We need to foster enterprise, forum told

IRELAND NEEDS to change quickly to foster young entrepreneurs or risk losing them, according to the chief executive of Globe Forum, speaking at the organisation’s Dublin conference yesterday. It is now easier than ever for start-ups to go overseas, he said, and they might be inclined to do so if they cannot find what they need here.

“The Government and the banking sector need to watch out if there isn’t a quick change,” said Johan Gorecki, chief executive of Globe Forum, which aims to foster sustainable innovation by linking entrepreneurs up with investors.

“If they can’t find business and funding it’s very simple; they will move and today it’s very easy to move to a new market.”

Mr Gorecki said the Government was saying the right things when it came to making this change but it remained to be seen if there was any substance to this.

He also outlined plans by Globe Forum to establish a fund which would give innovators access to low-cost, guaranteed loans.

The money from this would be “crowd-sourced”, where people pool their resources into one place, but said he hoped they could partner with local banks in each country to deliver it.

At the morning event of the conference’s second day, young entrepreneurs were also asked to speak on the issue of innovation in Ireland.

Paddy Cosgrave, who recently organised the Dublin Web Summit and Founders events in the city, said real innovation was about tearing up the rule book and doing something completely different.

“Every developed nation on earth tore up the rule book when it came to innovation. We’ve a number of stark choices to make and that may not involve playing by the rule book or doing what we think is good,” he said.

Mr Cosgrave went on to give a number of historical examples of countries that enjoyed significant economical boosts by taking risks that went against the then conventional wisdom.

“A lot of these lessons have implications as we try to find where next for the economy.”

Jakob Rutqvist, director of the environmental programme Fores in Sweden followed, and said creating sustainable innovation, particularly in developing countries, was primarily about addressing the needs of the user.

“Developing countries need to be seen less as a victim of global warming that needs to be saved and more of a partner in creating solutions,” he said.