Dublin seen as supportive of start-ups, says Google

Dublin has created a highly supportive environment for start-ups, according to Nicole Froker, partnerships engagement manager for Google's outreach programme for business high-flyers.

She was speaking as Google for Entrepreneurs, an initiative from the tech giant to support start-up programmes across the globe, held a partner summit in the capital this week at Dogpatch Labs, in Dublin's Docklands.

“The summit has been a great opportunity to showcase what has been established here in Ireland by the start-up community. There are so many entities that are supportive of start-ups here and it has been really gratifying to see that it isn’t just the likes of Google and Dogpatch helping out, but that there is great involvement from the Government and other parties as well,” said Ms Froker.

Partnerships

Since 2011, Google for Entrepreneurs has launched campuses and formed partnerships that support budding businessmen and women in 125 countries, including Ireland. Google provides financial support and donates resources to start-up communities to help them equip and nurture budding entrepreneurs.

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As part of the Dublin summit held at Dogpatch Labs, 15 partner organisations from Europe, the Middle East and Africa took part in a three-day event comprising workshops, knowledge-sharing sessions, keynotes and networking, with the obligatory sightseeing and socialising also thrown in.

Dogpatch Labs became the first Irish member of Google for Entrepreneurs’ Tech Hub partnership in August 2015, in a move that has enabled its members to have access to workspace in more than 20 cities globally, including London, San Francisco and Tel Aviv.

Organisations taking part in the summit included Dogpatch, Zurich’s Impact Hub, Amsterdam’s TQ, London’s Tech Hub, Dubai’s AstroLabs, the Epicenter in Stockholm, Numa in Paris, GSG in Gaza and Berlin’s Factory.

Best practices

“The summit has been a great opportunity to share international best practices around creating co-working spaces and supporting start-ups,” said Ms Froker.

“What’s interesting is the different organisations all have similar visions and shared challenges around issues such as how to best engage their alumni network, maintain company culture and so on. We believe the strength of the network coming together in this way and sharing, contributes to the start-up ecosystem globally,” she added.