Ireland’s top 50 fastest-growing technology companies have now been identified and will travel to Belfast later this month to compete in the annual Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Awards, sponsored in association with InterTradeIreland and media partner Silicon Republic.
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Now in its sixth successful year, the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 event will be held in Northern Ireland for the very first time, on 24 November, 2005.
This year’s final listing sees eight new companies join the final Fast 50 with 35 companies representing the Republic of Ireland at the final awards ceremony. The 50 fastest-growth companies from the ICT sector in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will be unveiled at the awards night, in ranking order according to their percentage turnover growth in the period 2000 to 2004.
Established players such as Conduit, Stockbyte and System Solutions will compete with fast-emerging companies such as Directski.com, Digiweb and Puca Technologies for the overall title of fastest-growth technology company for 2005. A special Rising Stars category award will also be presented to the company that has demonstrated the fastest growth over the past three years.
David O’Flanagan, partner with Deloitte, said: “We are delighted to host the awards ceremony in Belfast for the first time. We are truly living in exciting times and the emerging political, economic and business landscape can only but be good news for technology companies based in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Performance indicators from this year’s Fast 50 companies list are very positive, with average turnover growth of around 522.5pc over a five-year period, representing an impressive average increase of 189.5pc on last year.”
Commenting on the wider aspect of the Fast 50 Programme, Liam Nellis, chief executive of InterTradeIreland, said: “We are confident this competition will showcase local technology enterprises that have maximised the benefits of operating right across Ireland. To be a winner means real business opportunities for those companies in Ireland, but will also equip those same businesses to make a real impact on the global market.”
He added: “Competition is key to the development of the Island economy, in recognising this InterTradeIreland is delighted to be giving its support for the fifth year running to such a prestigious event. The Rising Star category is especially exciting and we will certainly be keeping a close eye on the progress of those companies to see where they are placed in the Fast 50 line up in years to come.”
By Ian Campbell
