Startup Gathering a tale of five cities

More than 350 start-up events will take place in five cities across Ireland this week, making the Startup Gathering one of the biggest national start-up weeks in the world.

The aim of the Startup Gathering is to promote entrepreneurship and help develop word-class regional start-up hubs as well as highlighting Ireland’s start-up sector to global entrepreneurs, investors and research and development teams.

Over the course of the week each of the five cities will host an open forum conference event, inviting the start-up ecosystem to come together to discuss the big ideas that will turn their location into a start-up hub.

Dublin Business Innovation Centre will be hosting a conference in the Marker Hotel on “current trends and future insights” as part of the week.

Multinationals from the internet, enterprise software and the Internet of Things sectors take to the stage to share their perspective on where these industries are currently and where they may be in three, five or 10 years’ time.

The Silicon Stroll event will include speakers from Google, Facebook, IBM, Accenture and Cisco.

It is designed to foster collaboration between the global technology companies based in Ireland and the indigenous start-up community.

Cork is hosting more than 65 workshops and seminars for start-ups over the course of the week.

The Irish Maritime and Energy Research Cluster (IMERC) will launch The Entrepreneur Ship in a new co-creation space for maritime and energy start-ups and overseas companies today.

The space will be located on the IMERC campus in Lower Cork Harbour, next to the National Maritime College of Ireland.

Cork Chamber chief executive Conor Healy said it has never been a better time or a better place to establish a business.

“International start-ups and venture capitalists have been attracted to locate in Cork, reinforcing the attractiveness of the region and the opportunities on offer for the start-up community. The Startup Gathering will serve to spotlight the attractiveness of the region and reinforce the phenomenal ecosystem for business here regionally, nationally and internationally.”