Ireland the Comeback Kid? Bloomberg on Founders and the Dublin Web Summit 2010

Posted by Paul Browne on 2 November, 2010 in DWS | Event | Internet | Links - (1 Comments)

I was lucky enough to be at the F.ounders Event at the Dublin Web Summit on Friday and Saturday (including Enterprise Ireland’s CEO welcome to the Founders).  Aside from thinking “What I am doing with my life?” ( as most of the other attendees were multi-millionaires in their late-twenties , or at a push , early thirties), the buzz and ideas from the event were incredible. This is reflected in the media coverage of the event, which shows Ireland in a very good light and highlights what is positive about the Internet in Ireland today.

Click on the image for the full  Bloomberg report.

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Internet Founders Welcome at the Dublin Web Summit 2010

Posted by Frank Ryan on 1 November, 2010 in DWS | Internet | Investment | Links | startup - (1 Comments)

The content of this blogpost was originally delivered as a welcome to the Founders at the recent Dublin Web Summit. Frank Ryan is CEO of Enterprise Ireland, the Irish Government Agency responsible for the development of Irish Industry.

On Friday, I was humbled by the presence in Dublin of many of the people that have re shaped the way people all over the globe work and interact socially. I hope and believe that in the three days of the Dublin Web Summit  ideas were developed and discussed which will form the next wave of disruptive market led innovation in the internet. The range of topics covered is vast and crucial to the well being of mankind – from changing the world through technology, social entrepreneurship and philanthropy to the future of Mobile, Payments and hopefully the “next big thing”.

Frank Ryan talking to Founders at Dublin Web Summit
One area of particular interest to the Government of Ireland is seeding innovation. In Enterprise Ireland, we have worked in this ever evolving space for 15 years now and today we are the largest seed capital provider in Ireland. We are unique as a Government Agency insofar that we invest in companies (in addition to providing grants for research, innovation and market development). Last year alone we took equity positions in over 70 companies and supported more that 200 start ups. We are dispensing tax payer’s funds so it is only right that we look to try and get some return for the people of Ireland.

As part of our evolution (more…)

Chris Horn on Corporate use of Social media

Posted by Paul Browne on 5 October, 2010 in Internet | LinkedIn | Links | Social Media - (Be the first to comment)

If you’re a regular reader of Enterprise Ireland’s BestConnected, Americas, or Education blogs (or indeed the various EI Twitter and Facebook pages) you’ll know that we at Enterprise Ireland are active users of social media. While our aim is clear (to increase Exports and Export led jobs), there are many differences that I’ve found between blogging in a previous life (promoting a small business via Social Media) and blogging in a larger corporate environment.

Which is why I’m glad that Chris Horn, who has no small experience in both areas, has posted a very good summary of his views on Corporate Social Networking; “A Social Networking Policy”.  The full article (link above) gives a lot of background and weight to his opinion, which he summarizes as;

Gossip, inadvertent leaks, speculation and deliberate mistruths are a part of human social engagement …..  Social media tools have not created the problem: they have just broadened the opportunity for discourse… : the bigger picture is trusting your people to give considered professional communication, and to separate their professional work from the private social activities.

What’s your experience of using or tuning into Corporate Social Media? What are the best examples? What is the right balance between staying ‘strictly on message’ and letting individual expertise come through? Answers in the comments below, or ping me via LinkedIn.

SME Web Presence 2010 London – LoopThing, O'Leary Analytics, Channelship, TheNextWeb and Social Bits

Posted by Gavin McWhirter on 8 September, 2010 in Event | Internet | Links | UK - (Be the first to comment)

The  SME Web Presence 2010 event will be held in London on Saturday 2nd of October 2010 at the Hub King’s Cross. Enterprise Ireland clients are involved in organising the event as a way of getting market recognition.

Speakers and panellists on the day include

  • Martin Bryant (The Next Web)
  • Fred Caballero (Channelship)
  • Vladimir Ghetau (Loopthing)
  • Stephen O’Leary (O’Leary Analytics)
  • Mark Cahill (Social Bits)

The event  is doubling up as a excellent opportunity for some fellow Irish businesses that we work with to enter the market and identify suitable customers. This event is designed to both educate and discover innovative ways in which small and medium sized enterprises can maximise their presence on the web by utilising the latest tools and trends.

