Business Showcase : Q-Validus

By @SimonCocking

Q-VALIDUS (QVAL) Ltd. is an Irish SME, headquartered at NexusUCD, the Industry and Technology Transfer Centre, at University College Dublin.

The company was founded in 2007 and we work with clients to develop and produce high quality,valid, credible learning and assessment programmes and standards based on our standard programme development process. With extensive experience in technology and certification development, our management team have a proven track record of producing technical programmes across a range of sectors. We  also helps clients to obtain mapping with international skills frameworks for international programmes rollout.

How are you different?

We are different because we bring together all aspects of the programmes development process: specification, content build, technology selection, deployment, administration and maintenance under one complete services offer. We find that clients struggle when they attempt to solve one price of the programmes development puzzle in isolation. For valid manageable programmes to emerge, a valid and reliable process is required. We are experts in applying our standardised programmes development process in order to output attractive and appealing programmes for students, candidates and end-users, programmes that enhance the standing and authority of the programmes sponsor, and help them achieve their goals.

Why will the company / product do well?

We will do well if we support our clients, and our clients do well. We often say we want our client to become number 1 in the given domain or field in which they operate. And often that is what we strive to achieve for them. Added to this we have unique skills and experience in developing programmes for broad based delivery, whether it be for thousands of students, or hundreds of thousands, and in national or international contexts.

Where are you based? How long will you stay there?

We are  headquartered at NexusUCD, the Industry and Technology Transfer Centre, at University College Dublin. The facilities there including the broadband are second to none, and I must say we have had tremendous support over the last number of years. Our plan is stay at NexusUCD for the next few years.

When was the company launched?

2nd February 2007

What have been your biggest wins to date?

Working with the Digital Marketing Institute has been a great experience over the last number of years. Starting out as a training business in Dublin, operating now in more than 50 countries they are now recognised as the leading institute in the field of digital marketing. Also winning an Horizon 2020 Project recently has been a significant success and milestone for Q-Validus. AquaSmart is a Big Data for aquaculture project, and we have been delighted to work with Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) TSSG on the project, and leading Institutes and Fish Farms.

The project seeks to apply the  opportunity of shared analytics among the 3,200 fish farms in Europe in order to enhance innovation capacity and increase aquaculture production. The project is very promising at a whole range of levels, and we are very excited by the scope and potential. Also this year we have worked with a very late global IT firm who is seeking to enhance skills within a standardised way for their organisation globally. We hope to do more of this kind of work in 2016.

What type of people (market segment) are you trying to attract to your product?

Our sweet spot clients are Institute’s or large organisations who are trying to ‘go digital’ and move to the next level with their end-user programmes offer. Often our clients are struggle to know where to start and what to do first. A large part of what we do is to assist with plans and preparation, set out a roadmap, and help with decision making that will not compromise steps later on in the process .

Tell us about your team?

We are still a small team across Programmes Development, Quality and Validation, Business Development and Finance. We scale up to meet the needs of clients depending on the project. Q-Validus is chaired by Dudley Dolan, Dudley is Chairman of the European Standards Body (CEN), and was one the key founders of the ECDL movement within Europe.

What are you long term plans for your product / company?

We want to achieve 1 million in revenues within the next 3 years, by developing several new Institute and large organisation clients, and helping them achieve their programme goals.

What are your favourite tech gadgets?

I love tech gadgets and work using Mac, PC, and Blackberry. Currently I am very interested in Fit Bit technology.

What tech gadgets do you wish you could use to help you?

Speech recognition – though I have attempted to ‘train’ the software to recognise my voice a few times – it has not really worked yet!

How can people find out more about you?

Contact us through our website http://www.q-validus.com/

or twitter @qvalidus  @AquaSmartData or at

Q-Validus Ltd
NexusUCD
Blocks 9 & 10
Belfield Office Park
University College Dublin
Belfield
Dublin 4

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at Simon@IrishTechNews.net or @SimonCocking