Programmes · SMEs
Strategic Innovation & Entrepreneurship for SMEs.
A programme built for the constraint smaller companies actually face — innovation competing with delivery for the same few people. Next cohort September 2026.
The problem it addresses
Designed around three real constraints.
The same people do everything
In a company of forty, the person who would run an innovation project is often also the person shipping this month's orders. The programme structures the work so it survives that competition for time.
No slack to absorb a failure
A large company can carry a project that does not work. An SME often cannot, which makes the sequencing of small, cheap tests far more important than the quality of the original idea.
Support is hard to navigate
Grants, credits and agency supports exist, but the effort of finding the right one and applying is itself a barrier — which is why the programme covers the funding landscape rather than leaving it to chance.
The September 2026 cohort
What to expect, and what to check.
The programme runs as a cohort, so participants work alongside other SMEs facing comparable constraints rather than alone. Duration, format, session dates and the rate are published on the booking page, which is the current source for those details.
The same assurance as every IRDG programme
What stands behind the programme.
Assessed and validated
Content, trainer and method are reviewed before the programme runs, and participants are assessed rather than simply marked present.
Badged on completion
A portable record of what was done — useful when evidencing capability internally or when the person who did it moves role.
CPD accreditation
Where CPD accreditation applies, the approving body and hours are confirmed at booking.
Before you book
Want to know whether your company is the right fit?
Tell us the size of the company and what you are trying to do, and we will give you a straight answer on fit.