New Gathering-style project aims to give Ireland global start-up hub status within five years

A new Gathering-style event is aiming to turn Ireland into one of the world's premier start-up hubs by 2020.

Beginning on Monday, Startup Ireland will bring together politicians with business leaders and investors.

The initial five-day launch, called Startup Gathering 2015, will see "gatherings" take place in five different cities over the five days with almost 400 events planned around the country.

Startup Ireland also offers a mentoing and networking service.

Startup Ireland

The idea is the brainchild of CEO Eoin Costello who said there would be a gradual process to get it off the ground.

"Year one is a benchmark...Our goal is to have a start-up forum in each city with key decision-makers. We're bringing in experts from Finland and Spain and what they'll talk about it is starting from here to build towards becoming a global start-up hub by 2020," he said.