Collaboration economy

Lone gone are the days when you only had to collaborate with the people who sat next to you in the office. We now live in a 24/7 digital economy and, thanks to advances in hardware, software and high-speed internet connections, our business ecosystems can run into the hundreds.

Working effectively with this network of suppliers, partners, consultants and clients now requires more than just email and telephone conversations.

Read more from Alastair Mitchell on the Collaboration Economy here.

More jobs on the Silicon Ireland Job Board

Check out the latest jobs - http://siliconirelandjobsboard.blogspot.com/2011/08/paid-intern-position-oct-2011.html

If you have any jobs to list - send to jobspost@siliconirelandnews.com

September Roundup

September 2011



I cannot believe its September tommorrow. The year is just flying by. It definately been an exciting one.

Tomorrow we launch our Startup Academy, which will see 6 startups join the Class of 2012.

We have also got a number of interested avenues for the documentary which starts filming in October.

We are also excited about the 2 tech events in Dublin in October.

We launched our jobs board and this offers a free listing service for tech jobs in Ireland.


Thanks to all our sponsors and as always our readers.

Lots for tech people to do in Belfast thanks to Digital Circle

Silicon Ireland got an update of upcoming events by Digital Circle. Get involved.


Tue, 30 August from 17:00 to 19:00 at Stiff Kitten, Belfast http://digitalcircle.org/events/bloc54-games-networking-event

What do VCs really do? Wed, 31 August from 08:00 to 14:00 at Radission Blu, Belfast http://digitalcircle.org/events/what-do-vcs-really-do

Cash is King: Managing your Cashflow Fri, 02 September from 13:00 to 14:00 at blick studios, Belfast http://digitalcircle.org/events/cash-is-king-managing-your-cashflow

Comics Barcamp Belfast 2011 Sat, 03 September from 10:00 to 16:00 at Blick Studios, Belfast http://digitalcircle.org/events/comics-barcamp-belfast-2011

UPDATE - SXSW Event Black Box 5 September 2011 (2:00pm to 5:00pm) Mon, 05 September from 14:00 to 17:00 at Black Box, Belfast http://digitalcircle.org/events/update-sxsw-event-black-box-5-september-2011-200pm-to-500pm

CBI - eircom NI Digital Breakfast Tue, 06 September from 08:30 to 10:30 at W5, Belfast http://digitalcircle.org/events/cbi-eircom-ni-digital-breakfast

Creative Entrepreneur Club: On The Road Again Wed, 07 September from 17:30 to 19:00 at Ten Square, Belfast http://digitalcircle.org/events/creative-entrepreneur-club-on-the-road-again

Game Technology Development Seminar (featuring Paul Durrant) Wed, 14 September from 10:00 to 12:00 at Radisson Blu, Belfast http://digitalcircle.org/events/game-technology-development-seminar-featuring-paul-durrant

Mobile Showcase Ireland (MobileMonday) Mon, 19 September from 14:00 to 18:30 at Gibson Hotel, Dublin http://digitalcircle.org/events/mobile-showcase-ireland-mobilemonday

Creative Entrepreneur Club: IP: it's your business Wed, 21 September from 17:30 to 19:00 at Ten Square, Belfast http://digitalcircle.org/events/creative-entrepreneur-club-ip-its-your-business

Momentum/Tughans Tech legal Series - Employment Essential for ICT/Digital Media Companies Thu, 22 September from 08:00 to 09:30 at Tughans - Marlborough House, Belfast http://digitalcircle.org/events/momentumtughans-tech-legal-series-employment-essential-for-ictdigital-media-companies

Creative Entrepreneur Club: The Shape of Punk To Come Wed, 28 September from 17:30 to 19:00 at Ten Square, Belfast http://digitalcircle.org/events/creative-entrepreneur-club-the-shape-of-punk-to-come

Creative Entrepreneur Club: Animating Belfast Wed, 05 October from 17:30 to 19:00 at Ten Square, Belfast http://digitalcircle.org/events/creative-entrepreneur-club-animating-belfast

Turning Customers Away – Why?

Great Blog post by Paul Davis See below:_



Turning Customers Away – Why?

Silicon Ireland Jobs Board now LIVE

We are adding some additional items to our blog, including this new feature a free jobs board. So if your tech company is recruiting and you want to get it promoted in Ireland completely free, them email or DM us on twitter. Send us over your job descriptions and we will post them for you,

Check it out here

Voucherpages.ie - Ireland Discount Voucher Company

voucherpages.ie is a one-stop-shop to find local vouchers, coupons and buy deals across Ireland for what you want, when you want it!

Consumers can search for money-off vouchers by type of business, location or business name to find deals for goods and services that they want to purchase. Vouchers can be printed or sent via free SMS text message to a user’s mobile phone. A consumer then redeems the voucher by purchasing at a discounted rate either in-store in the normal fashion or else online for online retailers. Whatever deals you are looking for, whether it is for restaurants, takeaways, beauty salons, hairdressers, florists, driving lessons, home improvement, pubs or nightclubs, they can found on www.voucherpages.ie. Vouchers can be found for businesses including Pizza Hut Ireland, Sea Life, Joels Restaurant, Artizan Food Co., Costello Flowers and much more.

Launched by local Dublin business man, Ronan Hickey, voucherpages.ie incentivises consumers to make a purchase by offering a choice of deals while supporting local Irish businesses by driving sales and footfall to their business 365 days a year. Vastly different from the numerous daily deals websites that are flooding the Irish market, a commission is not taken on every sale with advertisers featuring on our platform all year round. This allows businesses to provide deals to encourage consumer expenditure to win new customers in a profitable manner, while the results of their different voucher campaigns are fully transparent to easily measure return on advertising investment.

By offering choice to consumers, we can already see that consumers are buying what they really want. Users are browsing the voucher offerings of many businesses during each visit and over 40% of all visitors to our site are already coming back at least once a week to check for new vouchers and deals.

voucherpages.ie is a 100% Irish owned company, and we support local Irish businesses.

