In response to today's Action Plan announcement CPA president Gail McEvoy said that it was "important to recognise that Government cannot create jobs".

“ ... Government can only ever create an environment in which individuals have the confidence and the support necessary to commercialise ideas and start new businesses. Measures announced today will go some way towards that but we would welcome a formalised plan to encourage our young people to be the job creators of the future," explained McEvoy.

Ireland's young population and enterpreneurship

She touched on how 41pc of Ireland's population is under the age of 25. "What I don't see clearly addressed in this strategy is how the Government plans to position entrepreneurship as a viable career path for young people. Today's announcement is great progress, and the cross-departmental co-operation is to be applauded, however I would like to see it go one step further.

"I am calling for a working a party, led by Minister Bruton's Department to develop a National Entrepreneurship Strategy, which would align social, enterprise, industrial, taxation and educational policy in order to create and sustain an environment and culture which would be conducive to entrepreneurship," she explained.

Dissolving CEBs

McEvoy did welcome the Government's measure to dissolve County and City Enterprise Boards and instead create a new Micro-Enterprise and Small Business Unit in Enterprise Ireland.

"One of the recommendations in the CPA Entrepreneur Report 2010 was to examine the use of the City and County Enterprise Board network as the high street presence for a national enterprise support one-stop-shop up to and including absorption into Enterprise Ireland. I welcome moves announced today regarding the development of more streamlined support for business. I also welcome the broadening of Enterprise Ireland remit to support all individuals engaged in job creation activity and not only those engaged in manufacturing or exported enterprises," she said.

Micro-finance loan fund

Today's Action Plan also includes reference to a micro-finance loan fund of €100m over 10 years for start-ups and small businesses. The plan also includes a temporary partial loan guarantee scheme for businesses turned down for loans from their bank.

"These measures will prove to be a lifeline to many viable small businesses around the country, but only if administered in a timely and comprehensive fashion. Lack of credit is impacting cash flow, growth opportunities and ultimately jobs. Funds need to be allocated as a matter of urgency," said McEvoy.

Ireland's Action Plan for Jobs

 
The Government revealed today that:

• Business leaders, multinationals and large Irish companies will carry out increased mentoring of SMEs.
• In terms of Ireland's vast diaspora around the world, direct incentives will be provided to them to create jobs in Ireland.
• A Research Prioritisation Plan will be implemented to enact new laws aimed at the State's €500m annual research budget. The aim is to achieve more applied research, which has potential for commercialisation and job creation.

Key sectors

The Government is also targeting key sectors it sees as fuelling job creation and economic growth. Take cloud computing. There will be Cloud Computing Strategy for the Public Service and a research centre in cloud computing.

In terms of Ireland's digital games sector, the Government is set up a cluster development team around this industry. The Government is also establishing other industry clusters for targeted sectors. For example, it will be setting up a Manufacturing Development Forum.

Health tech is also a focus area. The Government will be pioneering a Health Innovation Hub to drive collaboration between the heath system and the life-sciences industry.

"The ultimate goal and top priority of Government has always been to get Ireland back to work," said Taoiseach Enda Kenny today.

The finalists will be invited to pitch to more than 400 investors, entrepreneurs and professionals. A further three runners-up will get the chance to exhibit at the event for free.

"This is a great opportunity to reward some of the emerging entrepreneurs in Ireland,” said Paddy Cosgrave, organiser of the Dublin Web Summit.

“There's so much happening in Dublin's start-up scene so it's always good to get an opportunity to catch up with some of the newer companies. We can't wait to hear from our three finalists at the Start Summit on Wednesday,” he said.

The Start Summit emerged from the Dublin Web Summit, which takes place in October, to help unite Ireland’s start-up sector. Oren Michels, CEO and co-founder of Mashery is the keynote speaker at the event.

There are still tickets available for the event and people can still vote for their favourite start-ups.

PaJR has honed its technologies to target care management providers who offer outbound calls to hospitals in order to support patients after they have been discharged from hospitals or who have been identified as being at risk of hospitilisation.

And the company is fast making waves in the US healthcare space. Just last October PaJR spent some time in Silicon Valley where it met with venture capitalists. The result was PaJR positioned itself for a Series A round later in 2012. And the Silicon Valley trip was also the trigger for getting onto the Healthbox start-up accelerator. Coincidentally, PaJR is the only non-US start-up engaged in Healthbox.

"We made contact with Sandbox Ventures, which runs the HealthBox accelerator out of Chicago," explains Madden.

TCD campus company

PaJR itself has eclectic roots. The project was transitioned out of the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) last September, having completed the Catalyser programme there. The team then went on to form a new Trinity College Dublin (TCD) campus company called Cara Health with Dr Carmel Martin, Professor Carl Vogel, Professor Lucy Hederman, Kevin Smith, Brendan Madden and Enda Madden as co-founders.

So how did the idea for PaJR come about?

Enda Madden says that much of the clinical theory underpinning PaJR's technology was spawned from the work of one of the start-up's co-founders Dr Carmel Martin, who has experience in international health systems, both as a practicing physician and as public health policy-maker.

"Her academic research focused on the application of complex adaptive systems theory to the development of care management models for frail elderly patients with multiple chronic illness."

He says the company originally set out to look at extending the functionality of personal health records (PHRs).

Explains Madden: "PHRs are not yet widely used, especially amongst frail elderly patients. We then looked at utilising speech recognition over the phone to provide the input for our analytics. However in many cases, patients' conversations were difficult to analyse, as speech recognition was not sufficiently advanced particularly to deal with the impact of congestive heart failure. At that point we were learning about the rapidly growing market of outbound call services from care management providers driven by new legislation in the US and UK that penalising hospitals who do not reduce their avoidable admission rates especially within 30 days of post-discharge from hospital."

Madden is also the founder of another health start-up in Ireland called GroupNos Technologies, which was set up in 2008.

It was while studying for his undergraduate degree in computer science, linguistics and French at TCD that Madden first met Professor Carl Vogel, who was his course director.

"We've known each other for some time. After graduating from TCD in 2002 I worked as a software engineer in the US and The Netherlands before returning to Ireland in 2007," explains Madden.

Getting onto the Healthbox accelerator

But what exactly is so unique about PaJR that has attracted the attention of Healthbox in Chicago?

"Our platform combines voice data gathered from phone calls to patients conducted by non-clinical call operatives with artificial intelligence (machine learning) algorithms. Our highly predictive analytics generates alerts of future unplanned events such as hospitalisation. This facilitates early intervention by the care team to manage these unplanned events," explains Madden.

He says that the only technology a patient requires is a phone.

"Our system incorporates the patients needs, along with factors such as illness, medication, medical and healthcare, social, environmental and health promotion. These all feed into our predictive model."

Connected health sector

Enterprise Ireland has also been a great support, according to Madden.

"Connected health has been identified as a key growth area by Enterprise Ireland for indigenous technology companies. We also hope to expand our current pilot sites in Ireland with the support of the HSE.

So how did PaJR manage to get a spot on the inaugural three-month Healthbox start-up accelerator in Chicago?
"After being shortlisted out of several hundred online applicants we had a Skype interview. This led to our selection in the top 10 pitches and we were delighted to be the only non-US company in this group," says Madden.

