Discover The Problem Solvers, Give Them The Tools, Fuel Their Success

The latest Enterprise Barometer has just been published, and for us at Hightop, the headline is clear:

Northern Ireland has the talent, ideas, and ambition, but we must work better together to support, guide and empower the creation, testing, adoption, and scaling of solutions if we want innovation to thrive.

Hightop's Founder, Jennifer Neff, was invited by Michael McQuillan, CEO of Enterprise NI, to deliver the keynote speech for the launch of the Enterprise Barometer. Jennifer joined a panel with peers who are inspirational leaders in their space: Mary Blake, SeeMe Ltd; Gareth McDonald, farmdrive.io; Alex Campbell, Happy Out Coffee Ltd; and Simon Dunn, Dangle Academy.

The panel gave their feedback on the results and the analysis from Michael and economist Maureen O’Reilly, and provided their own advice on what they believe needs to happen to address the challenges facing NI. 

Youth Entrepreneurship

At Hightop, we’re working with Gen Alpha, the first generation of true digital natives. They are fearless, tech-immersed, and eager to test and build, so Jennifer was asked by event MC Jim Fitzpatrick:

“With Gen Z and Gen Alpha changing how they learn and build confidence, how should enterprise support adapt for this new generation of founders?”

Here’s a summary of our response:

Our support must match their pace: short, practical, hands-on learning experiences that let them validate ideas quickly, gain confidence, and iterate boldly. 

• Young people today are already creators before they’re adults.

• But they’re entering a system designed for a different era.

• They learn visually, want speed, and expect action, not paperwork.

• Need short, creative, hands-on learning - not long lectures.

• Build confidence through small, fast wins.

• Support must feel modern, design-led, digital-first.

• More female role models - you can’t become what you can’t see.

• Regional access, not disadvantage - talent shouldn’t have to leave Derry.

• Back non-technical founders with simple, confident tech pathways.

• Shift from “fit into our programme” - to “build on our platform.”

• Young people don’t need help dreaming - they need us to clear friction.

Confession Time

We'll be honest, we haven't heard of this survey before, but this is the 7th year it has been running! (Where have we been?). 

At hightop we are going to make sure that we encourage as many people as possible in our network, especially those in the NW, to take part in it next year as it provides a ‘State of the nation’ view on things and should be held up to all policy makers and those working in the design and delivery of support for businesses, skills development and community development so that we can focus on removing the friction from establishing, growing and scaling businesses here in NI. 

Michael told the audience that we can expect to see a more regional deep dive into the stats, so we are interested to understand how we are doing and how we compare to the wider NI. Most importantly, what actions need to be agreed upon to help do more of the good stuff and address the challenges head on?

The Eco-System needs to work better together 

Too often, promising startups struggle not because their ideas aren’t good, but because our ecosystem is not yet optimised to help them learn fast, iterate fast, and grow fast. Access to early-stage capital can still be slow, procurement processes are cautious, and visibility of support programmes is fragmented. 

The result? We risk great ideas never getting the chance to prove themselves in the real world.

This is where experience matters. 

Through Jennifer's journey of building and scaling Elemental Software from concept to exit with her Co-Founder Leeann Monk Ozgul, her role as EIR at the AMP and at Founder Labs, and more recently founding youth entrepreneurship accelerator, Hightop, she knows how critical it is :

• Fast, proportionate early-stage funding to test ideas quickly.

• Real-world adoption opportunities: organisations willing to pilot solutions, backed by fast-track procurement where possible.

• Practical guidance, sector playbooks, local AI squads, and mentors who’ve been there.

• Peer networks and connections, access to people, partners, and potential customers who can accelerate validation.

The Barometer confirms the challenges and highlights some of the underlying issues: lower investment levels, slower early-stage capital flows, and cautious adoption in key sectors. At Hightop we want to focus on solutions. From Jennifer's experience traversing through and, more recently, connecting within the ecosystem, we can:

• Connect more founders with investors, mentors, and their markets earlier.

• Create opportunities to test solutions locally, in real-world environments.

• Provide clear guidance and sector playbooks to help founders, SMEs and IDEs navigate the support available and adoption opportunities.

• Build local AI squads to support practical implementation and scale.

• Ensure we, as an ecosystem, work better together here and globally to accelerate our founder’s businesses rather than existing in our own silos.

In Summary

Northern Ireland has the brains, the talent, and the heart. 

Now is the time to move faster, back more of our founders better, work better together and embrace the solutions already coming through. We can be a true testbed for innovation, and in doing so, create opportunities, jobs, and impact across every community, from Derry to Belfast and beyond.

The next big ideas are here, and guess what…there are MUCH MORE on the way! 

Let’s make it easier for them to build here, solve the challenges they set out to tackle and ensure their solutions are adopted around the world. 

Learn more about Hightop and get involved at www.hightop.com