Amazon Startup Competition

The annual Amazon Web Services (AWS) Start-up Challenge is back with an expanded worldwide footprint! This contest is a way for promising start-ups to get noticed and compete for an opportunity to win up to $100,000 in cash and AWS credits. Submit an entry into the contest describing your business plan and use of AWS paid services and you could be a 2011 finalist.

Find out here

Silicon Ireland News Wire: DWS7 Oct has something for Irish Startups

Silicon Ireland News Wire: DWS7 Oct has something for Irish Startups: DWS7 are announcing something big for Irish start ups. Up until today, it would have cost €3,950 to exhibit at the forthcoming...

Irish site Collab becomes SkillsCollab.com

Collab has been around since 2009 (we developed in a previous company) and really hadn’t had any changes to it since then. In fact until early this year you could say it was neglected. We decided to do some work on it and sent a mail around to people who had used the service. I sent the mail personally and sat with trepidation waiting for responses. The ones I received were a pleasant surprise Most people were very complimentary and had great suggestions. We decided to compile a list of them and implement the best.

First off we had people from outside Ireland asking why it was a IE domain and geared toward Ireland? The reason was that we did it as a local service and didn’t think that people outside Ireland would be interested, however on reflection it does seem to be the logical thing to change to a .com. We hunted for a .com address (never easy) and landed with SkillsCollab. Near enough to the original, and free.
So what have we changed?

Countries/cities – global now.
Number of views of a project.
If you have posted the project, the number of replies.
Reopen closed projects.
Richer view of applicants.
Alerts when you have new applications.
More search options.
View projects you have applied to.

Along with this we did a number of mundane tasks like upgrade it to Rails 3 (that’s a story for another day). Also we have keep it free, it was never about making money. It was to offer a place were people could come together to build things. That’s what we like to do and we feel its an area that is under served.

Anyway we hope that you continue to use SkillsCollab and find the right person to help you take your idea to the next level, if you have any other suggestions – it would be great to hear them.

NYC a startups guide after Hurrican Irene!

Good morning NYC !

We hope you survived Hurricane Irene’s wrath. She certainly made her presence known on social media - with her own Twitter account @irene with more than 11,000 followers and on Foursquare as moving target Hurricanepocalypse 2011 with more than 35,000 check-ins, not to mention helping New Yorkers find Evacuation Shelters.

Keeping with the theme of location, Sonar is our featured startup of the week. Sonar lets you see how you're connected to people nearby by using Foursquare, Facebook and Twitter to identify connections and shared interests. It makes your interactions at conferences more useful and improves your ability to network and socialize.

For more info, visit sonar.me or download Sonar in the App Store.

For newcomers: The NYC StartupDigest is an events list, created by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, that is laser-focused on the needs of startups in NYC. Please send feedback to frank.denbow@thestartupdigest.com.

- Frank

September -Startups rev your engines

Just a quick reminder.

As you probably rmember from previuos posts, we are opening applications at the startup academy on September 1st. We are looking forward to seeing the many exciting Irish tech ideas, looking to be part of the class of 2011/2012.

Please do tell people to keep checking posts and follow links on Silicon Ireland for further details.

see other links about Startup Academy on right side of blog.

thanks

Showcase day for iPatter in Belfast

As you may know Silicon Ireland co founder Charlie is head of Irish operations for iPatter.com in Ireland.

iPatter is a marketing platform to allow businesses to connect in an online and offline way.


Why not come and see what iPatter.com can do for your Northern Ireland business. We will be running through details of the site, broadcaster benefits and give you indepth information on how to make iPatter a success for you. Meet the team, ask questions, and even register.

The event is free. We look forward to meeting you.

For your free ticket click here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2083362393

Call to exhibit at Internet Expo

Connecting the Internet sector with New Business buyers

We are introducing Ireland’s 1st ever Irish Internet Expo; brought to you in conjunction with the Irish Internet Association, destined for the RDS Dublin Oct 14th-15th. It is supported by Media sponsors Irish Times, ISME, Digital Hub & the Irish Software Innovation Network. It is anchored by Microsoft, An Post & Realex Payments.
WHY now? With the rapid growth in internet usage via e/m - Commerce, Cloud Computing CRM and Digital Marketing channels, more organisations are finding the Internet essential to engaging stakeholders & maximising marketing potential. The Internet Expo invites potential Business end users to upgrade and source the critical Internet technologies & service suppliers. As Ireland develops into Europe’s Internet Hub, and a plethora of new startups emerge, it’s a good time to personally demonstrate your online solutions in a live B2B Tech Event

The Internet expo presents a Corporate PR and Sales opportunity for Internet Companies to engage face-to-face (as opposed to Online) to our targeted arena of organizational end-users. It’s an ideal platform for demonstrating complex online services & software to new contacts.

WHAT is it? The Irish Internet Expo will be the 1st its kind in Ireland, connecting businesses / organizational end users with providers of internet related services & products: a Live Arena for Internet businesses to demonstrate their products in person and find new contacts. The Show will attract business users by providing practical advice through a free education programme of relevant speakers, curated by the IIA. It will serve as a valuable one-stop networking and recruitment opportunity in a sector hungry for partnerships, collaborations and personnel. In addition, the Irish Times Internet–related business conference will be in the neighboring RDS Concert Hall on the same date

Here are the reasons you can’t afford to miss it. It’s an ideal B2B arena for:

· Launching & Demonstrating complex new products in person to new clients
· Generating leads and selling product
· Researching your market and products
· Checking Out the competition and keeping up with Industry news
· Corporate PR & Community relations for MNCs through supporting a local business event
· Building Brand exposure and better media profile
· Recruiting new Team members and partners
· Networking with a peers, suppliers, agents & affiliates in terms of sector collaborations
· Keep in touch with customers and building personal rapport
· A great place for startups to showcase to Would-be Investors

P.s. NB IIA members get a 10% discount off stand space.

Please feel free to contact me or my colleague Elish Bull elish@exhibitionsireland.com on 01 288 8821 if you would like further information or to answer any questions.

DWS7 Oct has something for Irish Startups

DWS7 are announcing something big for Irish start ups. Up until today, it would have cost €3,950 to exhibit at the forthcoming Dublin Web Summit, and a further €790 to buy two tickets. That's a total of €4,740.