Goals for 2012

And PaJR's key goals for 2012 include setting up test sites in North America as part of its customer discovery and development activities. The company is also hoping to raise the aforementioned Series A funding round by Q3 2012. Healthbox has been a tremendous help on all three fronts, according to Madden.

"They are offering us access to healthcare providers and payers through their co-investors in the programme such as BlueCross BlueShield, Ridgeview Medical and Ascension Health, the largest non-profit hospital network in the US.

"We're also working on design and development activities with the world famous design agency IDE," he explains.

Healthbox itself has a mentor network of over 70 mentors, which is providing the 10 engaged start-ups with strategic advice.

And of the best part of being on the programme is that PaJR will be involved in an investor day in April at Healthbox. That's when each of the 10 companies will have an opportunity to pitch to a group of over 300 healthcare investors from all over the US, and further afield.

Longer-term goals

So are there any other plans in the pipeline for PaJR?

"We are also customising our solution for payer systems that services for the frail elderly population such as Medicare Advantage programmes in the US," explains Madden. And he says the company is also aiming to customise its system for cancer care and behavioral health services.

"Our longer-term plan is to offer sentiment analysis on our large population data sets about particular drugs, medical devices and health services. This is of particular interest to manufacturers and healthcare tech investors," he says.

Finally, Madden's advice for other tech start-ups in Ireland right now is spend as much time as possible with your target market.

"Develop your relationships with potential investors before you need investment and listen. The less you talk and spent listening to valuable feedback and suggestions the better!" he adds.

According to Bloomberg, the amount of funding raised trumps the typical US$7m for a Silicon Valley start-up and has been described by experts as "off the chart statistically."

John (20) and Patrick (22) formed a start-up called Shuppa in 2007 and it later became known as Auctomatic and attracted funding from Silicon Valley venture capital firm Y Combinator and was acquired just a year later by Canadian firm Live Current Media for $5m (€3.2m) when they were just 17 and 19 years of age, respectively.

The US$18m in financing comes on top of US$1.8m the brothers raised in seed funding after starting the company more than a year ago. The round involved Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Ron Conway and Andreessen Horowitz.

Speaking with Siliconrepublic.com last year, John Collison explained the thinking behind Stripe: "Stripe was founded to make it easier for people to charge money online. A product we're creating for developers is to make it easy for developers who build a site to incorporate payments into that. That's what we're building.

“When you look at the iPad and how well it's doing, it has solved the payment aspect. In-app payments - you just go to buy some app, hit download and put in your password and that's it. But on the web this hasn't been solved.

“You go to a Wall Street Journal article and then you are redirected to forms and you could get rejected because your zip is incorrect and you don't have a zip. It's completely broken, when you think about it," he said.

Only set up in 2010, the company analyses competitor pricing data, with the aim of offering retailers new levels of insight to help them maximise profits by adjusting pricing and merchandising strategies.

Today, Profitero has given a few samples of where it believes Tesco is not monitoring the pricing for its promotions effectively:

Tesco Crème Brulee2X96g
Claim: ONLY £1 Save 89p Was £1.86
Now: £1.97
Valid until 28/2/2012

Goodfella's Deep Pan Baked Loaded Cheese 417G
Claim: SAVE Save 68p Was £2.68
Now: £2.68
Valid until 13/2/2012
 

Profitero currently works with retailers and manufacturers across Europe to help them to grow sales and profit margins via its price monitoring technology. The company says it monitors 2,500 retail websites right now.

The companies were selected following an extensive review of 100 companies at a series of pitch sessions at DCU and the University of Ulster in October and November.

"As a leading technology company and employer in Ireland and the US, whose commitment to innovation has made it one of Silicon Valley's founding fathers, HP is delighted to support the ITLG in fostering vital links for Irish start-ups and giving them a platform to grow," said managing director of HP Ireland Martin Murphy.

Enterprise Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland have advised that supports are available to their eligible client companies who are travelling to Silicon Valley to attend and participate at the Innovation Summit.

“We are delighted that we have the support of such an excellent panel of individuals who are willing to devote their time to help our entrepreneurs scale their companies from start-up to success", said John Hartnett, president and founder, ITLG.

Biotech/Clean tech

• AER Sustainable Energy
• Elimbac
• Radisens Diagnostics
• Redt

Entertainment and gaming

• ClearTone Technologies
• Digital Jet
• OmniMotion Technology
• VenueOne

Hardware/Semiconductor

• IKON Semiconductor Ltd.
• Rapt Touch Limited
• Smyth Research

Mobile/Social media/Web

• Aepona
• Phlok
• RepKnight
• Storyful
• Betapond

Software and services/Cloud

• DataHug
• Foxframe
• SaveMe4LAter
• SensorMind

The investment will enable Viddy to expand its app to new platforms, including iPads and Android phones and tablets.

Viddy reported 40m app views for January alone and is one of the fastest-growing video platforms on iOS.

It allows users to overlay custom video and audio effects from favourite musicians, movies and celebrities.

Viddyographers can capture, beautify and share 15-second video clips using one-click actions to apply audio and visual effects.

Notable Viddy users include musicians like Linkin Park, Snoop Dogg, and Incubus, as well as celebrities like TV personality Giuliana Rancic, NFL greats Warren Sapp and Michael Strahan, and digital influencers like iJustine.

"We continue to be excited by the growth and engagement of the Viddy community, and by the visually entertaining quality of videos created and shared around the world every day," said Viddy CEO and co-founder Brett O'Brien.

“Given the incredible growth numbers that we have seen, we're looking forward to making Viddy available on more platforms and to more users globally." 

Chugh himself has extensive experience in tech start-ups, IT and online product development. He previously worked with large multinationals such as O2 Ireland, T-Mobile UK, Bell Canada and LVMH Japan.

Via VideoCrisp, Chugh is pioneering a video creation and editing tool, targeted at SMEs and marketing professionals. The product will be launched in March.

Speaking this morning, Chugh said the company would be targeting start-ups and SMEs with its new video-creation technology.

He said the VideoCrisp tool would allow businesses to create new videos or edit existing videos more cost effectively and to help them drive their sales and marketing agendas.

VideoCrisp is currently participating in the Enterprise Platform Programme at the Synergy Centre, which is based at Institute of Technology, Tallaght. To date, it has raised €100,000 in early-stage funding, including €50,000 from Enterprise Ireland's Competitive Start Fund.

Chugh also indicated today that VideoCrisp will be announcing details of what he termed "cutting-edge technique that will be the first of its kind in the cloud-based video-editing industry".

"This new editing technique will empower end users with amazing video editing capability on both web and mobile," he said.

eMarketer has predicted that online video advertising spending will jump by 40pc to reach US$3.1bn in 2012. YouTube also recently announced that more than 4bn videos are viewed on its website every day, with 60 hours of new video content uploaded on the site every minute.

The company is understood to have already begun hiring for its new headquarters.

Since Twitter has yet to decide its new location in Dublin, the first Tea Time event will be held at another Silicon Valley software firm's Dublin offices, those of Engine Yard, which is creating 30 new jobs in the city.

