Irish companies should be more aggressive in forming alliances with US firms, a conference on strategic alliances has been told.

Mr Patrick Murphy, president of Pan Atlantic Consultants and a member of the advisory council of the US Small Business Administration, said there were "tremendous opportunities for Irish companies to link up with an ever-growing number of US companies who are anxious to break into the European market".

However, he said US companies were "nervous" about having to develop from a greenfield operation.