But from today, thanks to a partnership with Enterprise Ireland, we're cutting that cost down to a total of €550 for 25 of Ireland's leading early stage start ups, including the cost of two tickets. To find out more or to apply visit the Start Up Zone section of the website.

It's a saving of over €4,000 for 25 Irish start ups


Applications close in two weeks, on September 9th, and the lucky 25 start ups will be selected on a competitive basis based on the application form and criteria.

Special thanks to all our partners including Enterprise Ireland, KPMG, Microsoft, Realex, Maples and Calder, Invest NI, and ESB Electric Ireland.

For any questions please feel free to call the office on +353 1 4429560 or send us a tweet @dublinwebsummit.com

Help an Irish Startup

HELP!

Can you help this new start up www.redeemandget.com .They just got nominated for an award for Innovation at the Irish Internet Association Net Visionary Awards and need your voting prowess to help them win!!

They are up against some gigantic companies and really are the underdog in this category.

As all good Irish people love to cheer for the underdog, cheer for them and vote at the link below!

http://www.iia.ie/net-visionary/vote/

Thank you for your help!

5 Ways To Make Social Media Work For Your Business

Owning your own business is difficult enough without having to worry
about finding the perfect balance of marketing strategies. Stick
solely to traditional marketing strategies and you will find yourself
potentially missing an enormous demographic.

Try to milk the internet for all It is worth and you will find
yourself completely overwhelmed by the number of tools and
application available for internet marketing. But what if you used
social networking sites as a happy medium between traditional and
hard-core internet marketing strategies?

Using this one tool could make a huge difference in your business
without overwhelming you altogether. Here are 5 ways to get started
using social media in your marketing strategy.

Read More

Startup Weekend

Startup Weekend’s Growing List of GEW Cities

For the third consecutive year, Startup Weekend will be a featured event of Global Entrepreneurship Week--leading thousands around the world along the path from concept to creation in 54 hours. This year, the number of cities continues to climb with 30 currently confirmed for the two weekends that bookend GEW 2011.

Read More

USA Events for Irish Tech

A message from the USA from Tony Perkins.

Hi Silicon Ireland

I'm writing to give you advance notice about our new event IMPACT 2011! We have teamed up with PACT to host this event on November 29th-30th at The Ritz Carlton, Philadelphia, PA. 

PACT’s annual venture conference, IMPACT 2011, is the most established venture conference in the northeast. For over 20 years, IMPACT has been showcasing the best and most promising investment opportunities in the Technology, Life Sciences, and Clean Technology sectors. IMPACT’s Featured Companies have raised more than a $1 billion in venture financing and are some of the region’s most recognizable names. Hosted by Duane Morris LLP, IMPACT 2011 will be held on November 29 & 30 in Philadelphia.



While the speakers are still under wraps here is a overview of the agenda and panelists from the previous IMPACT conference: 
Dan Williams, Managing Director, ArchPoint Partners
Eduardo M. Carreras, Of Counsel, Woodcock Washburn LLP
Michael P. Dunnam, Partner, Woodcock Washburn LLP
Glen Gaddy, Robin Hood Ventures
Denise I. Mroz, Partner, Woodcock Washburn LLP
Andy O’Dell, Co-Founder- Chief Executive Officer, Skepsu LLC
Richard Bendis, Chairman, Innovation America
Mike Kane, President, Kestrel Asset Management
Katherine O’Neill, Executive Director, JumpStart New Jersey Angel Network
Bradley T. Atkins, CFA, Co-Founder and CEO, Franklin Park
Bruce Feldman, Director of Alternative Investments, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania State Employee Retirement System (PSERS)
Samuel N. Porat – Director, Neuberger Berman
James Sperans – Managing Director, Morgan Stanley
Michael DeRosa, Managing Director, Element Partners
Mary Kay James, Managing Director, DuPont Ventures & Intellectual Assets and Licensing
Scott MacDonald, Partner, Emerald Technology Ventures
John Moore, Director and CEO, Acorn Energy Inc.
Tucker Twitmyer, Managing Director, Enertech Capital
Brian Halak, Partner, Domain Associates, LLC
Adele Oliva, Partner, Quaker BioVentures
Michael Kopelman, Principal, Edison Venture Fund
Manuel Henriquez, Chairman & CEO, Hercules Technology Growth Capital
Steve Hobman, General Partner, NewSpring Mezzanine & Partner, NewSpring Capital
Peter Blackwood, Managing Director, Head of Technology and Services, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC
Robert Chiste, Executive in Residence, El Dorado Ventures
Art Dodge, Co-Founder, President, CEO, and Director, ECORE International
Michael Hamilton, CEO, Sriya Innovations Inc. 
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE EVENT PAGE!

We are open for new ideas and speakers and will keep you posted on the event program. If you have suggestions or would like to recommend speakers, please feel free to contact me and I look forward to hearing from you.

Attendees like you are a key reason why AlwaysOn has become the premier brand covering top trends and break-out companies in these sectors. Whether you are looking for new investments, strategic partners, or clients, IMPACT is unparalleled in the power of its program and audience.


We appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you in The Ritz Carlton, Philadelphia, PA. 

Kind Regards,
Tony

Tony Perkins
Founder and Editor, AlwaysOn
tp@aonetwork.com

For more information on group rates or to purchase tickets at the lowest possible price over the phone, please contact John Schwartz at 310.721.9451 or by e-mail at john@aonetwork.com.

To find out how your company can join IMPACT's distinguished group of sponsors and for detailed information on the CEO Showcase opportunity, please contact either Alfredo Guilbert at 650-468-6018, alfredo@aonetwork.com, if your located in the Western US, or Shannon Calvin at 954-663-2086, shannon@aonetwork.com

SXSW Networking Event Belfast

Invest NI Trade Mission to SXSW - Networking Event in Belfast
The opportunity to participate in the Invest NI trade mission to SXSW in Austin, Texas during March 2012 will soon be available.

In preparation for this Invest NI is holding an information/networking event in the Black Box in Belfast on Monday 5th September, 2pm-5pm.

