Denis Collins, chairman, it@cork
Cork technology industry organisation it@cork this week urged entrepreneurs in the region to vie for the IBM Global Entrepreneur competition that has been distinguished by a significant Irish turnout in recent years.
More than 60 people attended the IBM Global Entrepreneur Launch 2012 in Cork City Hall this week in association with it@cork.
The IBM Global Entrepreneur Programme aims to provide entrepreneurs with the mentoring and insight needed to innovate in their markets.
Past participants from IBM SmartCamp competitions have captured the attention of the venture capital community with nearly $50m in investments secured, and have expanded to new global markets.
Examples of recent success stories are Radisens Diagnostics, a young company in the Rubicon Centre in Cork won the IBM SmartCamp kick-start event in Dublin and went on to compete in the European final in London.
The previous year Treemetrics, another Cork-based company, got to the world finals in the US and came second overall. In fact, this year, a Dublin-based company, Profitero, won the world finals.
Foster the people
“There is an urgent need to embrace innovation and entrepreneurship to drive growth in the Irish economy,” said Denis Collins, chairman, it@cork.
“European Tech Cluster supports innovative concepts that create new market opportunities and lead to employment growth.
“Our strategy to deploy an industry-led collaborative model, successfully integrating government, public sector and academia continues to make a difference. This programme presents an exceptional opportunity for our indigenous businesses to harness a model for growth,” said Collins.
