Crew Digital CEO Niamh Costello and Dara Calleary, TD at hub opening on 5 April. Image: Martina Regan
With collaborative workspaces for 160 people and a podcast studio, Crew aims to become the epicentre for Galway’s creative tech sector.
A new enterprise space is opening in Galway today (5 April), which aims to provide support for creative entrepreneurs and innovators in the west of Ireland.
The Creative Enterprise West (Crew) hub is launching with the support of more than €3.2m in Government funding and is the first innovation hub in the west of Ireland dedicated to entrepreneurs in the creative industries. It is also a part of Connected Hubs – Ireland’s national hub network.
The facility comes with collaborative workspaces, a podcast studio, meeting rooms and a boardroom, to give creative entrepreneurs a range of facilities where they can collaborate and grow. The goal for Crew is to become an epicentre for the creative tech sector and it has co-working spaces and hot desks for 160 people.
The facility will be officially opened later today by Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment Dara Calleary, TD. In a statement, Calleary said the new site “further enhances the west of Ireland’s reputation for creativity coupled with innovation”.
“In Ireland, the creative industries account for 8.9pc of national employment, the 2nd highest in Europe as a proportion of overall employment and this will continue to grow as creative tech and the convergence of art, design and technology is opening new possibilities for businesses and contributing to economic growth,” Calleary said.
Crew is a collaborative effort between Atlantic Technological University, the Western Development Commission (WDC) and Ardán, a platform for creative talent in sectors such as film, TV, gaming and animation.
The hub is also being boosted by Siro and Vodafone, which announced a connectivity partnership last November to provide fibre broadband connectivity to the enterprise centre. Crew will be part of the Vodafone-Siro GigaBitHub initiative, which will give it access to reliable broadband speeds.
“Crew is set to be a game-changer for the creative tech sector in Galway and the west, fuelling innovation and creativity within the sector,” said Siro director of corporate affairs Amanda Glancy.
“Siro is pleased to support Crew, through our Gigabit Hub Initiative in partnership with Vodafone. The initiative provides digital hubs with trusted and future-proofed connectivity, allowing hubs focus on their digital ambitions.”
Crew is being led by Niamh Costello, who has more than 20 years of leadership experience, including nearly eight years as a manager in the Galway Technology Centre – now known as Platform94.
In February, Costello spoke to SiliconRepublic.com about the objectives of Crew, the career journey that led her to this leadership position and the goal of building a community for creative tech entrepreneurs in the west of Ireland.
Find out how emerging tech trends are transforming tomorrow with our new podcast, Future Human: The Series. Listen now on Spotify, on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