This will be an excellent opportunity to hear presentations and ask questions relating to the mission.

The event is open to and equally applicable to those planning to attend from an interactive, music or film perspective.

Key presenters will be:

Una Johnston - SXSW Director Europe
Phil Johnston - UKTI Head of Creative Industries
Javier Lopez - MIDEM

Announcing Official Launch Date of Silicon Ireland's Startup Academy

At long last we are announcing that we will be accepting applications for our Startup Academy on September 1st 2011.

We are looking to pick 6 ideas from around Ireland and help turn them with their founders into new Irish Startups in the Class of 2011.

We are thrilled to be launching this in September 2011. A permanent link will be on the website from end of this month.




More Info on launch here

Technology forward Irish registrar Blacknight announce a new live feature for RSS.me combining social media, location based services, RSS and domains.

Technology forward Irish registrar Blacknight (http://www.blacknight.com/) announce a new live feature for RSS.me (http://rss.me ) combining social media, location based services, RSS and domains.

Blacknight have integrated .tel domains with RSS.me in a move that allows users one app to update all of their social media.

If you have a .tel domain name you probably know that you can update your location and / or your “status”. This can be done manually via your .tel control panel or one of the mobile apps that Telnic have made available. If you’re a social media user you might have an account with the location-based service FourSquare, which, of course, has a mobile app as well.

RSS.me eliminates the need for multiple apps, as it will propagate updates and FourSquare check-ins throughout your social media channels without eating up your mobile battery life or your mobile data.

Michele Neylon of Blacknight says: “We are very excited about this development, .tel is a wonderful concept that we feel is underused and we are adding value to the domain for individual users by integrating RSS.me. It is very unique, instead of using multiple apps, you can now update all of your mobile social media with just one.”

Neylon continues: “ A .tel domain is an indispensable basic resource for organizing and publishing your personal information and RSS.me is an incredibly advanced social media tool. Together they offer users a smooth and efficient way to optimize the mobile experience.”

Mobile Internet use is on the rise globally and it is estimated that by 2015, there will be 788 million mobile only users. Blacknight are industry leaders in early adoption and advancement of mobile Internet technology and are always looking for new ways to enhance end user experience by creating new opportunities within the Internet extensions they provide.


Register your .tel domain today (http://www.blacknight.com/telnic.html ) and use RSS.me to revolutionize the way you use mobile social media.

For more information regarding .tel and RSS.me visit www.blacknight.com

iPatter appoints Regional Managers

ipatter.com, which originally launched in England in April 2010, has encouraged 113, 000 connections between almost 2,250 ‘Broadcasters’ (businesses who sign up to the site). ipatter.com has now expanded into the USA,Australia, and Northern Ireland with the rest of Ireland to follow by year end.

ipatter.com has also announced the launch of a national recruitment campaign for Regional Managers and Business Development Consultants. Up to 150 BDC's (Business Development Consultants) will be working in Ireland by the end of the year.

Connecting the Internet sector with New Business buyers

Connecting the Internet sector with New Business buyers

Introducing Ireland’s 1st ever Irish Internet Expo; brought to you in conjunction with the Irish Internet Association, destined for the RDS Dublin Oct 14th-15th. It is supported by Media sponsors Irish Times, ISME, Digital Hub & the Irish Software Innovation Network. It is anchored by Microsoft, An Post & Realex Payments.

WHY now? With the rapid growth in internet usage via e/m - Commerce, Cloud Computing CRM and Digital Marketing channels, more organisations are finding the Internet essential to engaging stakeholders & maximising marketing potential. The Internet Expo invites potential Business end users to upgrade and source the critical Internet technologies & service suppliers. As Ireland develops into Europe’s Internet Hub, and a plethora of new startups emerge, it’s a good time to personally demonstrate your online solutions in a live B2B Tech Event

The Internet expo presents a Corporate PR and Sales opportunity for Internet Companies to engage face-to-face (as opposed to Online) to our targeted arena of organizational end-users. It’s an ideal platform for demonstrating complex online services & software to new contacts.

WHAT is it? The Irish Internet Expo will be the 1st its kind in Ireland, connecting businesses / organizational end users with providers of internet related services & products: a Live Arena for Internet businesses to demonstrate their products in person and find new contacts. The Show will attract business users by providing practical advice through a free education programme of relevant speakers, curated by the IIA. It will serve as a valuable one-stop networking and recruitment opportunity in a sector hungry for partnerships, collaborations and personnel. In addition, the Irish Times Internet–related business conference will be in the neighboring RDS Concert Hall on the same date

Here are the reasons you can’t afford to miss it. It’s an ideal B2B arena for:

· Launching & Demonstrating complex new products in person to new clients
· Generating leads and selling product
· Researching your market and products
· Checking Out the competition and keeping up with Industry news
· Corporate PR & Community relations for MNCs through supporting a local business event
· Building Brand exposure and better media profile
· Recruiting new Team members and partners
· Networking with a peers, suppliers, agents & affiliates in terms of sector collaborations
· Keep in touch with customers and building personal rapport
· A great place for startups to showcase to Would-be Investors


Please feel free to contact me or my colleague Elish Bull elish@exhibitionsireland.com on 01 288 8821 if you would like further information or to answer any questions.

Digital Ireland Forum

'On 30 September 2011, Ireland's tech leaders will gather in Dublin to discuss Ireland's digital future, at an event hosted by Siliconrepublic.com. Keynote speakers will include Lord David Puttnam, and Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD will open the event.'

Read More

Imitation is a good form of flattery!

Pleased to see that TechCrunch Europe is planning a documentary on the Silicon Roundabout!. As they seem imitation is the best form of flattery!.

We feel that this is a very positive move, as it shows just how much Europe has to offer the potential audiences.

£4.4 M for Northern Irish Broadband

The investment was revealed by Jeremy Hunt, culture secretary for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on Monday. It is Northern Ireland's share — 0.8 percent — of the £530m fund to improve broadband infrastructure in the UK.

In the past 18 months, other projects in the area such as the Next Generation Broadband Project have already received £52m investment, nearly £30m of which came from BT. Hunt said that the fresh £4.4m would be used only to provide super-fast broadband for homes and businesses not covered by previous schemes.

