About us

At VARA, we provide professional services to small to medium sized enterprises and third level sectors in Ireland and the UK. We are delivering impactful results for a range of clients across many business and technology areas.

Our primary support activities focus on Innovation Management, Customer Discovery, Commercial Feasibility, Lean Start-Up Training and Business Development. With a dedicated team of experienced and qualified innovation and commercialisation experts, we are successfully delivering unique value and advantage for client organisations using innovation, collaboration and evidence based entrepreneurship as the effective enablers. Please visit our clients page to read about what some of the organisations we have supported are saying about us.

Managing Consultant

Kieran Fegan leads the VARA team. He has extensive experience and relevant knowledge in the areas of strategic innovation led business growth, developing market insights through customer discovery, increasing sales, improving profitability, developing competitive advantage and value for organisations using innovation, collaboration and lean start-up tools and techniques as the core drivers. Kieran has a developed network across many business sectors, business support agencies, third level institutions, professional advisers & investment networks across Ireland, North and South, in the UK and internationally in countries such as Germany, Sweden and the USA.

An engineering graduate of both University of Ulster and Queen’s University, Belfast, Kieran’s background spans engineering, product design, own successful business start-up, business development / sales, innovation management, project management and technology transfer.

Some achievements:

  • Led out on a €2.5M pilot innovation capability support project which independent evaluators determined, increased combined company turnover of 90 SMEs by over €56M, created 300 new jobs and took nearly 40 companies into new export sales.
  • Contracted to carry out market assessment / feasibility studies and commercialisation training support for novel technologies developed by a wide range of Irish, UK, Swedish and German University research teams. A highly impressive record of conversion from research to funding to investment to spin-out.
  • Commercial Lead for a number of University Spin-outs, securing business angel and VC investment and first customers.

Since 2015, Kieran has been working directly with SMEs, Research Centres, Entrepreneurs and Investors in the areas of innovation management, technology and commercial feasibility, customer discovery, lean start-up training, business development and commercialisation support.

For further information on our organisation, its services and how we can assist your business. Contact us today.