Ireland wins bid to host international startup summit

Taoiseach Enda Kenny will announce on Friday that Ireland has won a competitive global bid to co-host an international gathering of entrepreneurs and policy makers.

Up to 400 foreign delegates will come to Cork for the Startup Nations Summit from November 18th to 20th.

“Ireland is garnering international attention for its successful creation of a strong supportive ecosystem for entrepreneurship. Startups are a key part of Ireland’s recovery and we want to help them create 70,000 of the 200,000 jobs we will create by 2020,” said Mr Kenny.

"We are delighted that Ireland is the first European country ever to host Startup Nations Summit in partnership with the Global Entrepreneurship Network, " he said as he congratulated Startup Ireland and local agency Cork Innovates in securing the prestigious event for Cork and Ireland.

The event is likely to draw hundreds of startup policy makers, advisers, public and private sector organisations from around the world, who are interested in understanding and sharing international best practice in helping high impact entrepreneurs start and scale new enterprises, he said.

The President of GEN Jonathan Ortmans, who visited Ireland last week and met with the key stakeholders involved in the Startup Nations Summit bid, praised the Irish Government for its commitment to creating a policy environment that allows entrepreneurs to flourish.

Siobhán Finn, project director of Cork Innovates will act as project director for the Startup Gathering 2016 on behalf of the Startup Ireland board and she said that Cork was a prime European location for the event.

The vision of the local authorities, business support agencies and educational institutions in the region have been working together for the last number of year had all helped to drive and nurture entrepreneurship and innovation in the Cork region, she said.

Eoin Costello, CEO of Startup Ireland said the event is a fantastic fit for Ireland given the country's rapid recovery, which has led it to becoming Europe's highest growing economy .