Read More

Listen to Podcast of Rendezvous365 on Today FM

You can listed to the podcast hear


Listen Here

Rendezvous 353 promoting on Sunday Biz Show Today FM - Get involved

Sunday Business Show Today FM

Rendezvous353 together with a number of its members will be featured this Sunday, the 14th August on the Sunday Business Show on Today FM 10.00 GMT.


To tune in check out the link below

Show


If you would like to promote any business ventures or Irish opportunities worldwide, please contact us at info@rendezvous353.com

Daily Deals Coming to Gumtree in Belfast and beyond

Daily Deals for Belfast from Gumtree


Hello Silicon Ireland,

We at Gumtree are thrilled to tell you about our brand new Daily Deals service. Before we go nationwide, we’ve launched in four of our favourite cities – and yours is one of them! We’ll be offering a new local deal every weekday giving you HUGE savings on popular goods, services and events in Belfast. To take advantage of all these amazing deals – it’s free!

We know this is a crowded space, with lot's of companies offering daily deals. Makes Groupon's share look thinner and thinner each day!

Good write up for Jerry Kennelly at Tweak on TC Europe

Tweak.com


Its good to see our Irish Tech entrepreneurs being covered by TechCrunch Europe. This post is covering the new startup Tweak.com - Founded by Jerry Kennelly, who has a good previous record in the tech sector in Ireland.

Here is a link to the post here in case you have not read it!

Read here

Forty-Five Graduates Shortlisted for Digital Hub Internship Competition

Forty-five graduates from throughout Ireland have made the shortlist for ‘Best in Show’, an internship competition run annually by the Digital Hub Development Agency (DHDA).

The competition places winning digital media and creative graduates in internships with leading companies in their chosen fields. To be in with a chance of winning, graduates submit examples of their college work to be assessed by a panel of industry insiders.

The closing date for entries for this year’s competition was 15th July. Twice as many entries were received as in 2010, and those who made the shortlist are new graduates from third-level institutions in Cork, Dublin, Limerick, Louth, Waterford and Westmeath.

Entries to ‘Best in Show’ are submitted under five different categories: Animation; Audio / Music Production; Digital Design; Multimedia; and Film / Video Production. In addition to these five categories, a graduate from a community education centre – D8CEC, located in Dublin city centre – will win a work placement at The Digital Hub: for this category, the winner will complete a placement focusing on office administration skills.

Commenting on the shortlist announcement, Dr. Stephen Brennan, Director of Marketing and Strategy with the Digital Hub Development Agency, said: “Digital media is one area where there are actually going to be job increases in the next few years. Recent reports have highlighted the numbers of unfilled vacancies in this sector due, in large part, to the fact that companies are finding it difficult to find recruits with the necessary experience and skills.

“What The Digital Hub aims to do with ‘Best in Show’ is give new graduates an opportunity to gain high-quality work experience; to network within their chosen sector; and to gain valuable, on-the-job skills. We know from the success enjoyed by finalists in previous years that these internships give them a valuable edge when it comes to looking for full-time employment: last year, three of the winners went on to work on a more long-term basis with the companies where they completed their ‘Best in Show’ placements.

“We were delighted with the quality of entries received for the competition this year, and I wish all of those who made the shortlist the very best of luck.”

All shortlisted entries for ‘Best in Show’ are currently being assessed by representatives of the companies involved in the competition. The winners in each category will be announced in September and a special networking event for winning entrants will take place at The Digital Hub on Wednesday, 14th September. At this event, a keynote address will be delivered by Gary Mullan, Co-Founder of Prosperity, Ireland’s only specialised, award-winning digital recruitment company. Mr. Mullan’s address will focus on giving winning entrants advice on how to maximise the opportunities presented by their internships and get the most out of their work placements.

“Our aim with ‘Best in Show’ is not only to give new graduates some work experience, but also to equip them with skills and information that will serve them throughout their careers,” said Dr. Stephen Brennan. “For this reason, we are building in extra activities such as the networking event and keynote address in September, and encouraging all participating companies to mentor their interns while they are completing their placements.”

The full list of shortlisted entrants for ‘Best in Show’ 2011, along with further information about the competition, is available now at: http://www.thedigitalhubexhibit.com/bestinshow/shortlist-announcement
ENDS

Contact: Martina Quinn, DHR Communications, Tel: 01-4200580 / 087-6522033

Notes:

The Digital Hub
The Digital Hub is an Irish government initiative to create an international centre of excellence for knowledge, innovation and creativity, focused on digital content and technology enterprises. The core development of nine acres is located a 10-minute walk from Dublin city centre within the historic Liberties area. Over the next decade, this initiative will create a mixed-use development consisting of enterprise, residential, retail, learning and civic space. The project is managed by an Irish government agency, the Digital Hub Development Agency (DHDA). Further information is available at: www.thedigitalhub.com.

Silicon Ireland - The Documentary

Yes it is true! We have teamed up with C2C Films to put together a documentary about the amazing tech ecosystem in Ireland. Which has grown up in the last 3-4 years. Details are below:

A documentary about the tech start-ups and ecosystems that have been created in Ireland during a global downturn.

How big US and European multi-national's are investing in Ireland and making it the hub of the European aspirations.

How the Irish Government is looking to duplicate the success of Silicon Valley in Ireland.

We will be interviewing, following and commenting of the entire Irish industry. Talking to those who have made it and those who are still hoping too.

We will also look at Silicon Valley and the investment scene and see how it compares to Ireland.

The film, will be released via the web, and will be filmed with a crew of volunteers and film geeks, based in Ireland.

We have raised 85% of the budget and require another E1250.00 euros to get started. All funders will get credit on movie and share based on percentage of any royalties.

Most of the filming and interviews will be done by volunteers.If you can support anything from 1Euro will help.

Thanks everyone!

Click here to support it!

Say hello to New Jelly

Every day every minute new, great ideas emerge to the surface. Even those of us not working in explicitly creative fields experience that warm sensation from time to time - the birth of a great creative idea.