Engine Yard empowers businesses to build and run cloud-based applications easily and cost effectively and last year acquired Eamon Leonard's software company Orchestra.

According to a post on Twitter's home page the event will be hosted on 23 February at Engine Yard's offices on Barrow Street, from 7-10pm, and members of the local developer community are required to sign up before coming along.

The sign up form includes a brief questionnaire about developers' main areas of interest, such as REST API, Search API, Streaming API and Twitter for Websites.

It also asks developers about the main Twitter application they've been working on and how long they've been developing with Twitter Platform products.

Speaking at the launch of the InterTradeIreland Venture Capital Conference, Margaret Hearty said that with a total of almost €50m, investment in funding partnerships since the Halo networks were set up.

Hearty warned it is a crucial time for start-ups to become "investor ready".

“The environment for start-ups has changed dramatically with the advent of lean start-ups, born global start-ups and the Social Local Mobile internet media revolution, bringing both increased opportunities and competition," said Michael Culligan, national director of Halo Business Angel Network.

“Supports such as business angel investing, angel co-investment funds, accelerator programmes and seed venture capital funds are a response to this reality. Notwithstanding the severe macroeconomic challenges of recent years, there exists a vibrant entrepreneurial culture on the island.  

“This responsive entrepreneurial ecosystem is exactly the environment where business angel activity can flourish and play an increasingly important role in the creation of wealth and jobs," Culligan continued.

The 11th annual InterTradeIreland Venture Capital Conference, which will take place at Belfast City Hall on Wednesday, 7 March, is designed to facilitate networking between Ireland's leading venture capitalists, business angels and start-ups that are seeking funding from across Ireland.  

The theme of this year's conference is 'Navigating the Funding Maze' and will build on the experiences of companies that have been through the venture capital process and showcase the options and opportunities that are out there for Irish companies today.

Delegates at the conference will be able to put questions to the active venture funds on the island, hear first-hand experiences from companies that raised finance, as well as perspectives from key investors Danny Moore, principal at Lough Shore Investments, and Dennis R Costello, managing partner at Braemar Energy Ventures.  

The conference will showcase not only the current sources of equity funding but also alternative sources of funding. As the only Venture Capital Conference on the island it is a flagship event for entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, business angels, investors and anyone with an interest in venture capital.

"The island of Ireland has an excellent infrastructure in place to support new business and InterTradeIreland is at the coalface of this," Hearty said.

“Small and medium businesses will drive the future of our economy and they need support to take the opportunities and to grow. Research has shown that venture-backed firms outperform non-venture backed firms. Job creation is also much stronger within VC-backed companies, with research indicating that VC-backed companies create 80pc more jobs than non-VC-based companies. Our focus at InterTradeIreland is to work with SMEs to help them become first-class, investor-ready companies.

“This event provides a unique opportunity for those looking to access funds to meet with leading venture capitalists and business angels, as well as representatives from companies who have been successful in securing funding," Hearty said.

So how did the venture come about? CEO Farrell recounts that it was back in 2010 that he convinced Brendan Clavin to leave a very well-paid, senior position at Google HQ in Silicon Valley.

"The idea came from Brendan. He has been developing and managing tools for software localisation for over 20 years," explains Farrell.

"As the mobile app industry started to gather serious pace in early 2010, we realised that the software publishing industry had been turned on its head. We began to think of the difficulties that support services would have in dealing with this. We felt that the mobile app developer's workflow was radically different from that of the pre-mobile era, and that it required a different toolset and localisation service."

Dublin and California

Fast-forward to 2012 and Tethras now has ramped up its team, with 16 employees now working between its Dublin and California offices.

"We have three product staff in our California office with Brendan managing the team," explains Farrell.

Recent hires include Irish app developer Steven Troughton-Smith who has been taken on as mobile architect for the company. Tethras also managed to glean Matthew Gonzales, who relocated from Silicon Valley to Dublin for his new role as vice-president for business development at the company.

Says Farrell: "It was great to be able to add a couple of seasoned app experts. Steven and Matthew are both very well known in the international development community. They both have an in-depth cross platform knowledge that is difficult to come by."

University spin-in

While Ireland is hot right now for university spin-outs, spawned from research, Tethras is a rather different type of start-up in that it's a spin-in.

"We were lucky enough to be accepted into NovaUCD, as we had plans for collaboration with some of the university departments.  This has worked out very well for us," says Farrell.

Explaining more about how Tethras operates its platform Farrell says the company aims to make it easy for mobile app developers to get their software translated and ready for publication in other languages.

"By working directly with their native file formats we simplify this process considerably," he attests. "Our target market is every mobile app developer that wants to monetise their app by accessing foreign markets.

And as for its job-creation plans, Farrell says the aim is to scale up in 2012. "The mobile apps industry is moving remarkably fast."

Support

In terms of being an Enterprise Ireland HPSU, Farrell says the support has been "fantastic".

"Enterprise Ireland really get what we are trying to do and have assisted us at every turn.  We have also been able to tap into their excellent support network in the US.

So what's on the agenda for 2012? "Our plans for this year are to accelerate our growth and expansion into other market sectors. Asia is firmly on our radar, with projections for up to 25pc of the world's app developers coming form that region by the end of 2014," says Farrell.

And his advice for other self-starters out there? "The support infrastructure available to start-ups has never been better. I would strongly recommend early engagement with Enterprise Ireland, and if possible try to locate your business where you can access excellent support, like NovaUCD."

Via the programme, successful entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland and industry experts in the IT, corporate law and start-up space are volunteering their time to help steer the new ventures in the right direction, according to Joanne Jennings, programme manager for Springboard.

At the end of their incubation phase at Springboard, which lasts for 6-12 weeks, the start-ups then pitch their business plans and strategies to the Springboard panel, which also includes venture capitalists.

Clean-tech focus

But back to Thermblow. The start-up is focusing its attentions on the plastic packaging marketplace market, which is estimated to be worth more than US$100bn globally right now.

CEO Andrew Walmsley said the company will aim to help plastics manufacturers meet their environmental obligations by advising them on switching to recyclable plastics.

He said Thermblow tapped into software developed at QUB and has created a service that it hopes will enable global companies of all sizes to make significant savings in their raw material costs, as well as meeting their sustainability and environmental obligations in the process.

For 12 weeks, Thermblow worked with an experienced entrepreneur-in-residence at QUB, gleaning free coaching.

"The role of the Springboard programme is to constructively challenge your thinking and heroic assumptions by bringing together a diverse set of skilled and experienced people including potential customers," explained Walmsley.

Aspiring entrepreneurs or people with ideas for a new tech venture should visit the NISP CONNECT website.

At IBM SmartCamp London in November, the company, which was only set up in 2010, was selected from more than 80 entries from the UK and Ireland. At the time, IBM said Profitero won due to its technology, its innovative business plan and its alignment with IBM's Smarter Planet strategy.

Profitero analyses competitor pricing data, offering retailers new levels of insight to help them maximise profits by adjusting pricing and merchandising strategies.

