Silicon Valley goes into the West

The Irish Technology Leadership Group, with partners NUI Galway, University of Limerick and Shannon Development, has brought a high profile delegation of senior Silicon Valley executives to Ireland, including former Chairman of Intel Craig Barrett (above), for a three day event.
The three day tour includes the ‘Innovation in Education’ conference in NUI Galway on Tuesday 16th November and the ‘Innovation Island and the Global Irish’ conference in University of Limerick on Wednesday 17th November and is designed to strengthen the developmental ties between Silicon Valley and Ireland.
Craig Barrett said, “Ireland needs to focus on enlarging its indigenous high-tech sector to drive economic recovery, there is significant opportunity for growth driven by these firms. Ireland and the US are in similar circumstances, if we don’t take advantage of our skilled workforces and entrepreneurial spirit we will lose out to emerging economies. We are in Ireland this week to support Irish tech companies who have the ambition to grow and succeed.”
The program of events has been designed to bring promising Irish technology start-ups into close contact with some of Silicon Valley’s successful business leaders, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and financiers. Twelve Irish start-ups have been chosen to meet with the ventures capitals over the two day period including: Amartus, Equiendo, ImeeGolf, InishTech, InteleSENS, MCOR Technologies, Movidius, RedZinc, ResourceKraft, Suntico and Weedle.
The first event to take place is the ‘Education for Innovation’ conference at NUI Galway where Craig Barrett, ITLG President will provide keynote address.
The events will conclude with a Gala Dinner hosted by ITLG and its partners, NUI Galway, University of Limerick and Shannon Development, at Dromoland Castle on Wednesday evening where attendees will hear keynote addresses from Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Innovation, Batt O’Keeffe TD, ITLG Chairman Craig Barrett and CEO of Shannon Development Vincent Cunnane.
The University Innovation Awards, sponsored by eircom, will also be presented on the night. The three University Innovation Challenge Award finalists are: LearnOpt from the University of Limerick, a software services company, Miravex from Trinity College Dublin, a medical device company for skin diagnostics and ThinkSmart from University College Cork, a software solutions company focused on the renewable energy sector.