It might stop there and forever remain a thought - an idea. But given the right tools, encouragement and funding, it might rise from the surface and become what it deserves.

When NewJelly A/S was founded in Oslo, Norway in January 2010 our goal was set to be a worldwide source for creativity. We wanted to tear down some of the barriers that stall creativity in the early stages.

NewJelly.com allows talents to showcase their work, goals and dreams.

We also portray NewJelly.com as a democratization of creative forces. The public will have the opportunity to discover and encourage great and raw talent and take a greater part in developing amazing projects.

NewJelly believes artists in all categories should retain complete ownership of the works created, both creatively and economically. Success should be shared with the fans.

Together artists and fans will unite closer than ever before.

NewJelly A/S is funded by Innovation Norway and private investors.

Find out more and list a project - http://newjelly.com

Amazon and Microsoft - Dublin Cloud Centres knocked offline

Reports of a lightning strike in Dublin, Ireland have kept European sites using Amazon's EC2 cloud-computing program offline, as well as affecting users of Microsoft's BPOS hosted....

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Extraordinary Results in the Web Industry

Extraordinary Results in the Web Industry



Joan Mulvihill, CEO of the Irish Internet Association, launched Web Agency, Website Extraordinaire on August 4th.

Website Extraordinaire is a Web Agency which recently opened a new web design studio in Athy and launched their new website at www.websiteextraordinaire.ie. Website Extraordinaire now provides Website Development and Online Marketing services to over 50 businesses large and small in Ireland and the UK.

Speaking at the official launch of Website Extraordinaire, Joan Mulvihill, CEO of the Irish Internet Association urged any business serious about their online presence to consider using a professional web design company like Website Extraordinaire. Joan also urged businesses to not be tempted to go with the cheap option of getting a family member or friend to design their website, explaining that any business serious about their online presence should use the specialised skills of a professional web design agency.

Website Extraordinaire was set up by ex Googler Beatrice Whelan earlier this year.
Beatrice explained that she saw a need for exceptional website design and development outside of Dublin; ‘Many Web Design Companies provide average websites but to succeed online your website needs to stand out and be really exceptional, especially if you are in a highly competitive industry. We like to work with clients that want outstanding results, it is more of a challenge and ultimately more rewarding.’


Joan Mulvihill of the Irish Internet Association with Beatrice Whelan of Website Extraordinaire. Photo by Siobhan English.

First 100 Attendees listed here for DWS 2011

DWS First 100 Attendees!



Simon Rand - Director - iorum
Graham Kenny - IT Country Manager - Pioneer Investments
Padraic Hogan - Managing Director - eazicon
Martin Coghlan - Developer - Tir na Web
Ben Ward - Commercial Director - Mothercare Ireland
Nigel Murphy - Ecommerce Manager - Mothercare Ireland
Julian Carter - CEO - Triviala.com
Alan Clarke - Poker P&L Manger - PADDY POWER
Ita Ryan - Owner - Kells Bay Computing
Barry Mcdonagh - Director - BMD Publishing
David Miller - Entrepreneur - davidmiller.ie
Brian Ingarfield - General Manager - Tour America
Ian Butler - CEO - Lingle
Graham O'Rourke - Managing Director - MOR Solutions
Louisa Maher - Social Media Director - MOR Solutions
Conor McNamara - Business Advisor - Conor McNamara - Business Advisory
Tom Sloan - Director - WiredRed - Nefsis Corporation
Fiona McSweeney - Marketing Manager - FEXCO
Johanna Waara - Head of Marketing - FEXCO
Muirne Laffan - Executive Director, Publishing - RTE
Aisling McCabe - Director of Platform Development, Publishing - RTE
Fergal McAleavey - Director - AIB Corporate Finance
David Doyle - European Business Representative - Founder International
John Muldoon - CTO - MyMedicCentre
Caroline Hynes - Project Manager - Paddy Power
Aidan Considine - Commercial Manager - Lemonsplat
Grainne Barry - MD - Lemonsplat
Michelle Coffey - Director - PCR Ltd
Shane Finnerty - Director - PCR Ltd
John Beckett - Founder, Director - Eirtight Technology
Joao Reginatto - IT Architect - D&B
Brenda Reginatto - Researcher - King's College London
Colm Piercy - Group CEO - Founder - DIGIWEB
Sabine Louet - Consultant - GBI
Linda O'Sullivan - CEO - Footbridge Interactive
Thomas O'Duffy - Head of Digital / Digital Strategist - Carr Communications & Various
Javier Lopez - Director UK Sales - Music Division - Reed Midem
Joseph Pennisi - CIO - IrishCentral LLC
Owen Cooney - Managing Partner - Product Fitter
Steve Gotz - Commercial Development Manager - CNGL
Lorraine Carter - Managing Director - Persona Design
Wiktor Schmidt - CTO - netguru
Sandra Hennessy - Owner - Dynamic Web Marketing
Aileen Cox Blundell - Owner - Sweet
Pat Divilly - CEO - MarketWare International
Emer O'Donnell - Senior Project Manager - Select Strategies
Paul O'Dea - CEO - Select Strategies
Colin Barry - Operations Director - Twist 2 Go
Michael barry - Managing Director - Motorpark Group
Jennifer Dillon - Recruitment Manager - Hays
Richard Eardley - Managing Director - Hays
Sahra O'Neill - Communications & Fundraising Director - Special Olympics Ireland
Rafiq Maniar - Founder - WebNinjas
John O'Connor - Founder - Red Oak Tax Refunds
Keyan Mynhardt - Web Designer - Red Oak Tax Refunds
Ray Byrne - Online Marketing - Red Oak Tax Refunds
Grainne Barron - CEO - foxframe.com
Jana Maia Oliveira - Software Engineer - foxframe.com
Paul McGarry - IT Consultant - McGarryIT Services
Paul Dunne - CEO - Digital Skills Academy
Lorna Maguire - Project Manager - Digital Skills Academy
John McGuinness - Account Director - Murray Consultants
Darragh Rea - Account Director - MCsquared
Allan Chapman - Managing Director - Comit Communications & Marketing
Bill McConnell - Chief Executive - Documation Limited
Bill McConnell - Chief Executive - Documation Limited
Edward McDonnell - Commercialisation manager - clarity
Carmel Kelly - Web Manager - Law Society of ireland
Sinead Clandillon - Client Services Manager - Webfactory
Sinead Clandillon - Client Services Manager - Webfactory
Sylvia Leatham - Copywriter & content editor - ENNclick.com
Cormac Horan - Product Director - Yapzar
James Harkin - Director - Business Development - Element Software Ltd
Dorothy Creaven - Director - Business Development - Element Software Ltd
Stephanie MacSweeney - Senior Manager Business Solutions - Arvato Finance Services
Noel Kelly - Client Director - Arvato Finance Services
David Holland - Senior Manager - RSM Farrell Grant Sparks
Darrell Kavanagh - Managing Director - Image Now Consultants
Patrick Cody - Chairman - SALESYSTEM.COM
Shane McConnon - Account Manager - boxPAY
Gavin McConnon - Co-Founder - boxPAY
Amanda Keating - Marketing Manager - boxPAY
Iain McConnon - Co-Founder - boxPAY
David McCoy - Commerical Director - Waterford Crystal
Alberto Rodrigo - SQA Engineer - Symantec, Ballycoolin Business Park
Mark Dolan Dolan - Ecommerce Project Manager - Bookassist
Paul Ferry - Senior Social Media Strategist - Bookassist
Jane Morgan - Product Line Director - Schneider Electric
Mark Siggins - Senior Software Developer - Schneider Electric
Aldagh McDonogh - Transformation Director - Morgan McKinley
John Hannon - Director - FinRes
Adrian Nolan - Software Engineer - Schneider Electric
Ray Fallon - Software Engineering Manager - APC
Peter Dementiev - Technical Architect - Soft-ex Communications
Shane Grimes - Founder - bargainvista
Declan Ryan - Director - Irelandia
Philip Gillen - Chief Operations Officer - Safefood 360
Petra Bangemann - Qwner - bang-on webdesign
Fabio Pitino - Security Response QA Engineer - Symantec
Kevin Comiskey - Founder - ArchSure.net