As the volume of data on the planet grows, the ability to quickly transform data into insight is critical for success. Profitero represents a new generation of entrepreneurs entering the market with technology designed to capitalise on the big data analytics opportunity.

“We are honoured to be named the IBM Global Entrepreneur of the Year," said Volodymyr Pigrukh, chief executive officer and co-founder, Profitero.

“Our solution is a natural complement to IBM's Smarter Commerce strategy. We are looking forward to working with IBM and its network of technical experts, business partners, venture capitalists, academics and clients to capture our share of the smarter commerce opportunity."

“The Irish venture capital community continues to be the main source of funding for Irish high-tech SMEs," Regina Breheny, director general, IVCA, explained.

Breheny said that since the onset of the credit crunch in 2008, 547 Irish SMEs raised venture capital of €1.1bn.

“These funds were raised almost exclusively by Irish VCs who during this period supported the creation of up to 20,000 jobs."

She added that since 2008, Irish VCs had attracted more than €450m of capital into Ireland and geared up the State's investment through the Seed & Venture Capital Programme by almost seven times.

Serious concerns

However, the figures reveal a sharp fall off in funding in the second half of 2011. "This decline is largely due to a pull back by overseas VC investors," explained Maurice Roche, chairman, IVCA and partner, Delta Partners.

“We have serious concerns that Irish venture capital firms, too, will start to run short of funds in 2012.

“This will place a major brake on the future expansion of Ireland's indigenous tech sector. In particular, start-ups that have received investment in recent years from the seed funds will have great difficulty raising additional capital," Roche said.

Funds raised

The IVCA VenturePulse survey shows that high-tech Irish companies raised €274.4m from investors in 2011, despite the continuing global credit crunch. This compares with funds raised of €310.2m in the same period of 2010 and to €288.1m in 2009.

While first half funding in 2011 rose 58pc over 2010 to €161.9m, the second half of 2011 saw a decline of 46pc to €112.5m.

The number of companies that raised funds in this period was 159, compared to 156 in 2010 and to 139 in 2009. Amounts raised ranged from €100K to €20m.

In 2011, some 82 companies raised €104.9m (38pc of funds raised). This compares with 63 companies and €53.6m (17pc of funds raised) in 2010 and with 65 companies and €71.2m (25pc of funds raised) in 2009.

Applications for support were submitted from every county on the island, with 361 coming from the Republic of Ireland and 39 from Northern Ireland.

The fund itself was set up in 2009 as part of the Guinness 250th anniversary. Its aim is to carry on the philanthropic legacy of Arthur Guinness by supporting Ireland's social entrepreneurs who are setting up new ventures or community groups, with the aim of making a social impact.

David Smith, country director, Diageo Ireland, explained that the next step of the evaluation process will involve a rigorous assessment programme, with a number of stages.

Ten projects were selected for support in 2010 and 2011. To date, the Arthur Guinness Fund has awarded €1.65m to 20 projects across Ireland, said Smith. He said that applicants can receive up to €100,000 in financial support, and that choosing the individuals or organisations from these 400 applicants will be a challenge.

However, Smith explained that the fund is more than just about giving money to social enterprises. He said that another core aim of the fund is to give people business mentoring coupled with financial support to help people take their projects to the next level.

"Arthur Guinness Fund awardees are working to create employment opportunities for the disabled, help former prisoners return to work, get entrepreneurs and small businesses to work together, and much more."

He said that, especially in light of the present economic climate, the fund also aims to play a role in helping projects carry out social change for the better in communities across Ireland.

Recently, Guinness also announced a global partnership with Ashoka to enable the deployment of the funds to new social entrepreneurial projects around the world.

Ashoka is a social movement Bill Drayton founded in 1980 as a global movement to facilitate social change around the globe and support social change makers. Ashoka also has an Irish base.

Another entity that invests in and supports social enterprises in Ireland is Social Entrepreneurs Ireland.

Business journalist Tom McEnaney won the third David Manley Media Award. Tom was commended on his "dedication and commitment to regular coverage of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs." Last year's media award was won by Silicon Republic editor John Kennedy, and the year before that by RTÉ broadcaster John Murray.

The aim of the David Manley Emerging Entrepreneur Awards is to nurture and recognise the enterprising spirit in Business, the Arts and in Social/community.  It has become the premier award in Ireland for emerging enterprises.

Louis and Muireann win €10,000 in cash and over €100,000 worth of mentoring and consultancy services from a variety of blue chip companies - aiming to bring them up another step on the ladder to business success.  They are the ninth winners of the David Manley Emerging Entrepreneur Awards.

The two runners-up this year Lisa Domican, GraceApp (winner of the Emerging Social Entrepreneur category) and George Howlett and Philip Gillen, Safefood360 (winner of the Emerging Business Entrepreneur category) will each receive €1,000 in cash and mentoring.

The 2012 David Manley Emerging Entrepreneur Awards were presented at a ceremony today at Mason Hayes & Curran offices on Barrow Street, Dublin by Dr. Chris Horn and 'Dragon'. Norah Casey, CEO and wwner, Harmonia Publishing.  Dr. Horn chaired the panel of judges for the Awards.

Norah Casey commented: "These Awards celebrate Ireland's entrepreneurial spirit at a time when we need passionate visionaries. These extraordinary individuals bring an extra dimension to their fields of expertise which sets them apart from their peers. These emerging entrepreneurs shine a beacon of light for the next generation. I am immensely encouraged about our future when I see such courageous trail blazers who are prepared to innovate and push back the boundaries wherever they work."

Dr. Chris Horn added: "The judges were looking for passionate and invigorating entrepreneurs who impressed and excited us - people with the same qualities that made David Manley such an iconic person.  We certainly found that energy in Louis and Muireann!

“All the finalists were special but they captivated the audience that was the judging panel!"

The most recent LaunchPad ended in December, with Adjuno, a Canadian social commerce platform, winning the overall 'Lift Off' competition. Adjuno secured an investment prize of €50,000 from SOSventures and NDRC for its efforts. At the time, the second prize went to Newswhip, and third prize went to iCabbi.

Another start-up involved in the last LaunchPad was Redeem & Get. Halfway through its time with the programme, Redeem & Get won the ESB Ireland Spark of Genius Award, giving it access to a term sheet worth €100k from ACT Venture Capital. The NDRC has supported the acceleration of 30 start-ups through its LaunchPad programme since it was first set up in 2009.

Amy Neale, communications and programme manager at the NDRC, spoke about the mentoring and funding the 15 chosen start-ups will get, as well as access to venture capitalists and investors at the end of the programme.

The 15 chosen LaunchPad start-ups will firstly delve into a three-month intensive mentoring and advisory programme alongside other start-ups, innovators, engineers and investors.  

NDRC will provide up to €20,000 per project in micro-seed investment to support the founders during the programme, said Neale.

Then, at the end of their three-month incubation period at NDRC, each of the start-ups will present to a room of investors and compete for access to a follow-on investment prize fund.  

Neale said all of the start-ups will then also have the option of a further six to nine months to develop their ventures at NDRC in the Digital Hub.

