A week-long initiative of cheerleading for all things startup was launched by jobs minister Richard Bruton yesterday. The Startup Gathering will take place in five cities around Ireland from October 5 to 10, comprising more than 300 events.
Led by the not-for-profit organisation Startup Ireland, the initiative is being supported by the department of jobs, with Bank of Ireland as sponsor and key corporate partner.
Dublin, Waterford, and Cork, Limerick and Galway will be the main focus for the Startup Gathering events, with additional programmes taking place in Ireland’s North East and North West.
Participants will have an opportunity to showcase their startups, discover the supports and services available to them, take part in networking opportunities and collaborate with other startups and established corporates.
Each of the five cities will host an ‘Open Forum’ conference event, inviting the startup ecosystem to come together to discuss the big ideas that will turn their location into a startup hub.
In Association with
The sessions will be facilitated by Oscar Ramirez of Startup Commons Global, which specialises in online solution for governments to manage, measure and monitor startup ecosystems.
Startup Gathering will also host the 12 participating early stage companies from the inaugural ChallengeUP programme, a joint incubation programme supported by Intel, Cisco and Deutsche Telekom. The 12 companies were selected from over 300 applicants across EMEA.
Among the events scheduled for the Startup Gathering are a conference on current trends and future insights in business, taking place in Dublin, as well as a smart agri-food business event pencilled in for Cork.
Eoin Costello, co-founder of Startup Ireland, said that the Startup Gathering was about driving real change across the startup sector.
“I am confident that within this programme of events, great ideas small and large will be transformed into excellent new businesses, new jobs and bring us closer to the ambition for Ireland to become a global startup hub.”
The full programme of events is available for download on the Startup Gathering 2015 app online at www.startupgathering.ie, while the direct link to the app on App Store is here and on Google Play is here.
(from left) Liam Mcloughlin, Bank of Ireland Retail; Minister Ged Nash; Eoin Costello, Startup Ireland; Minister Richard Bruton; Iseult Ward, Foodcloud
