Tech giants HP and Cisco have backed a global initiative with a €200,000 prize fund to encourage innovative proposals that can help foster economic renewal in Ireland.
“Your Country, Your Call” aims to find two transformational proposals that will enable the Irish economy to grow, employment to be created and prosperity to flourish.
With a prize fund of €200,000 and Mary McAleese, President of Ireland, as its patron, the initiative spans a broad range of categories from sports and arts to communications and technology.
Martin Murphy, managing director, HP Ireland, and member of the Your Country Your Call Steering Group, explained: “Your Country, Your Call is a collaborative initiative designed to foster future economic success for Ireland. We are proud to have been involved from conception of what started out as a conversation among a small group of people and has evolved to this great competition.
“We believe that this is an inspiring and timely initiative, and we are proud to contribute, providing company support and association,” Murphy said.
The competition was launched on 17 February 2010 and is open to anyone with an idea for Irish development. Full entry details are available at www.yourcountryyourcall.com.
Cisco’s involvement in Your Country, Your Call
Communications player Cisco is also supporting the initiative and has donated collaborative technologies, including web applications and Cisco WebEx conferencing, to help the initiative gather ideas from around the world while limiting its environmental impact.
“’Your Country, Your Call’ is a collaborative initiative designed to involve the Irish population and citizens around the world in Ireland’s future economic success.
“Working with many diverse organisations and individuals, Cisco is helping enable Ireland to tap into ideas, expertise and people all over the world. This is a great example of the way in which collaboration and communication can strengthen an organisation – or in this case, an entire economy,” Kim Majerus, managing director of Cisco Ireland, said.
By John Kennedy
Photos: Martin Murphy, managing director, HP Ireland (above) and Kim Majerus, managing director of Cisco Ireland (below)