Last year, NDRC LaunchPad was identified in the top 6 best accelerators in Europe following a study by the US Kaufman Fellows Programme. The NDRC engages in joint venture collaborations with industry and a range of investment partners. Over the past 18 months, NDRC has secured commercial investments of €4.8m in technology developments and emerging enterprises by third-party partners.

The company, headquartered in Dublin, employs six full-time staff and is one of a limited number of regulated independent investment managers based in Ireland to receive regulatory approval in the last 24 months.   

GAFM was incorporated by David Cullen and Michael Logan, both of whom have significant experience across the investment banking and hedge fund sectors in Ireland and internationally.  

GAFM has about €10m in funds under management and is increasing its size. The firm operates The Gandon Phoenix Fund, which is authorised by the Malta Financial Services Authority, and is managed as a discretionary macro CTA (Commodity Trading Adviser).

The Gandon Phoenix Fund invests in exchange traded futures and options that provide exposure to currencies, commodities, fixed income and stock indices, both from a long and short side. The Gandon Phoenix Fund can now also be accessed by the full range of different pension investors through the Independent Trustee Company (ITC).   

“Securing regulatory approval was a significant factor for us and was a key step in our growth strategy," GAFM's CEO Michael Logan explained.

Challenger

“As a regulated investment manager, we are delighted to have satisfied the Central Bank's regulatory requirements to operate in this sector in Ireland. We are focused on expanding our team over the coming months, with the addition of further front-office staff.  

“We wish to retain the best financial talent in Ireland and to challenge the view that you cannot grow employment in this sector."

GAFM manages funds on behalf of individuals, trustees of investment and pension fund portfolios in Ireland.

David Cullen, chief investment officer, Gandon Alternative Fund Management, said: "The area of independent fund management is, we believe, a growth sector in Ireland going forward. The model and structure that we have put in place is scalable, and as a team we are aiming to increase our funds under management to €30m by the end of Q1 2012.  

“Reaching this milestone will see GAFM completing the next phase of our strategy to become a full international investment business," Cullen added.

More than 7,240 apps were nominated for the 2011 Best App Ever Awards and more than 1.5m votes had been cast globally.

“Grey Horse Apps are absolutely thrilled with this ‘Best App Ever’ award," said Elaine Heney, GreyHorseApps.com producer.

"We are hugely supportive of the work the Irish Horse Welfare Trust do. We are honoured to be able to support them and raise awareness of horse welfare in Ireland.”

The ‘Save a horse’ app for iPhone and Android can be downloaded for free.

"We are very much an engineering R&D company in that we work with clients to help them develop concepts and prototypes for products and technologies," explains Cullen, who is now CEO of Clear Angle.

The company is a clear example of the way science ideas can morph into commercial ventures. Applied research is one area that Irish Government is planning to increase its focus on, especially via Science Foundation Ireland, when the results of the Research Prioritisation Group are published soon.

University spin-out

O'Toole and Cullen were both doing PhDs in the College of Engineering at DIT, Bolton Street and that's when they decided to pool their resources to start up the venture.

As Cullen explains: "My own research was focused on low-grade heat recovery and energy efficiency in industrial engine systems, whilst Kevin was working in robotics and control systems. We were both interested in the area of domestic energy monitoring and control and we had some know-how built up in that space so we decided to form a company and apply to the DIT Hothouse programme to see about developing the product concept further."

Coincidentally Clear Angle won the Commercialisation of Research award in November 2011 at the annual DIT Hothouse Awards for its patented automotive heat recovery technology.

The company currently employs four people, but Cullen says they often draw upon the expertise of about 10 sub-contract specialists of around 10.

"Our plan to start taking as much of this talent as possible in-house throughout 2012."

According to Cullen, the original plan was to set up with the intention of developing a product using some IP that they had been batting around for a while in the area of domestic energy management technologies.

"In classic start-up fashion, that got blown out of the water about six months later!" he says.

Starting from scratch

While they did abandon their original business idea after six months, and had to go back to the drawing board, O'Toole, who is now CTO, says that himself and Cullen were lucky in that they had built up a name for ourselves through their research contacts in DIT.

"We were able to keep the lights on by doing private consultancy and contracting work for commercial clients. It turned out well for us in the end because our consultancy and contracting work is thriving and we are working with a lot of clients helping to realise next-generation products and technologies," explains O'Toole.

Their current target market includes R&D managers and technology transfer professionals across the academic, entrepreneurial, SME and multinational sectors;

"It's anyone looking to access high-value engineering and technology R&D expertise to help add value to their own R&D and product development initiatives," explains Cullen.

Commericalisation plans for heat recovery device

The company is also actively developing some of its own in-house technologies that Cullen and O'Toole hope to commercialise in 2012.

"The first of these in-house efforts involves a novel heat recovery device for automotive engines. This is really only coming to fruition as we speak, so we may be approaching the investment community to help us move these a bit later in the year.

While Clear Angle has been largely self-financed to date, it has received some grant financing to help get up and running.

"As with most start-ups, the business model has been necessarily fluid throughout the formative stages, so it is only really now that we are converging on the model that works well for us, which is to provide a contracting and consultancy service to external clients whilst also remaining active in our own in-house product and technology development initiatives."

Grant support and mentoring

O'Toole points to how Clear Angle has received support from Dublin City Enterprise Board (DCEB) and Enterprise Ireland.

"We have been approved for a Feasibility Grant through the DCEB which is helping us to develop one of our in-house technologies and to investigate the market. Whilst we were on the Hothouse programme we benefitted from business mentoring too. We have also worked closely with our former colleagues and students in some of the different colleges in DIT who really helped us shape aspects of our strategy and implementation," he says.

Cullen also says that participating in the 2010/2011 Hothouse programme really helped get the company up and running.

And as for winning the Commercialisation of Research award in November 2011 for its patented automotive heat recovery technology, Cullen is optimistic. "We are having some success developing the commercialisation strategy for this as we speak, so watch this space!

Science scope

He is also upbeat about Ireland's science community and applied research.

"There have been a number of great moves in this space in Ireland recently - some of the largest multinationals in the world are setting up their energy and clean-tech R&D labs here with the aim of developing technology that can be commercialised internationally in the short to medium term. The net effect is that Ireland as a whole and Dublin in particular are now becoming synonymous with high-tech research and innovation. I think the scientific and engineering research communities here are really responding to this and realising that there is both commercial and societal value in bringing their ideas from the lab bench to the real world," says Cullen.

And Cullen's and O'Toole's advice for other aspiring tech start-ups out there?

"We had a great experience with an incubation programme, DIT Hothouse, so if you have an idea or are in start-up phase, get talking to your local incubation centre and see about getting into a programme. It's not all about financial support. The buzz and excitement of interacting with other entrepreneurs is hugely rewarding in itself and having a network of fellow start-ups is a great way to trouble-shoot common problems and to hear diverse opinions and advice. They will also keep you up to date on the best options for financing and investment as you develop your business," say the duo.
  

Paul Adams, an Irish-born Facebook executive, is also taking part in the investment. He and Stone will join Intercom's advisory board. Irish technology entrepreneurs Paddy Holohan and Eamonn Leonard are also participating in the investment.