Bloomberg - Media Partner of Dublin Web Summit - Oct 2011

DWS are delighted to announce Bloomberg as our international broadcast partner. Bloomberg reporters will be live on the ground covering the Dublin Web Summit and relaying reports and interviews on TV worldwide..

This is a great opportunity for Irish Startups to get a great boost from the Bloomberg coverage. Excellent work!

Info from London!

Silicon Ireland - thought this is interesting to Irish Startups!

London is one of the world's top ecosystems for startups, but is also the global leader in a number of industries including, of course, finance. As London startup OpenGamma has proved there is no better place in the world than here if you're a startup in the Financial Services sector.

Now there is some support for startups in this space from Euclid Opportunities, which is a Fintech focused investment and accelerator programme who are looking for startups in financial services, even at the idea stage. Euclid is offering an amazing opportunity to get investment, support, guidance and direct relationships with the large financial institutes at board level. Euclid targets innovative technology offerings in the areas of market structure, electronic trading, trade processing, risk management, market connectivity, data management, clearing and market utilities.

A (little) more info is available on the Euclid website or you can get in touch with them directly at ideas@euclidopportunities.com.

DWS - more great Speakers

Two stars of Ireland’s tech community and the man who made half a billion from social networking.



Michael Birch, founder of Bebo and Jolitics, Chris Horn formerly of Iona and Liam Casey of PCH International have joined the ever-expanding lineup for October’s Dublin Web Summit – the biggest tech event of its kind in the UK and Ireland.

Birch and his wife Xochi made $595m when Bebo was sold to AOL in 2008.
Since Bebo, Birch has gone on to invest in a number of tech companies like ticketing website Eventbrite, Branchout and Friend.ly. He has also launched a new social network Jolitics that focuses on current affairs and politics.

Cork-born but Shenzhen-based tech founder Liam Casey is well known in Silicon Valley as ‘Mr. China’. Casey founded PCH international a supply chain management company focused on consumer electronics. PCH’s clients include industry-leading multinationals based in Silicon Valley and across North America. The company has revenues in the hundreds of millions and is rumored to be filing for an IPO this year.

A legend in the Irish tech sector Chris Horn has been to the fore of Ireland’s tech revolution co-founding Iona which IPO’d in 1997 as the fifth largest IPO in Nasdaq history. Chris has been on numerous government taskforces and is on the boards of the Science Gallery,Cloudsmith, a web based software community; Gridstore, anIrish storage grid company based in Mountain View as well as being involved with a number of other tech companies.

“Liam and Chris are great examples of successful Irish entrepreneurs. Chris grew Iona to become one largest company’s in Ireland in the late 90’s and Liam has made PCH a vital cog in Silicon Valley. He’s been growing PCH for 10 years and its now a world leader.” said Paddy Cosgrave, organiser of Dublin Web Summit.

In under 12 months Dublin Web Summit has had over 2,500 people attend its events.

Birch, Horn and Casey will join LinkedIn co-founder Eric Ly and Youtube co-founder Jawed Karim at the seventh Dublin Web Summit in the RDS from October 27-28. Tickets are on sale tomorrow, Tuesday July 26 from Dublinwebsummit.com.

News From Seedups

It’s been nearly six months since Seedups launched to Entrepreneurs and Investors, and more and more users are being attracted to the innovative platform every week.



In February Seedups launched its innovative Crowd-funding platform as a means of helping solve the funding problem that exists for tech savvy entrepreneurs seeking less than £250,000, and investors who find it hard to find investment opportunities. This problem has led to the failure of numerous brilliant ideas who fail to leave the very early planning stage.



Seedups uses an innovative means of funding startups, known as crowdfunding. Instead of using one Angel Investor, a pool of high net worth individuals or sophisticated investors come together to make smaller investments. This means that the entrepreneur holds more control over the project, yet also ensures that investors are able to gain access to a range of exciting, and potentially very rewarding deals. Investors could potentially be investing in the next Facebook, Twitter or Google.



