Eircom broadband winner

EIRCOM, travel website GoHop.ie and the Royal College of Surgeons were among the winners at the annual ICT Excellence Awards last night.

The awards recognise achievement during the year in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector and were staged as part of the ICT Expo showcases taking place at Dublin’s RDS this week.

The awards attracted more than 100 entries from businesses and academic institutions and were presented in 16 categories.

Eircom won the award of best technology marketing campaign for its broadband offering, while GoHop.ie was considered best e-commerce implementation in a small or medium business. Dublin’s Royal College of Surgeons picked up an award for best use of technology in education or training.

Dr Jim Mountjoy, the chairman of Prospectus Consultancy Group and founder of network management software supplier Euristix, won the person of the year award. Dr Mountjoy is a board member with Science Foundation Ireland, which promotes industry research.

The judging panel consisted of representatives from across the ICT sector and included Cathal Friel of the Irish Software Association and Niall Ó Donnchú from the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources.

Other award winners were Dell, LAN Communications, Continuum Technologies, WBT Systems and Advanced Field Solutions.

Earlier in the day, Communications Minister Dermot Ahern told delegates at the ICT Expo that the ICT sector was beginning to experience an upswing after a three-year downturn. “There is increasing optimism out there and this is reflected in the experience of exhibitors at the Expo event,” said Mr Ahern.

He also said it would be easy to overlook Ireland’s ICT achievements and that the sector employed over 90,000, almost double the levels of 10 years ago.

“The ICT sector has been great for Ireland and Ireland has been good for the sector. The very fact that one in three of all our exports comes from the ICT sector speaks volumes about its strengths.

"We have people and companies with flair, innovation and enthusiasm operating in this sector. That is evident on the world stage,” he said. Total exports of ICT products and services were worth €31 billion in 2001, according to the department.