On 27 & 28 January, the ITLG Silicon Valley Global Technology Forum took place in Limerick. The opening address was given by the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins. Over 2,000 delegates attended the ITLG two day forum this year.
Short interview with John Hartnett at ITLG Tech Summit 2014
Limerick, 28 January 2014: Opening the ITLG Silicon Valley Technology Forum, the President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins told delegates that Ireland is the world’s “Republic of Creativity” and that science, technology and innovation are the centre of Ireland’s future. This was never more evident by the fact that over 2,000 delegates attended the Irish Technology Leadership Group (ITLG) 2 day forum in the Mid West Region this week.
Led by Craig Barrett, Chariman ITLG and Limerick-born John Hartnett, President ITLG, the technology and business forum delivered a series of global leadership panels covering the topics of Future of Digital Content Distribution, Heroes and Villains – the Truth about VCs, Growing Million Dollar companies among others. Serial entrepreneurs including Ingrid Vandervelt, Dell’s Entrepreneur in Residence, John Ryan, Founder of Macrovision, Sean Cunningham, Intel Capital provided their unique insights to innovation and entrepreneurship, while business leaders Anne Heraty of CPL, Rich Moran, Accretive Solutions, Caroline Dowling of Flextronics and Rosaleen Blair of Alexander Mann participated on industry panels.
“This is the largest ITLG event ever, on either side of the Atlantic, and it’s even more special to bring this event to Limerick, my native city” said John Hartnett, Founder and President of ITLG. “The interest in the ITLG delegation in Ireland this week shows the spirit of optimism, confidence and innovation that will continue to drive Ireland out of the recession and into a very bright future once again”.
Optimism for Ireland’s startup culture was running very high, with significant US investors stating that they were more and more impressed by the calibre of business innovation in Ireland this year.
Sean Cunningham, Intel Capital was one of the investors that heard pitches from almost 50 companies in LIT during the ITLG event. He commented that they would be investing in a minimum of 3 technology startups in Ireland in the coming months. John Stanton of SVG Partners stated that their fund would also be committing to a number of Irish startups through venture capital deals this year.
Commenting on global leaders addressing the ITLG Forum at UL, President of UL Don Barry said, “We are fortunate to be joined by a group of extraordinary people who epitomise the essence of the entrepreneurial spirit. Their knowledge and experience, their successes and failures and the hard lessons they have learned along the way are invaluable to our entrepreneurs and will ultimately benefit the region and the nation”.
A Memorandum of Understanding between Limerick City and County Council, LIT, UL, Shannon Airport, Limerick Chamber and the Irish Technology and Leadership Group (ITLG) was signed to cement the relationship with ITLG, and officially establish stronger commercial ties for Limerick and the Mid-West with Silicon Valley, California. It is anticipated that the Region will benefit from this agreement in terms of fostering investment, job creation, collaboration on innovation and specialist facilities and strengthening education linkages.
“The signing of this Memorandum of Understanding with ITLG creates a gateway to Silicon Valley for Limerick by encouraging the exchange of ideas relating to innovation, technology, investment and entrepreneurship” said Mayor of Limerick, Cllr Kathleen Leddin. “The promotion of the Limerick Region will enhance business opportunities in the US, which will inevitably drive employment and encourage entrepreneurship.”
It is also envisaged that the closer collaboration established by the Memorandum signed with ITLG will also facilitate the twinning of Limerick with a city/town in California; this will further drive reciprocal benefits for Limerick City and County Council, Limerick Chamber, Limerick Institute of Technology, University of Limerick and Shannon Airport.
Hosted in venues across the city, the 2 day ITLG events kicked off with the Young Innovators Day at Shannon Airport where over 700 secondary school pupils participated in the youth entrepreneurship event, supported by Dell. Investor pitch camps at LIT saw 47 indigenous start ups and businesses meet with the Silicon Valley venture capitalists and private investors to pitch for finance and business opportunities.
ENDS
For more information, please contact:
Renate Murphy, CAMEO Communications, Tel: 086.8145462 renate@cameo.ie
Cian Hughes, ITLG, Tel: 087.2610420 cianhughes@itlg.org
About ITLG
Established in 2007, the ITLG is a group of executives and technology leaders in Silicon Valley who are Irish or Irish‐American, each of whom are committed to helping Irish start‐up companies.
In 2010, the ITLG opened the Irish Innovation Center in San Jose for Irish companies to easily set up operations in Silicon Valley. For more information, visit www.itlg.org.
Share On.....