise, creativity and innovation. Research conducted by the Ryan Academy, or by staff related to the Academy, are presented here.

High Technology Clusters

Digital Media

The needs of the Business Community and Other Actors in the New Media Sector; a Report on the Dublin Region http://www.clarity-centre.org/files/REDICT_report.pdf

The digital media sector is a strong and growing industry cluster in the Dublin region. This report on the sector, the result of joint research conducted by CLARITY researchers and the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) based at the Digital Hub, has predicted potential growth of Irish companies in the Digital Media sector, leading to greater investment by foreign industry and more jobs for skilled Irish graduates. Ryan Academy staff member Gordon McConnell was a lead researcher on this technology cluster analysis.

High Technology Clusters Analysis

High Technology Clusters - Key Components and Timelines (PPT)

Social Entrepreneurship

Strategy, Leadership and Innovation in the Social Sector

Conference Presentation: The Strategist Who Won’t Play Chess

Presented at the July 2009 Leadership: Where People Count, looking at Leaders in the Community & Voluntary sector conference in All Hallows College in Dublin. This presentation outlines issues related to strategy, strategic surprise, leadership and related areas of innovation in the social sector. This Conference explored the situation in which leadership for service finds itself today, in order to discern ways forward, or in other words, to provide lines of leadership for leadership itself.

All Hallows Conference July 2009 (PDF)

Conference Presentation: Social Enterprise and Higher Education Presented as part of the 'Martin McAvoy Annual Seminar Series' for NorDubCo.

The presentation outlines how universities and the social sector in particular social enterprises are working collaboratively. This is a new development and the presentation outlines some examples of this across the globe while also concentrating on how Dublin City University is currently working with the social sector in a number of ways.

Speaker: Gordon McConnell, Head of Strategy & Administration DCU and Director of Programmes to the DCU Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship

Sponsor: DCU Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship

Conference Presentation: Innovative Thinking and Leadership for the Social Sector

Part of Innovation Dublin week: The social enterprise sector, including the community and voluntary make up the "third sector" in Ireland. Not only does this sector provide thousands of jobs but it also provides social impact and social capital, often to the most disadvantaged groups. With the current financial environment, the sector needs to look at innovative methods of leadership and deal with the many opportunities and threats which it currently faces. This seminar looks at a range of issues in leadership, management and strategy.

Speaker: Gordon McConnell, Head of Strategy & Administration DCU and Director of Programmes to the DCU Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship

Sponsor: DCU Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship and DCU Invent

Innovative Thinking and Leadership for the Social Sector (PPT)