John Harnett, President and Founder of the Irish Technology Leadership Group (ITLG), was the guest speaker at the Fujitsu sponsored SMART Series. This Dublin Chamber breakfast event was attended by over 100 members and guests.
John, who is based in Silicon Valley, highlighted Ireland’s attractions (Technology, Talent, Tax) and said our success or failure depends on the coountry’s capacity to innovate. He cited the case of Israel as it has a similar population to Ireland and a significant diaspora in the US. The main differences between the two countries are that Ireland – despite out best efforts – does not exploit its business networks across the US as systematically and agreessively as the Israelis. Their R&D investment is three times higher than ours (at 2.7% of GDP) and there are 127 companies registered on the Nasdaq, while we have just 3.
His policy recommendations about the need to up our game in relation to education, broadband and giving innovation a higher priority were warmly received.
Brian Hayes, Managing Director, Citibank and John Walsh, Chief Technical Officer, Fujitsu were on the panel.
SMEs who want to know more about the ITLG should attend the ‘Silicon Valley Comes to Ireland’ event that will be held in Limerick on 17th November. Contact liz.mcconnell@nuigalway.ie for details.
Minister Batt O’Keeffe has launched a bid to draw top investors to Ireland as part of the €500m Innovation Fund Ireland. Expressions of interest have been sought by 26th November from global venture capital firms and experienced investment managers to invest in innovative Irish SMEs. Enterprise Ireland and the NPRF will manage the tender competition. Some €250m has been pledged with VCs expected to provide matching funds. Garrett Murray at EI (7272815) is the person responsible.
