Both Microsoft and Dublin City Enterprise Board have joined as co-sponsors of the inaugural Dublin Startup Weekend, which is being held this weekend, 7-9 May, and encourages start-up companies, creative types, and people with ideas and skills to come together and build communities and projects.
Startup Weekend originated in the US when it was founded in 2007 by Andrew Hyde and continued to grow across cities and countries, headquartered in Seattle but fostering entrepreneurship with global events organised on the ground by indigenous organisations, such as the NDRC.
The Dublin event, like the others, is not-for-profit and will run for 54 hours thought the weekend. It will focus on designing and building web and mobile apps, bring them from concept to launch with mentoring and support from local developers and entrepreneurs. Sean Murphy, senior research fellow at UCD and NDRC collaborator on the LocalSocial project, has been instrumental in bringing Startup Weekend to Dublin.
Start up in a weekend
The exciting twist that is the spirit of Startup Weekend is that while not mandatory, it is the goal that a start-up can be dreamt up and launched within the weekend.
“NDRC are delighted that we are hosting and sponsoring the first Dublin Startup Weekend. At NDRC, we partner with industry and academia to support the wealth of entrepreneurial talent that we recognise in the Irish market; through our bold attitude to invention and investment we support the development of ideas from concept stage to commercial viability,” said Ben Hurley, CEO, NDRC.
“Both Microsoft and Dublin City Enterprise Board are recognised in their support of start-up enterprises so their co-sponsorship of Startup Weekend was a natural fit,” he added.
Clare Dillon, Developer and Platform Group Lead from Microsoft, said: “At Microsoft we encourage entrepreneurs through our own programmes, such as BizSpark. We also support and sponsor courses outside of Microsoft that help local start-ups deliver innovative solutions to drive our smart economy.
“Therefore, when NDRC approached us with the opportunity to sponsor the Dublin Startup Weekend we were delighted to be involved. We look forward to addressing the participants over the weekend and ultimately attending the Sunday evening demonstrations of systems that have been developed.”
Greg Swift, CEO of Dublin City Enterprise Board, reckons that the Startup Weekend concept is exactly what is needed to harness the talent of Irish entrepreneurs: “This concept has worked in many cities around the world; we thank NDRC for the opportunity to support Irish talent and giving people the platform and support to make their idea become a viable business.”
By Marie Boran