Intercom, McCabe said, allows users to find out more about their customers and communicate with them more effectively. He described Intercom as being a cross between a customer relationship management system and an instant-messaging platform, The Irish Times said.

McCabe, Des Traynor, Dave Barrett and Ciarán Lee founded Intercom in Dublin last year.

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton announced that four more rounds of the Competitive Start Fund are planned for 2012. The first one launches today and the closing date for applicants is 9 February.

The call is open to start-ups from ICT and industrial sectors, including sub-sectors such as gaming, the internet, SaaS, cloud computing, enterprise software, telecoms, life sciences, clean tech and industrial products.

“If we are to get out of this crisis, we must work hard to create an indigenous engine of growth,” said Bruton.

“While multinational investment in Ireland is and will remain crucial, it is vital that we find ways of enabling our indigenous firms to perform better and take full advantage of export opportunities.

“As I have said before, our industrial policy must not just be aimed at attracting the next Google or Microsoft to Ireland – we must strive to create the next Google or Microsoft here in Ireland, and in the coming weeks the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs will implement a series of measures to deliver on our ambitious aims.

“Enterprise Ireland’s Competitive Start Fund has clearly struck a chord with the innovative and ambitious entrepreneurial community. The continuing strong response and the quality of the applications submitted is proof that there are significant numbers of entrepreneurs with the necessary technical and commercial skills willing to take a risk and set up their own businesses.

“My priority is to ensure that they are fully supported to do what they do best, starting new businesses. Access to early stage funding is critical, and this fund is part of the Government’s and Enterprise Ireland’s response to support them to get into business, expand, create jobs and contribute to our recovery,” he said.

Fifteen companies awarded

The Enterprise Ireland Competitive Start Fund was awarded to 15 companies as part of one of the four rounds of funding rolled out by Enterprise Ireland over the past 12 months. The companies awarded include:

• Full Health Medical: A Mayo-based firm which offers a software system for preventative health reporting
• G Croí Teoranta: A company in Donegal which makes electromagnetic induction heating technology to increase efficiency of liquid heating devices
• ODG Technologies: A Cork-based developer of accessories for the public safety industry
• Eyebuild: A Cork-based manufacturer of training devices for sports
• Incidentcontrolroom.com: A firm in Cork which offers a cloud-based software application to handle crisis management for large manufacturing and pharmaceutical facilities
• Eegapps Medical: A Dublin-based company which offers brain monitoring products for neonatal applications
• Breakout Gaming Concepts: A digital toy and game design company in Dublin
• Activation Energy DSU: A Dublin-based firm which offers software and systems to facilitate smart-grid demand response management
• Zinc Software: A Dublin-based software and hardware developer for health and well-being lifestyle solutions
• SeniorsAtHome: A Waterford firm which developes a communications device for older adults and lets family and friends know if they are in need of assistance
• Monford Ag Systems: A firm based in Wicklow and Mayo which offers a product to assist farmers in grass measurement and grassland management
• Intellehealth: A Kilkenny firm which offers telehealthcare end-to-end service for monitoring and managing chronic diseases from a home environment
• Health PR Zone: A Kildare-based company for services around medical and healthcare news
• Mobile Protection Systems: A Louth-based company which offers a road safety barrier system
• BYO Responsible Water Solutions Ltd: A Limerick-based firm that develops advanced water and waste-water filtration membrane technology.

It was back in December that the ITLG and the Kauffman Foundation first announced a diaspora innovation strategy to deliver entrepreneurship programmes and policies to Irish start-ups. The Kauffman Foundation works through its global network partners to deliver such programmes.

The ITLG itself was set up in 2007 as a non-profit group of senior executives who wanted to promote the technology connection between the technology markets in Ireland, Europe and the US.

Meanwhile DCU Ryan Academy is non-profit, joint venture between Dublin City University and the family of the late Tony Ryan, the founder of the airline company Ryanair.

Start-up mission

The partnership between the ITLG and DCU Ryan Academy will signal the creation of Kauffman FastTrac TechVenture and GrowthVenture programmes.

A DCU spokesperson said the FastTrac TechVenture has been designed to give technology- or science-based entrepreneurs a framework to innovate ideas, while FastTrac GrowthVenture is aimed at businesses that have already been launched.

Prof Brian MacCraith, president of Dublin City University, alluded to how the programmes will aim to strengthen the university's ability to both stimulate and support innovation for the benefit of the Irish economy.

Irish Technology Leadership Group in the US

The ITLG has also been spreading its presence in the US and how has chapters in New York, Boston, Washington, and Los Angeles.

John Hartnett, ITLG's president and founder, said that in Silicon Valley, 95pc of job creation comes from locally based companies.

"We are uniquely positioned to link Irish-based technology innovation sources to the well-established technology regions of the United States," said Hartnett.

The ITLG's annual Innovation Summit will take place on 12-13 March 2012 in Silicon Valley.

“This investment will allow us to expand our team of 22 people and significantly enhance our sales and marketing activity in key markets across Europe, the US and Asia," Rainmaker's CEO Pat Byrne said.

“We'll also be undertaking continued product development and are confident we can further grow our international customer base, as airlines increasingly look for fast and effective solutions to reduce the cost of their business operations."

Real-time performance information for airlines

Rainmaker has developed specialist applications which provide airlines with web-based access to real-time information on the performance of flight operations, such as crew utilisation, on-time performance, crew remuneration and fuel management.

Rainmaker's applications are used by a number of regional and point to point airlines in the US and Europe, including Jet Blue, the Pinnacle Airline Group, ASA, Express Jet, Virgin America, Mesa of Arizona, CityJet, Loganair and Wideroe of Norway. Recent customer wins include Aeroflot, Monarch and Spirit Airlines, the fastest-growing airline in the US.  

“Fuel, crew and crew variable costs account for almost 50pc of all costs incurred by airlines," Byrne explained.

“Rainmaker addresses these specific major cost areas which puts us in a very strong competitive position at a time when achieving real savings is a high priority for all major carriers."

McHugh's and Ward's paths first crossed when they were both working for the company Nebula. Before setting up Axonista, Ward was chief technology officer at Nebula, while McHugh was working as programme manager at Setanta.

"Having worked in the broadcast and Internet industries, I developed an interest in the future of connected and social TV. I could see that it was an industry undergoing massive change with huge opportunity, and I wanted to be a part of that," explained McHugh.

She said that because of Ward's experience in mobile and enterprise software development and with her own broadcasting experience, the duo felt they had the complementary skillsets to start their own company in the area of connected TV.

Cloud-based software

Axonista's flagship product is Ediflo, a cloud-based software for sports broadcasters.

Referring to how broadcasting live sports presents many complexities such as late rights acquisitions and extended broadcasts, McHugh said Ediflo can help sports broadcasters manage such complexities quickly across multiple platforms and timezones.

"It cuts out a huge amount of time-consuming manual work, by automating a lot of processes. It frees staff up to do other things, and produces reports, including social TV metrics.

Ediflo also directly integrates with major platforms such as Sky.

"We took a decision to focus on bringing Ediflo to the international market early last year. We already have some great clients including Setanta and ESPN," she said.

