Web 2 Ireland

An ad-hoc group of Irish business people have decided to form their own delegation to tour Silicon Valley and create closer bonds with companies and people in the mecca of the computer world. The tour nicknamed PaddysValley will head off at the start of November, taking advantage of the new air routes from Aer Lingus.

Tour organiser James Corbett stated 'The general idea is that it is hard to attract inward investment and start collaborations when our startups are over here in Ireland while the largest group of investors and tech companies are concentrated in Silicon Valley. As a result it is hard to convince Valley investors and potential partners why they should come to Ireland when they have such rich pickings over there. With this current situation it was decided we should visit them, or as I like to put it if you can't bring the Valley to Paddy, bring Paddy to the Valley '

Conor O'Neill of LouderVoice is a strong believer in the ability of European start-ups to compete at a global level. It is crucial for us to build our networks and our profile in the places that matter. Silicon Valley remains one of the places that matters most. An important job for all Irish entrepreneurs is to get out there, meet all those who we have admired for so long and learn from them. He added We must continue to build a start-up culture in this country and PaddysValley is one of the ways we can do that.

It is hoped that the group will meet some of the big names of Silicon Valley as well as host an Irish night where Irish businesses will demo what they are doing to the Silicon Valley executives, venture capitalists and Irish ex-pats. So far 17 Irish companies have signed up for the tour but the organisers stress it is open to everyone and they'd welcome anyone who wants to come along.

Sign up here

Irish Web companies have been getting a lot of International attention of late with a detailed writeup about them on tech website ReadWriteWeb: http://url.ie/3o4 showing what the Irish have to offer.

Contact Details: Conor O'Neill is available on 087- 979 0297 and conor AT argolon DOT com