What is the BIM Seafood Development Centre?
The Seafood Development Centre (SDC) offers you the opportunity to test and trial your company’s innovative product and process ideas in our facilities, before committing to full commercialisation and capital investment costs.
The SDC is integrated with BIM’s business planning services to ensure Irish seafood companies are provided with all necessary business development and innovation services.
Facilities
The SDC has an overall space of 768sqm, including the following state-of-the-art facilities:
- Product processing
- Graduate area
- Product development kitchen
- Innovation & product concept room
- Two business incubation units
- Reception and administration
Services
The overall aim of the SDC is to help grow your business and to help you add sustainable, profitable, competitive, value-added offerings that meet your customers’ requirements.
Some of the services our commercially minded staff offer to this end, include:
- evaluating your idea for a new product
- assessing if the time is right for your idea and if it is at the right cost
- developing and testing the new product or process from conception to final presentation
- advising on packaging materials and design
eg. thermoforming, skin-packing, vertical fill & seal - advising on processing methods and product preparation
eg. pasteurisation, chilling, freezing, freeze-chill technologies, novel ingredients, marination, smoking, breading/enrobing, temperature validation, chemical, microbiological and sensory analysis - advising on with equipment selection for processors
- helping you with business and market planning
- advising you on grant support, whether these be applications to BIM schemes or other agencies’ schemes
- identifying the best route to market solutions to ensure you get a return on your investment
- linking you with other relevant institutions so you get access to the technology
The SDC also runs a specialist seafood graduate programme, connecting final year students of food technology and related disciplines, with seafood companies developing new products.
To kick-start your idea, contact your regional BIM officer or the SDC office in Clonakilty on +353 1 2144151 or by email to sdc@bim.ie
Is the SDC right for me?
We facilitate businesses of all sizes, including both start-ups and established companies.
We cover a wide range of seafood categories, including:
- whitefish
- salmon
- mussels
- oysters
- crab
- pelagic fish
- prawn
- seaweed