Initial phase - apps

But Axonista's first forae into the broadcasting space was to develop TV companion apps for shows on TV3 and RTÉ. For instance Axonista was behind first Irish TV companion app for the reality shows Celebrity Salon and Fade Street.

"With that body of work and Daragh's contacts in New York, we won some contracts to develop mobile apps for MTV. We also won our second Appy last year for TV3's catch-up app."

Start-up challenges

So what, if any were the challenges to setting up the company from scratch? "We have all the usual challenges of a setting up a small company, and developing a product, such as balancing cash flow, getting the right team in place, staying focused. Sometimes, you have to be very strict with the type of work that you take on, in order to stay on track," explained McHugh.

_{Claire McHugh, CEO of Axonista; Daragh Ward (seated);Maebh Conaghan from Enterprise Ireland (top right) and Karen O'Regan from PA Consulting (top left), pictured at an Enterprise Ireland Propel programme event}

The company is also part of the Enterprise Ireland Propel programme, which McHugh says has been a "huge learning experience".

"We have found the Propel programme really beneficial. Sometimes the journey of an entrepreneur can be a lonely one, it's great to have a group of people that you can talk freely with, and who are experiencing the same issues."

She said the creative atmosphere created by the Propel programme has given Axonista access to a team of helpful consultants.

"They were able to introduce us to investors and successful entrepreneurs whose feedback on our product we found very constructive."

Scaling up

McHugh and Ward have just returned from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where they said there was a lot of interest in Ediflo from US broadcasters and platforms.

So what's the plan then in terms of scaling up? "We're concentrating on selling Ediflo in the UK and US and we've made a lot of interesting developments in the area of social TV. This year we are looking to really grow and are seeking investment in order to scale quickly to take advantage of the market opportunity we've identified," said McHugh.

Advice for other self-starters

As for new tech ventures, McHugh believes Ireland is a great place to start a business right now.  

"I would advise anyone thinking of starting a new venture to be vocal about their business idea. Bounce it off as many people as possible," she said.

And her final words are to do lots of market research and be prepared to tweak your goals. "Really spend time looking at the market research and see if the idea has legs. Then get out there and start doing things and talking to people. Get really good at explaining your idea in one or two sentences.  Have goals that you can focus on, but be prepared to make changes, if it's not working. And, most of all, make sure it's something you enjoy, because you're going to spend all your time on it!"

It is understood that the entire Summify team will move from Canada to Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco.

Summify's digital odyssey actually began in Romania; the company joined an incubator in Vancouver and its ability to make sense out of the news stream obviously caught Twitter's eye.

“Roughly two years ago, we moved from Romania to Vancouver after being accepted into Bootup Labs, an awesome start-up incubator," Summify said in a blog post announcing the acquisition.

“It has been an incredible journey, with lots of highs, a few lows, and many product iterations. In March 2011, we launched our email summary product and we've been blown away by the response ever since. Many of our users tell us we found a magical solution to a truly unsolved problem.

Our long-term vision at Summify has always been to connect people with the most relevant news for them, in the most time-efficient manner. As hundreds of millions of people worldwide are signing up and consuming Twitter, we realised it's the best platform to execute our vision at a truly global scale. Since Twitter shared this vision with us, joining the company made perfect sense," Summify said.

Betapond was founded in 2009 with offices in Waterford, Dublin, London and California. It develops social media solutions primarily for Facebook which are used in the retail, entertainment and tourism sectors for companies such as Paddy Power, Tourism Ireland and Visit Britain.

The company is one of 90 Facebook preferred developer consultants globally, meaning Facebook believes it has “demonstrated the ability to understand the social mechanics and technical possibilities of Facebook apps” and has experience building numerous Facebook integrations. It is currently the only Facebook preferred developer consultant in Ireland.

The funding has been provided by the Bank of Ireland Start-up and Emerging Sectors Equity Fund and managed by Delta Partners, Irrus Investments and Enterprise Ireland.

Declan Kennedy, Betapond’s CEO, believes that the fusion of smartphones, social media and location information has given retailers effective new marketing mechanics to engage with customers in store.

“The retail industry is fine. It’s just the physical stores’ model that isn’t working,” said Kennedy.

“We help our clients to effectively capture eyeballs and grow relationships with customers in a seamless way that enhances the in-store shopping experience using social media.

“This fundraising will allow us to accelerate into new markets and move to the next level with customers and channel partners,” he said.

He was in the UK and Ireland over the past week to address entrepreneurs, including the iGap 3 programme organised by Enterprise Ireland in Dublin.

Avoid wasted energy

I begin our interview by asserting that often start-ups are anything but lean - by that I mean the vision or idea isn't crystallised.

“My experience has been that most of the energy put into start-ups is actually wasted energy. The classic mistake is building a beautiful product that nobody uses, to start with."

This is the perfect lead into to my next question, which centres on the art of the pivot - changing the strategic direction. I point out that few companies today end up in the place they intended.

“The term 'pivot' has become a bit of over-used jargon, but that's because it's so useful. We know that every successful start-up pivots along the way and so while some people think of it as a bad thing (or failure), it's an important insight; if we can get to the moment of pivoting sooner, we can get to the moment of success sooner.

“The reason we recommend (in The Lean Startup) you cull out all the bulls*** is so you can figure out if it's time to pivot rather than waste time building something that isn't going to work."

I venture that anyone who has worked on any enterprise that demands commitment becomes incredibly loyal to that idea or direction, and the idea of pivoting in another direction must be hard.

“What we try to do is get start-ups to be tenacious and stick to the vision but be agile and adaptive with regard to the strategy by which they're actually going to get there.

“That's where people get really stuck; they confuse the vision - the destination - with the route. 'I'm trying to get from Point A to Point B and there's a brick wall in my way, do I keep banging my head against the wall over and over again or do I go around?' And I think that is something that start-ups really struggle with."

Don't be afraid to pivot

I ask him if he thinks venture capital investors are sympathetic to the idea of a firm pivoting in a new direction or is it something that alarms them.

“I would say that the best investors out there who understand pivoting are very supportive of it, but that most investors struggle with it."

A classic example of this, he points out, is Twitter, which he says is the most famous pivot of them all.

Twitter emerged during a brainstorming session at podcasting company Odeo, when Jack Dorsey suggested the idea for an SMS shortcode. "It wasn't going well at first and the entrepreneurs actually offered investors their money back and they took it back, and its cost them (the investors who pulled out), like, a billion dollars. It's really hard - especially when you get it wrong."

The core lesson Ries says is that you've got to be ready to pivot at any stage. "It's about forming a new hypothesis. There's no guarantee that the pivot is going to work but you have to be willing to try different things until you find what works."

Be agile, iterate rapidly

I ask him about his journey to writing The Lean Startup. "I had plenty of failures, a lot of failure along the way. When I finally started enjoying success it was because I did things that people thought was crazy. Releasing products far too often, getting customers involved far too early and being much more adaptable than what was right.

“And I could see that it worked, but I couldn't explain why it worked and I tried to understand why. That's what led to me writing about it and trying to codify it - why do things work when conventional wisdom says they don't?"

