Summit to ‘sell’ Cork as Ireland’s Silicon Valley
Entrepreneurs, senior technology executives, and investors based in Silicon Valley and Hollywood will attend the Irish Technology Leadership Group’s (ITLG) global technology leaders summit which begins today.
The group was established in San José five years to providing incubation space and hot-desk facilities for emerging Irish companies.
Its summit in Cork is the first major business event of the Gathering.
The 20-strong US delegation, led by ITLG chairman, Dr Craig R Barrett, will visit the Tyndall National Institute, EMC, UCC, and the Nimbus Centre at CIT, where they will explore investment opportunities in the biotech, nanotechnology, cloud, gaming, and software sectors.
Up to 50 companies have been selected to pitch ideas to the global investors in a Dragons’ Den-style setting.
The summit itself, which is being held in City Hall, will showcase technology developed in the region.
All information will be available via customised QR codes, which will route delegates to a website which will provide them with all the information they need.
Questions and answers sessions will be handled by a new technology system developed by start-up firm, Instant Opinion. It will allow delegates to post questions using the web, smartphone, or mobile device, allowing panellists to respond to questions from the floor without the need for a roving microphone.
City Hall will have free wifi and a Twitter wall will stream posts using the hashtag #GTLSummit.
The Top 10 Things To Do in Cork app, commissioned by the city council, will also be promoted.
The summit is taking place in Cork following a visit to Silicon Valley last year by a delegation including city council, Cork Chamber, UCC, and CIT.
It is hoped that delegates will return to the US with a very positive experience of Cork’s business and technology landscape, said Lord Mayor Cllr John Buttimer.
“Cork has strong connections with Silicon Valley and we are delighted to deepen our relationship with US industry leaders while showcasing all that Cork has to offer in terms of a centre of excellence for innovation and commercialisation of new research as well as a great place to invest as a gateway to Europe,” he said.
Meanwhile, tomorrow’s summit proceedings will be streamed live and free via Aertv.ie from 9.30am to 5pm.
The coverage will include a keynote speech from Frank Ryan, chief executive of Enterprise Ireland, as well as a panel discussion with executives from EMC, Intel, Disney, Facebook, and Elan, on the challenges posed by “big data” and the emergence of “mega data”, its impact on the cloud and the new employment opportunities it presents for Ireland.
The schedule also includes panel debates featuring speakers from organisations such as Coderdojo, Enterprise Ireland, Optivia Biotechnology, Irish Principal’s Network, and Cisco.
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