Irish businesses have been urged to invest in the US market, with states in the American heartland seen as ripe for growth.

The first new office building to be constructed on Cork city’s South Mall in a generation is 35% more energy efficient than comparable buildings, constructed even up to just a decade ago.

The new national cybersecurity body that will be led out of Cork has been launched with a warning that cybercrime is expected to be worth almost €5 trillion in two years.

THE future for software development in Ireland has never looked brighter, with companies of all sizes from multinationals to indigenous start-ups steadily expanding.

The popularity of Cork as a place to do business looks set to soar on the back of major investment in the region, voluntary body IT@Cork tells Pádraig Hoare ahead of its annual tech summit next month.

Cork City retailers need to tweak their offering to capitalise on the arrival of thousands of new workers, according to one of the developers leading the multimillion-euro regeneration of the docklands.

One of Cork’s most prolific developers has said the city will be a “very vibrant place” within the next 12-18 months.

The regeneration of Cork’s docklands has stepped up another gear with work underway on a €125m office block on the northern quays which will be able to accommodate more than 2,250 workers by mid-2020.

The Munster headquarters of the Bank of Ireland, at 32 South Mall in Cork city centre has been put up for sale, as a banking blue-blood, blue-chip investment. The guide is €16 million.

A major planning approval this week brings to €300m the value of development set to flow onto Cork City’s north quays, by CIÉ’s Kent railway station.

A €1bn Texas-based cybersecurity company, Forcepoint, is to occupy two floors of Cork city centre’s new office block, 85 South Mall, intensifying the 21st-century tech corridor on the southern capital’s most traditional business, banking, commerce and services boulevard.

For chief executive Matt Moynahan, choosing Cork as the newest location of global cybersecurity firm Forcepoint was strictly a business decision.

Irish firms are being urged to invest in the US, with American political and business leaders insisting there are “vast” opportunities in the US heartland, away from the traditional locations on the east and west coasts.