Ries' methodology advocates the creation of rapid prototypes designed to test market assumptions, using customer feedback to evolve them much faster than via traditional product development practices. He documents case studies on laundry companies in India to clean-tech companies making thermoelectric material, not to mention software companies.

“The thing they all have in common is the combination of high uncertainty about the future and the ability to iterate rapidly.

“As long as you have those two things together you can do a great start-up. You don't have to, I'm not saying everybody has to do it, but it is a framework that people in those situations find helpful."

Change is constant, get over it

Ries says that these are uncertain times and people in traditional industries and jobs, including the public sector, are coming to terms with the fact that unemployment looms large on the horizon.

I suggest that perhaps the best way to survive is to take your destiny into your own hands and be a start-up and that in 2012 the most healthy thing you can do is just decide your future is uncertain, and that can be liberating.

“People like me think its great news, but for our colleagues in established industries and government, it is very stressful.

“And it is a stressful time - but for entrepreneurs it's a time of great opportunity. The case I try to make in my book and this is very controversial in some circles - but I really believe in it - it is that entrepreneurship is the management discipline of high uncertainty.

“Whenever you find yourself in a situation of high uncertainty, entrepreneurship can help you. The ideas we're talking about are useful in a lot of different contexts and in society it is clear that we need to renegotiate the social contract.

“It's going to be different because the world our parents and grandparents built for us - institutions and the social safety net and the economic formula - has worked incredibly well for the last 100 years but it really is starting to fray. Part of that is because we've been deliberately hacking at the foundations through our own stubborn stupidity, but the world truly has changed."

Own - or rent - the means of production

Ries says that in an utterly changed world, entrepreneurship is going to be a much bigger part of the new social contract.

“Entrepreneurship used to be the privilege of the few. Karl Marx said (in Das Kapital) that if you own the means of production then you have the power. Well we live in a world now where you can rent the means of production.

“Anyone in the world can become an entrepreneur at any time and as a society we have to nurture that and support it and that means celebrating entrepreneurs, teaching entrepreneurship to our children and mitigating the cost of failure when things go awry, because we have to admit that in an entrepreneurial world most of the things we try aren't going to work.

“Failure can't be a stigma like going bust - I heard that a lot when I was in Ireland, people there are afraid of going bust. We have to say no - that it's honourable ... at least you tried something, you learned something and that means you will try again."

While I'm energised by what Ries is saying, I have to ask him does he think this will necessarily be a better world?

"I think it has the potential to be, but I don't think we can take it for granted. If we think about the apocalypse of World War II and the institutions that came out of that experience and the courage it took to face that level of uncertainty and monstrosity and to say: 'We are going to rebuild a better world from the one that we inherited from our parents even though we've been through this terrible trauma.'

“We take that for granted today even though they did that for us. It was an act of tremendous courage and really thoughtful dedication. And the same forces that today are claiming that we are doomed and can't be anything and the best we can do is give up, are the same forces of power and privilege that wanted to have unlimited access to anything they wanted.

“They didn't want to have to create opportunity for others. Those forces are as strong today as any time since World War II and our grandparents had to face them down."

This brings us to the 99pc versus the 1pc debate that is raging in the US right now in the aftermath of the economic collapse as the differences between who has what become more incredibly stark.

“We are at a point of crisis just like they (our grandparents) were and we can no longer rely on the blueprint that they laid down for us because you're right the institutions they've built were around the 9-to-5 job, long-term tenures at companies with stable employment and those conditions don't matter anymore. And that's a good thing.

“Our grandparents' worlds revolved around very monotonous, routine kind of work and our world is going to be much more dynamic and creative - and that's a huge opportunity. But if we just say that everybody who has been put out of a job by these forces is on their own, 'tough, luck to them', then we are going to have a major problem.

“But, if we realise that every unemployed person is a potential entrepreneur who has the creativity and talent to do something interesting and we give them the tools and the support and the encouragement to do that then we are going to live in a dramatically better world," Ries concludes.

Archie Talks itself uses the TED formula to share videos from its events with young people who are thinking of going down the enterprise path.

Egan said the aim of the not-for-profit is to promote entrepreneurship among under-35-year-olds through events, think tanks and community and social platforms.

Egan himself is a bit of a serial entrepreneur. He sold his first company at the age of 19 and then got involved in a few more ventures. He subsequently veered off the enterprise track for a while to pour his energies into the finance world.

As well as Archipelago, Egan is the Dublin ambassador for the Sandbox Network, the global community of young achievers and leaders under the age of 30.

Egan said being part of Sandbox was part of the inspiration to set up Archipelago, as the network gave him access to a large worldwide network of investors and entrepreneurs.

Linking investors with start-ups

Therefore, another element of Archipelago is that it matches up investors with start-ups.

At next week's event, which will be held from 6.30pm on 26 January, entrepreneurs such as Dave Pepper of Memods, Sophie Morris from Kooky Dough, Eamon Leonard from Engine Yard, Eoin Bara from V7, and Emmet O'Neill of Smiles Dental Group will be speaking about their own experiences in running a business.

Explaining why he felt the need to set up such a community for self-starters, Egan said he wanted to make entrepreneurship more socially relevant, especially as Ireland has one of the highest-skilled and youngest populations in Europe, with many at a juncture right now in terms of whether to contribute to the brain drain and exit the country or to remain in Ireland and take the enterprise plunge.

"It was about trying to establish a consensus of what enterprise meant to young people in Ireland and to encourage people to innovate," said Egan.

He said the Archipelago network has about 300 young entrepreneurs as members, but he is aiming to extend that to about 1,000 by the end of 2012.

"We're the largest community of young entrepreneurs in Ireland and we're aiming to be the largest in western Europe within six months."

Egan said Archie Talks does have a 'tech bias' simply because that's the area most people in the under-35 age bracket are delving into right now. However, he said Archie Talks also like to give some focus to more traditional sectors, such as food.

“There are a lot of young people doing extraordinary things in Ireland right now - they just need somewhere to shout about it," he said.

Right now you can see some of the past Archie Talks events, where speakers included the likes of Connor Murphy from DataHug or young entrepreneur James Whelton who has set up the Coder Dojo movement together with Bill Liao to teach kids how to code.

Egan and the Archipelago crew, which includes three full-timers and six interns, will be launching their new website on 26 January to coincide with the Archie Talks event.

“We decided to start this start-up specific event in response to the growing start-up sector in Ireland,” said Dublin Web Summit organiser Paddy Cosgrave.

“Every other day we’re hearing great news from Irish start-ups, from Dog Patch and the NDRC. This is a great opportunity for companies to show off their latest product developments and for investors to see the great talent we have here. We hope this will become a regular thing with a number of events throughout the year.

“The Start Summit came about in response to the popularity of our Pub Summit events. Over two days last October we saw 1,200 people attend the summits. The events sold out in just a few hours. Dublin is clearly buzzing when it comes to tech and we want to meet that demand,” he said.

The Dublin Web Summit held its main event in late October 2011, which brought members of the Irish and international technology community to Dublin. It will return again this October and plans to feature more than 150 speakers.

The first Start Summit, which is invitation-only, will be held on 15 February from 5pm in the Odeon on Harcourt Street, Dublin.