The technology business week: Google to open innovation centre in Dublin, Enterprise Ireland firms surpass €16bn in exports


29 Jul 2013

A digest of the top business technology news stories from the past week.

Google to open The Foundry, new innovation centre in Dublin

Internet search giant Google is building a 15,000 sq-foot digital innovation centre in Dublin’s Docklands that is expected to attract up to 15,000 extra business visitors from abroad each year.

The new centre, to be called The Foundry, is the company’s first such investment outside the US. Google has not mentioned the value of the investment.

The centre, which will host conferences and research events for SMEs across the EMEA, will house a 360-seat auditorium, meeting rooms, and catering and broadcasting facilities. It is expected to open in September.

Enterprise Ireland companies smash through €16bn export barrier for the first time

Enterprise Ireland client companies achieved record levels of exports in 2012, breaking the €16bn point for the first time, according to the State agency’s annual report for last year.

Enterprise Ireland client companies created 12,861 new jobs in 2012, resulting in a net increase in full-time employment of 3,338 for the year.

The State agency currently supports more than 300,000 jobs in the Irish economy.

Total direct employment in Enterprise Ireland client companies stood at 169,451, out of which 145,460 are full-time jobs.

New job commitments by Enterprise Ireland-supported companies in 2012 were more than 7,000.

IDA Ireland to open Beijing office, signs deal with China Investment Promotion Agency

Ireland’s investment agency IDA Ireland is opening a new office in Beijing, China, to focus on attracting more investment and jobs in the financial services sector from China to Ireland.

IDA Ireland already has two other offices in China, in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Ireland’s Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, TD, announced the new office on the second day of his investment and trade mission to China and Japan recently.

Day two of the mission also resulted in the signing of a memorandum of understanding between IDA and the China Investment Promotion Agency [CIPA] to enhance co-operation on various issues. 

Digital will be primary growth engine for Irish media sector over next five years

Ireland’s entertainment and media (E&M) market will grow at an annual compound growth rate of 4.2pc a year for the next five years to reach €4.6bn in 2017, a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) study suggests.

Growth in digital media and better quality internet access among consumers will be the primary drivers of this growth, according to the 14th PwC Entertainment & Media Outlook.

Consumer spending on internet access and digital content, as well as digital advertising, will make up digital revenue. The ratio of digital revenue to non-digital revenue will increase steadily over the five years, representing 42pc or €1.9bn of the Irish market by 2017, the study said.

Apple reports Q3 revenues flat at US$35.3bn

Apple has reported third-quarter revenues of US$35.3bn, flat compared to US$35bn a year ago. CEO Tim Cook said the company is “laser focused” on new products as profits were down to US$6.9bn compared to US$8.8bn last year.

In a quarter where gross margin was 36.9% compared with 42.8% in the year-ago quarter, Apple sold 31.2m iPhones, up from 26m last year. The tech giant also sold 14.6m iPads during the quarter, compared to 17m last year, and 3.8m Macs, compared to 4m in the third quarter last year.

The company did not reveal numbers for sales of iPods.

Facebook is a mobile beast – 41pc of Q2 US$1.8bn revenue comes from mobile devices

Any concerns investors in Facebook have had about the social networking giant capturing its share of the mobile wave have been assuaged by the news that some 41pc of the company’s US$1.8bn revenues came from mobile devices.

For the second quarter, Facebook also recorded a profit (GAAP) of US$333m, compared with a loss of US$157m in the year-ago quarter, just shortly after going public in its IPO in May 2012.

Mobile active users (MAUs) stood at 819m, up 51pc year on year. On any given day, daily active users stood at 469m users.

Facebook revealed that revenue from advertising was US$1.6bn, out of which 41pc came from mobile advertising revenue.

Capital expenditure during the quarter was US$268m, down 35pc on last year.

Google sign image via Shutterstock

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