Paul Walsh has made a call to get something started in Ireland:
I’ve previously grumbled about the lack of support in Ireland for Web based companies. Heck, Enterprise Ireland doesn’t even have the word ‘Internet’ in the ‘Industry sector’ section of their application forms for grants etc. What does that tell you?
If you’re interested in helping me improve the ecosystem, please join me for dinner in January
There are so many things I want to say on this but I just don’t have the time right now. There’s a dinner in January to talk about this and act on this. Watch the Segala blog and do come along.
I’ve had my run-ins with Walshy in the past and people ask me why I’m friendly with him after I exchanged such strong words with him before. The reason is that the more I see him work, the more he impresses me. He doesn’t suffer fools gladly (sounds familiar) and like Fergus Burns he’s a networking machine. And again like Fergus, it’s not the Irish definition of networking which is comprised of gathering and then selfishly hoarding contacts (another blog post on this will follow), it’s all about “This is so and so, you should talk, you work in the same space and exchanging information will help you both”. Paul has made a name and a rep for himself in London and further afield because of the events he organises and he’s done a great job with BIMA and all their events.
If Paul can do the same in Ireland as he’s done in the UK then that’s a very important thing for the Web industry here. In the meantime I’d strongly recommend that Irish companies that are serious about doing business in the real world outside of incubation centres should be getting cheap Ryanair flights to London every now and then to attend many of the networking events that are on, on a regular basis. The quality of the contacts is worth the travel costs and time used up. See you in January in Dublin!
[…] Walsh started it and now Damien has taken his gloves off. So we’ll be adding the Irish Web Industry Association […]
I will not deal with a man who says “heck”
Bock – I don’t hecking care.
… not that you’ll care too much but there was supposed to be a wink in there 😉
Heck, no.
Irish Internet Association, Irish Web Industry Association, Irish Software Association – so many choices, so little time and all of them seemingly in Dublin. Ironically it is quicker to get to London from Waterford than it is to get to Dublin. Still though, the IIA is a networking and talking shop for a lot of the web industry in Ireland.
The problem with Enterprise Ireland is that it may be focused on the usual political idea of a high-tech company – that of a pile of secretaries typing away at wordprocessors or hundreds of call centre jobs with the obligatory photo-op. The web just isn’t like that. Consequently, hundreds, if not thousands, of businesses are ignored. EI may well be changing but the internet changes faster and it is doubtful if the political bosses every heard of development in internet time.