Wexford technology initiative to create Silicon Valley of the South East

A new business initiative, TechOvate, plans to create an innovation start-up hub for technology based companies in the South East that will mirror the working environment and best practices of renowned Silicon Valley companies in Northern California, USA.

TechOvate a new enterprise initiative from Innovation Wexford in association with FUSE will identify early stage technology companies within the South East and will help to develop collaborative relationships with entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.

Brendan Ennis, Group Chief Executive, Innovation Wexford said, “The idea behind TechOvate is to drive job creation, by developing the right conditions we can attract the next generation of technology companies to locate in Wexford such as those in robotics, Internet multimedia services and gaming technology.”

To kick start the ambitious plans a group of Wexford business people including Brendan Ennis, Group Chief Executive, Innovation Wexford; Philip Scallan, Chairman FUSE and Tony Redmond, CEO, RWorks together with Mary McEvoy, Enterprise Ireland recently travelled to Silicon Valley to learn first hand about the factors for success in technology entrepreneurship.

Commenting on the exploratory visit Brendan Ennis, Group Chief Executive of Innovation Wexford said, “Silicon Valley is the benchmark for success in creating the right environment for technology enterprises to flourish.

The purpose of our visit was to gain access to senior executives in Stanford University, Google, Facebook, Symantec and other technology companies to propose a collaborative partnership between Silicon Valley and the South East of Ireland. We are delighted to report that we have full support and recognition for TechOvate from the Valley’s biggest technology companies who have committed to working with Wexford companies”

The success of the initiative lies in fostering highly collaborative working relationships between businesses here and technology entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. To help facilitate relationship building a series of live link seminars broadcast direct from Silicon Valley featuring senior executives from well known technology companies will provide unique insight into building a successful technology company.

The series will take place over a ‘Wexford Technology Weeekend’ in early 2012 where technology executives and students from all over Ireland will attend to learn about the TechOvate initiative.

The next step in the programme is to identify and support new and early stage technology based companies within the South East and to match them with senior executives in Silicon Valley to provide high quality mentoring.

It is envisaged that new technology start ups will locate in bespoke units in Wexford Enterprise Centre where they will have access to incubation workspaces with fibre optic broadband connection, start-of-the-art video conferencing and start-up data facilities.

For information about TechOvate please contact Brendan Ennis, Innovation Wexford 053 9141711 or email brendan@wec.ie