A new high-tech firm has been established in Burnfoot, Co Donegal with support from Enterprise Ireland. PowerBoard will design, develop and manufacture electrical enclosures and switch gear for export to European markets. It expects to create 65 new jobs over three years — 14 of them in research and development (R&D) roles.
PowerBoard is the second company to be established by Philip Doherty in Burnfoot and follows the official opening of PowerBar last December. That company employs 35 people in R&D, sales, production and administration.
“We are very pleased that PowerBar and now PowerBoard could establish their operations in the one location in Burnfoot,” said Doherty. “Both companies will have their own discrete customers and are developing their own knowledge and intellectual property through intensive R&D and design projects.”
Minister for Enterprise Micheál Martin TD, who officially opened the new business, said PowerBoard was just the type of knowledge-based start-up that traditional manufacturing regions such as Donegal needed.
“Growing the number and scale of new start-up exporting companies is very important in developing and sustaining our regional economies. It is also a key element of Enterprise Ireland’s Strategy 2005-2007: Transforming Irish Industry,” he noted.
By Brian Skelly
