Ireland has won a competitive global bid to co-host the Startup Nations Summit in November 2016. The event is in its fifth year and is an initiative of the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN).

The summit has never been held in Europe previously and is expected to draw hundreds of startup policy makers, advisers, public and private sector organisations from around the world, who are interested in understanding and sharing international best practice in helping high-impact entrepreneurs start and scale new enterprises.

Startup Ireland and Cork Innovates led the consortium to bring the event to Ireland.

GEN president Jonathan Ortmans said: “Bringing the global policy and startup community leaders to Ireland will further advance a fast-moving global dialogue on the most impactful policies and programs that can be replicated in countries around the world, while highlighting the rapid expansion of Ireland’s startup ecosystem.”

Siobhán Finn, project director of Cork Innovates, will act as project director for the Startup Gathering 2016 on behalf of the Startup Ireland board and will lead the planning process from Cork.

In Association with

Finn said: “Cork is a prime European location for Startup Nations Summit in 2016. The vision of the local authorities, business support agencies and educational institutions in the region have been working together for the last number of years, through Cork innovates, to drive and nurture entrepreneurship and innovation in the Cork region.

Startup Ecosystem

“The fact that GEN have selected Cork as the location of choice for this global event is testament to the determination and commitment of this collaboration to create a model startup ecosystem.”

According to Eoin Costello, CEO of Startup Ireland: “The Startup Nations Summit taking place as part of the Startup Gathering 2016 is a fantastic fit for Ireland in what is a very significant year in the history of our country. As startups are key to future proofing Ireland's future economic growth the Startup Nations Summit underpins our goal of helping Ireland become a global startup hub by 2020.”

The Startup Nations Summit will serve as the official conclusion of Global Entrepreneurship Week, a collection of 30,000 events with 10 million participants in 160 countries. It will also form the cornerstone of the Startup Gathering 2016.

The 2016 Startup Nations Summit will be held in Cork from November 18 to 20.

GEN is a 160-country network that manages programmes and activities aimed at fostering entrepreneurs. GEN Global works with 10 million people and has 25,000 partnerships worldwide.

Photo: Siobhan Finn and Eoin Costello (right) with Taoiseach Enda Kenny. (Pic: John Allen)