Web 2 Ireland

The Enterprise Ireland Stand at #leweb

A good buzz, productive networking and some very interesting visitors to the stand from at home and abroad; start-ups to multinationals.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHYVq4uIqJc

Aiden Callely of MXSweep on the Enterprise Ireland Stand at #leweb

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQaau9_usOM

Sam and Peter from TeamworkPM at #leweb

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgTqJyPszLI

Paul Barry of Temetra.com at #LeWeb on the Enterprise Ireland stand. Temetra provides utility metering data management solutions to service providers in Ireland and across the world.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBvLNQ98oQo

Pinpoints just after their presentation at the start-up competition at Le Web.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Shx8WYqtfBk

The finals for the IBM SmartCamp are in Dublin on November 16-18.

This is the culmination of 18 months effort involving over 650 applications, 200 mentors and 8 cities in Europe, Israel and North America. The event is happening in Dublin as part of Innovation Dublin Week which in turn is part of a global series of activities under the Global Entrepreneur Week program led by the Kauffman Foundation.

Martin Kelly, Partner – Venture Capital Group IBM EMEA, who is one of the driving forces at IBM behind this initiative, is interviewed in this short video clip

The next Drupal Ireland event is taking place on 20th & 21st November in Trinity College Dublin.  Registration is free and you can sign-up for the event at http://www.drupalcampireland.org.

It will include presentations from experienced Drupal developers where people can learn more about Drupal, what it can do and how it can benefit both them, their careers and their organisation.  There will be two tracks, so participants of all levels will be catered for.

The event is being held free of charge. Lunch is also being provided, and while registration is free, they would ask people to register now so they can cater accordingly.

More information on the event, including accommodation and car pooling, can be found at http://drupalcampireland.org

We’ve recently being doing some work with Drupal and Ubercart and I have to say it is impressing the socks off me. Just as easy as WordPress to install and configure and a real depth of modules to make it do whatever you want. As it’s a full CMS, you don’t find yourself trying to put a round peg into a square hole as you often do when pushing WordPress too far beyond its blogging roots.

I’ve been finding it hard to keep this news under my hat since the idea was first floated a few months back. There will be an Ireland Pavilion at Le Web in Paris this year! This is just an absolutely brilliant idea and huge kudos goes to all of those in Enterprise Ireland who conceived the idea and then got full support for it both internally and from the IDA.

Le Web is the most important conference about the web in Europe every year. You will not see a more impressive collection of heavy hitters in one place anywhere else. It’s the kind of place where you can meet people like Marissa Meyer or Niklas Zennström or Fred Wilson. My trivial claim to fame is that I think I’m the only Irish person to attend every year since 2006 and I’ve watched it getting better and better.

This year some of the speakers on December 8th and 9th include Dennis Crowley, JP Rangaswami, Toni Schneider and Carlos Ghosn.

The importance of Ireland having its own stand at Le Web cannot be underestimated. The first country ever to have a pavilion like this at the show. One place where global businesses, VCs, other European/US start-ups and leading tech bloggers can see the best of Irish web start-ups. One place where you can point people to in the coming weeks and say “we’ll be there, pop on over for a coffee”.

A problem with giant events like Le Web is that co-ordinating meetings can be a nightmare. People are being pulled in every direction and we are all vying for our own little bit of attention. This stand solves that problem in one fell swoop.

I am convinced this genius move will get a ton of coverage from all the attending press. Who wouldn’t be intrigued by this? After all the relentless bad news about Ireland in the global press where we allowed a cabal of innumerate imbeciles to rape our country, this gives journos a totally new, positive growth story to tell. “Ireland may be screwed now but these start-ups are re-building it from the ground up”.

So, interested?

The EI package is as follows:

• A full LE WEB pass, giving you access to all the seminars, networking events and competitions over the two days
• Use of a dedicated 18m² meeting place/demo area which your company can use to meet with key contacts and demo your solution.
• A drinks reception on the Irish pavilion on the evening of 8th December for EI clients and your guests.
• In the run up to LE WEB, EI overseas offices will endeavour to link your company in with influential people from overseas markets that will be coming to LE WEB.
• Your company's profile and contact details in Enterprise Ireland's Internet marketing materials designed specifically for the event

EI is providing this at a totally knock-down price.

There is really only one limitation which is that you must be an EI client to apply to be on the stand. There are only 14 slots so not everyone is going to get through. To apply, simply contact Karen Hallez in the EI Paris office at Karen.Hallez@enterprise-ireland.com and she will send you an application form and details on the cost etc. They really need to get this wrapped up in the next few days so apply now.

Also don’t forget that this is the last weekend where you can enter the Le Web Startup Competition.

I know I’ve been lauding Enterprise Ireland a lot recently, but with good reason. Of all the state and semi-state bodies I’ve dealt with since the country went to hell, EI and all its staff are the ones that more than rose to the challenge and they are impressing me with every single encounter. Right now, the way EI operates shows the best of what the public sector and private sector working together should be about.

HeyStaks Technologies, the NovaUCD-based social web-search start-up company, has just announced that it has secured €1 million of equity funding from The Ulster Bank Diageo Venture Fund, which is managed by NCB Ventures.

HeyStaks delivers community-enhanced search results that are more personalised and relevant than conventional search engine results.

More details on the NovaUCD site.

We are hosting the second Web2Ireland Startup DemoBar, which brings together entrepreneurs, techies & investors dedicated to showcasing, educating and helping the next generation of internet startups. Signup Here for event on Tuesday, November 23, 2010 from 6:30 PM – 9:30 PM (GMT) at the Ely Gastro Pub, Dublin.

For the November event, we’re also delighted to have the Guardian Tech Weekly team in Dublin.

They have been to Edinburgh, Manchester, Newcastle and Bristol – and now they are bringing the Guardian’s Tech Weekly podcast to glorious Dublin.

They want to meet techies, gamers, developers and entrepreneurs of all shapes and sizes. They want to hear all your ideas and your thoughts about the local scene – the rising stars and ones to watch, as well as the problems holding the tech community back.

Jemima Kiss, Charles Arthur and Scott Cawley from Guardian Tech Weekly podcast will be attending.

Thanks to Enterprise Ireland who will be sponsoring the evening