ENTERPRISE IRELAND should be measured on the number of Nasdaq-quoted companies created here and not just on job creation, a leading entrepreneur has suggested.

Speaking in Limerick yesterday, Silicon Valley investor John Hartnett called on the Government to focus on creating billion-dollar companies in Ireland.

The founder and president of the Irish Technology Leadership Group noted there were 130 Nasdaq-quoted companies in Israel today, while Ireland had just three.

“We should have 10, 20 or 30. If we had that, that would create huge investment for the region and huge jobs . . . I think they [Enterprise Ireland] should be measured on both jobs and the creation of companies,” he added.

Mr Hartnett made his comments during a visit to Limerick Institute of Technology to mark the opening of the enterprise centre at Moylish as the Hartnett Enterprise Acceleration Centre.

Start-up firms on the institute’s 12-month incubation centre programme are to get direct access to Silicon Valley, thanks to an alliance announced yesterday. Under the alliance, the companies will spend one week at the Irish Innovation Centre set up by the leadership group in Silicon Valley, where they will receive intensive business mentoring and strategic advice on how to maximise opportunities in the global market.

Announcing the alliance, Mr Hartnett said it would establish the enterprise centre as a gateway to Silicon Valley.

“The alliance will create a gateway to Silicon Valley where over 40 per cent of all US venture capital is invested each year. In 2010, this was almost $8 billion compared to $440 million of venture capital in Ireland,” he added.