Seedups has achieved a number of milestones in its first 6 months. There are now over 100 startups seeking funding on the platform, with an investor pool that has approaching €20 million to spend. These companies have come from across Ireland, England and the United States.



The company, based in Letterkenny and Derry celebrated its American launch at the prestigious SxSW festival in March, which was covered by the prestigious Entrepreneur Magazine. This coincided with the opening of the first American office in San Jose, California, close to the headquarters of Google, Apple and right at the heart of Silicon Valley.



Seedups has also been awarded as one of the Irish Echo Small Business 50, which honours emerging Irish American companies. This is not the only plaudits that the exciting idea has attracted: Seedups was also nominated in the Innovation Category in the Derry Business Awards.



The next 6 months will see Seedups begin to expand; with a number of deals nearing completion, this will mark the beginning of the funding revolution for innovative businesses, and a go to website for savvy investors. For more information, visit www.seedups.com and follow us on Twitter.

DWS Price info

Paddy Cosgrove - sent us an email to focus on these items in relation to the event in October.

When do tickets go on sale and how much will tickets cost?
Tickets go on sale on Tuesday morning. As for the cost, we said that we would deliver a world class two day Summit for 1,000 attendees on par with the leading conferences in Europe. Those events are priced between €2,000 and €3,000 a ticket. However, we made a promise that we would do it for at least half the normal cost and we're confident we will deliver on Tuesday on that price promise. And that would not be possible without a number of incredible sponsors and supporters including Realex Payments, Microsoft, Invest Northern Ireland, KPMG, Maples and Calder, and Enterprise Ireland.

How many speakers will there be and what will I learn?
There will be over 70 speakers from all over the world, including attendees from all over Europe. There will be a huge variety of very practical workshops to choose from, catering to a wide audience covering topics including start ups, the cloud, online sales and marketing, social media, design, development, recruitment, and the future of media. There will also be an exhibition area, and numerous networking events.

Linkedin and YouTube founders at DWS Oct 2011

LinkedIn and Youtube founders at Dublin Web Summit



The co-founders of Youtube and LinkedIn are set to keynote at October’s Dublin Web Summit. The co-founders of two of the world’s most successful tech companies of the last decade are due in Dublin to speak at Ireland’s largest tech event – the Dublin Web Summit.

Jawed Karim, who was just 26 in 2005, when he co-founded the successful video-sharing website with Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. Karim met the two while they were working in PayPal having previously left college in order to take up the job at PayPal.

In 2006, when Youtube was sold, Karim earned over $65m from his sale of stock. He has since gone on to launch a successful venture fund – Youniversity Ventures with Kevin Hartz, founder of Eventbrite and Keith Rabois, COO of Square. Karim's investments include Milo, Eventbrite and the ultra cool startup AirBnb.

Joining Karim is Eric Ly, the technical force behind LinkedIn. Ly is a co-founder of LinkedIn and the social networks founding CTO, developing some of LinkedIn's core features. Ly is also a founder of Presdo, the conference networking application that’s being used by Dublin Web Summit to enable hundreds of meetings and thousands of connections since its introduction last March.

“Jawed and Eric have been behind two of the internets juggernauts. It’ll be fascinating to get an insight into how both these products have developed, particularly because they’re used by hundreds of millions of people daily,” said Paddy Cosgrave, Dublin Web Summit founder.

“Youtube and LinkedIn have infiltrated our web time like few other sites” Cosgrave went on to say.

Tickets for Dublin Web Summit, which takes place in the RDS from October 27 & 28 will be available on Tuesday July 26th at Dublinwebsummit.com

Startup Weekend Europe Startup Battle

Europe Startup Weekend Battle Is Accepting Applications Now


To all the European Startup Weekenders: Do you think your startup is the best in Europe? If so, and you want everybody to know it, then apply to the newest Startup Weekend competition: Europe Startup Weekend Battle! Companies that were founded at Startup Weekend events are encouraged to complete a two-step application and then spread the word to get votes. The 10 most voted for teams will be invited to attend a pitch competition September 12, 2011 in London with Europe’s top investors. The winning team will receive bragging rights, a financial prize, and more. Apply now!



Startup Weekend Miami Winner Taking On US Security Laws To Help Entrepreneurs


The Startup Funding Network (SFN) is an equity-based crowd funding platform that is working hard to make raising capital less difficult for entrepreneurs. Based on the current laws, young startups face huge obstacles when trying to raise money, despite the fact that new companies disproportionality drive job creation. SFN is active in Washington DC and is working with organizations like the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council to change the way funding is perceived in the United States. For more information on the SFN activities and to get involved, visit their website.



PitchU Is Searching For The Best Pitches In America At Startup Weekends


A month ago VenCorps, the world's first crowdsourced VC firm, set out in search of the best elevator pitches across the country. The initiative, PitchU, is awarding $5,000 to the best pitches each month for three months. As part of their quest to find the best pitches, VenCorps will be attending Startup Weekends across America. Entrepreneurs who can't make it to a Startup Weekend event during this time, worry not: elevator pitches can be submitted through YouTube. Learn more here.

The June PitchU winner is Rumgr. Rumgr describes themselves as a garage sale 2.0. Rumgr was born three weeks ago at Las Vegas Startup Weekend where the team won not only "Crowd Favorite" but also "Most Likely to Continue." Congratulations to the Rumgr team, we know that we will see great things from you in the future!

Silicon Valley Bank

NYC Startup Digest sent us this:-





Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has been working with the startup community for almost 30 years. The SVB NYC office has been running for 10 years and we work with many NYC startups. If you want to learn more about how we can help your startup, get in touch with Shai Goldman at sgoldman@svb.com.

This may be of interest to our Irish Tech Startups

August is here - the Summer hol's are over!

Okay, we have been away for a while. We have recharged our batteries and have started to put together a new set of plans.

We thank all our readers for your continued readership and also of course our sponsors.


So we have been 'stalling' our plans for Start-up Academy, but they will start in earnest now and news will follow.

We are also planning a 'fly on the wall' documentary about the Ireland Tech Scene. This will be a free movie to watch and will be launched online.

We also will be expanding our writers and adding lots more direct content.

We are looking forward to getting started.......