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JFC Innovation Awards for Rural Business 2012/2013 Launched
- 11 October 2012
€40,000 in prizes can be won with the 2012/2013 JFC Innovation Awards for Rural Business that was launched at the National Ploughing Championships. The JFC Innovation Awards for Rural Business, are sponsored by JFC, Manufacturing, Tuam, Co. Galway, and are organised in association with Teagasc, Irish Farmers Journal and Department of Agriculture & Rural Development Northern Ireland.
The JFC Innovation Awards for Rural Business is a unique all Ireland competition and was launched by Mr. Simon Coveney T.D., Minister for Agriculture, Food & the Marine and Michelle O’Neill, Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, NI. They are developed by private and public partners to ensure that anyone entering can get access to information and grants to progress their business.
Now in its sixth year the JFC Innovation Awards has seen many successful companies and is not an ideas generation exercise. Businesses that have started have gone on to create employment and profit. The competition sets out to encourage true innovation where a new or novel project is taken and progressed to the establishment of a business with the purpose of generating a sustainable income for farm families in their own rural areas.
The business categories for 2012/2013 are:
- Energy / manufacturing
- Value added / Speciality Foods
- Rural Services / Rural tourism
- Startup (Not yet Trading)
- Use of Social Media
Innovation is the key aspect of all categories which are set up to capture how companies have to be looking ahead.
With innovation at the core, the competition has launched a new category this year. It is aimed at finding companies who make best use of social media in promoting and furthering their business. So if your business tweets to gain business from facebook, we want to hear from you.
Entrants for the JFC Innovation Awards for Rural Business must use the official application form. These are available from all the participating partners Teagasc, DARDNI, Irish Farmers Journal and JFC.
The awards for the winners include cash, mentoring and business support to the value of:
- €15,000 overall winner. (€5,000 cash, €5,000 business support and €5,000 advertising)
- €3,000 category winners (33% break down in terms of cash, business support and advertising)
- €1,500 for the other finalist. (33% break down in terms of cash, business support and advertising)
Source: HortiTrends News Room
