Irish SMEs, it appears, are the most innovative in Europe.
The European Commission has announced the results of its European Innovation Scoreboard for 2016, and Irish SMEs, it appears, are the most innovative in Europe.
Ireland was placed in the “Strong” category for innovation overall (the others being Leader, Moderate and Modest), but it was the Irish SME sector that stood out, coming first out of the EU’s 28 member states. 
“Ireland is the leader for innovation in small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) – followed by Germany, Luxembourg, France, and Austria. These countries are characterised by high shares of SMEs involved in innovation activities: they introduce more innovative products and generate more new jobs in fast-growing young companies,” says the EC. 
The annual scoreboard is designed to compare the performance of EU countries in the areas of innovation and research, and the 2016 scoreboard included a future-focused section on trends and expected changes for the first time. 
Innovation is part of SME life
Mark Fielding, CEO of the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association, says innovation is a crucial part of the success of an SME, though this may not always take the form of R&D as it does with larger firms. 
“We all know that the SME owner/manager is forever innovating, tinkering around in an incremental way in all areas of their business,” says Fielding. “Unlike large companies, where innovation is usually found in the R&D activity, with an SME innovation usually takes place in activities connected to the production line, such as the adaptation of outside technologies or the implementation of small technical improvements”. 
Indeed, while small and medium-sized businesses may not have the R&D budgets of larger firms, that does not mean that they are not creative in their approach to business. “The SME owner is always looking for ways to improve their bottom line

Grainne Byrne explains why, with the revolution of craft beer brewing, customer loyalty is at a premium. A new app aims to help beer brewers to win customer loyalty in an interesting way.
If you’re like most new businesses, the one thing that’s on your mind is how you can gain as many new customers as quickly as possible. However, that focus on customer discovery is not the bottom line.
It’s a given that new customer acquisition is vital for new businesses, but obsession with constantly increasing sales can work against some sectors. 
Traditionally, there has been a preoccupation with acquiring new customers, often at the expense of nurturing loyal customers. 
Businesses must be aware of the rapid evolution of technology, how it’s changing the status quo and changing consumer behaviour. 
Knowing this can bring strategic advantages and growth opportunities.
Looking at the drinks industry, for example, the culture of beer drinking has been altered at the hand of the craft beer revolution. 
According to the head brewer of Wexford’s Yellow Belly craft brewery, Declan Nixon, drinking is now being treated as “more of a tasting experience than a getting tipsy experience”. 
Requests for anything more exotic than Guinness in pubs are no longer baulked at and today, bars and off­-licences stock an abundance of interesting choices.

Why do people buy craft rather than ‘domestic’?
For a twenty-­something, what is the primary motivator to buy a premium priced microbrew over a macrobrew? 
Perhaps it’s identity, buying a one­-of-­a-­kind craft beer to express their one-­of-­a-­kind personality?
Maybe it’s just down to people focusing on taste?
One thing’s for sure, the perceived authenticity of microbrews means brand attraction is more innate, at least for a while. 
As Irish business author, Bernadette Jiwa says, “Affinity that’s earned, not attention that is bought and paid for, is what’s powering business growth now.”
The craft beer industry is beginning to level out
Although the

Cost effective and often free, here’s a list of great digital tools to help run your business.
Most small businesses don’t have the money to run their own IT department or a digital marketing division. If you are starting, running or growing a small business, you can still run the important ‘back end’ stuff for next to nothing. It just takes a little know how.
1: First step, buy a smartphone. It may seem obvious but this will be an essential business tool.
2: If you need a website, install WordPress. If you don’t want to do it yourself, don’t spend too much on a site. You can get a very good company website for less than you think.
3: If you want to sell online use services like Trafficattic or Shopify.
4: You don’t need a bulky email server cluttering up your office. Use Gmail from Google. Also, make sure your office accesses the Internet via Wi-Fi (using a password), it’ll be less hassle in the long run. Also, less nasty wires.
5: Why buy brand new computers when there are many high quality used laptops for sale? They will work very well, just make sure they are Wi-Fi enabled.
6: If you don’t want to pay for lots of software try Jolicloud OS. It’s an operating system that connects low cost computers to the cloud.
7: You can save a small fortune by using free online invoicing and free online accounting software from a great Irish company like Bullet.

8: You don’t need to buy hard disks to store your company data, just go online and into the cloud with Dropbox. Here you can store everything at an affordable price.
9: If you don’t want to pay Microsoft for its software you can use Google Docs or, for spread sheets, OpenOffice.
10: If you need a great project management tool, why