More information on the event from the LoopThing Blog

iGAP – how to grow your business online

Posted by Keith Bohanna on 1 September, 2010 in eMarketing | IGAP | Internet | Links | Training - (Be the first to comment)

This a guest post by Keith Bohanna co-founder of dbtwang.  Keith participated in the first iGap Programme.

If you haven’t heard of iGAP, now is the time to acquaint yourself! Internet Growth Acceleration Programme is a management training and so-called ‘incubation’ strategy that is specifically designed to assist high potential internet companies in the early stages of their business, and to enable them to position themselves tactically in the marketplace. You might ask yourself what makes iGap so different from all the others out there? The answer is that iGAP, which is a multi-module programme running over six months, hones in on the precise needs of internet businesses, thereby ramping up their chances of success.

Here are a few questions for you, just in case you’re not sure of the where, how and why features of iGAP. In 2009, the business-led initiative Internet Growth Alliance aligned itself with Enterprise Ireland to develop iGAP, the debut run of which (from October 2009-April 2010) was vastly oversubscribed. The fundamental topics covered in the six monthly modules include how to accelerate strategic growth in business, marketing and sales; the great aspect about it is that through effective workshops, quality facilitators and implementation coaches, marketplace positioning, confidence and credibility is ingrained into the participants.

The feedback from the inaugural module run has been impressive, to say the least, to the point that iGAP2 is ready and raring to go, with the anticipation that there will be a high demand for limited places. Enterprise Ireland is now accepting applications for iGAP 2 – any interested online businesses can apply via the website at http://www.enterprise-ireland.com/igap, but only up to 6th September. The programme will commence in October 2010.

The Power of LinkedIn to Drive Client Results

Posted by Donnchadh Cullinan on 19 August, 2010 in eMarketing | Internet | LinkedIn | Links | Networking - (Be the first to comment)

One of the key challenges for Development Advisors (DA’s – akin to Account Managers) in Enterprise Ireland is to convey to EI clients that we have an interest in, and a good understanding of their particular business sector or target market. A very quick way to help achieve this might by using some of the lesser-known features of LinkedIn.

We all have LinkedIn networks – but a lot of people still don’t get it and see it solely as a means for making connections (or adding ‘friends’ – a grown-ups Facebook). There are still relatively few people that really use it to it to add value to their client engagement.

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Making e-commerce count

Posted by Eoin O'Siochru on 22 July, 2010 in Internet | Links - (Comments Off)

I manage the Internet Marketing Unit in Enterprise Ireland.   The role of the unit is to assist Enterprise Ireland’s clients , especially SMEs, to make optimum use of the Internet in the interests of developing export sales.

eTailing – Opportunities for Irish SME’s

I firmly believe that online trading offers smaller companies operating in limited markets an opportunity to punch above their weight on the global stage. Irish companies have certainly embraced this relatively low-cost method of reaching international markets. E-commerce accounts for 26 percent of the total turnover of Irish companies, compared to 15 percent of the revenue of UK-based companies, according to a European Commission Eurostat survey published January 2010.

Want to know more? Follow this link

Argos makes 25% of it's Sales online – what's your E-Retail Strategy?

Posted by Eleanor Kearney on 5 July, 2010 in Conference | ecommerce | Event | Internet | Links | UK - (2 Comments)

On the 23rd of June Enterprise Ireland London held an Online Retail Seminar at East Point. The companies attending were a mix of consumer and e-retail companies the common thread being they all wanted to sell online direct to consumer or sell to an online retailer!

The UK being one of the most online-advanced countries in Europe is really setting the standard in terms of online retail and we brought two distinguished speakers to Dublin to speak about the trends and the huge opportunity over here.

Those speakers were …

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Just announced – IGAP2 – Internet Growth Acceleration Programme

Posted by Paul Browne on 21 April, 2010 in Event | IGAP | Internet | Uncategorized - (1 Comments)

Today is the finale of the first IGAP programme. Thirteen top Irish Internet companies coming together to exchange ideas, stress test their business models and learn from people with success. Today’s finale sees the participants pitch their ideas , be questioned by the panel, and have the chance to win their fees back.

More information via the Twitter people attending / following the event; @ColmLyon, @KeithBohanna, @DScanlon, @Paul_Browne, @Sonru. Full #IGAP Twitter Search.

Update: Frank Ryan, CEO of Enterprise Ireland has just announced that Enterprise Ireland , in conjunction with the IGA, will be running IGAP2.

Participant pitches for the finale of IGAP 1 … (more…)

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