Following a robust performance during the recession last year, Enterprise Ireland client companies are expected to create 60,000 jobs over the next five years.
According to its 2009 annual report, 7,443 new jobs were created in Enterprise Ireland-supported companies, bringing the total number employed to 133,523. While 19,078 jobs were lost in 2009 the investment pipeline for 2010 indicates that new jobs created will exceed 2009 figures.
Enterprise Ireland is the Government agency responsible for the development of Irish companies and driving Irish export sales. Enterprise Ireland client companies are responsible for over 250,000 jobs (134,000 directly employed) and spend an estimated €19bn per annum in the Irish economy, delivering huge economic impact to communities across almost every town in Ireland.
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Mr Batt O’Keeffe T.D. speaking about the agency’s annual report said a key priority for Government is to continue to deliver on the Smart Economy Framework and implement the recommendations of the Innovation Task Force. “We will support the continued growth of entrepreneurial-led firms that will underpin Ireland’s global reputation as a centre for innovation providing high-value, sustainable jobs,” he stated.
“We estimate that these firms, and other Enterprise Ireland-supported start-ups, can between them generate 60,000 jobs over the next five years,” said O’Keeffe.
Frank Ryan, Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise Ireland said the agency’s ambition and confidence for its client companies is high. “They have overcome difficult challenges in the past 18 months, demonstrated exceptional resilience and in many cases they have come through stronger, leaner, fitter, more innovative, and definitely ready to capitalise on the global recovery now in evidence.”
Ryan said that 2010 is about building for growth and global success. Enterprise Ireland is driving and supporting a high level of activity across key business areas - developing new markets, growing more entrepreneur-led businesses, co-financing company R&D, driving the commercialisation of third level research for the benefit of industry. Resources and efforts in these key areas are being intensified to support our clients in every way possible to ensure they capitalise on the global recovery.”
In Money Never Sleeps, the sequel to the movie Wall Street, we’re treated to a trip down memory lane when the character Gordon Gekko retrieves his personal belongings as he leaves prison.
He’s handed his 1980s era mobile phone, which is a brick, in every sense of the word. Who would have thought then that mobile phones would become so ubiquitous and small – without breaking the bank.
What would you have thought? Or what would your technological predictions for the future be, if you were asked now in 2010? One company decided to poll the public’s expectations for technology over the next decade.
Cisco recently released the results of its Digital Expectations Survey, which in a large number of cases, show how the public’s expectations lag considerably behind reality.
500 members of the Irish public guessed at when they thought a range of technology services would be available. Some of these services are already in use, and others are close to availability.
74% say that by 2012 we will start paying for parking meters on our mobile phones (this is already possible at some locations in Ireland).
Good news for RTE Player is that 71% expect to start to watch more TV using the internet than standard television reception methods in two years time. However, more than half of those surveyed (56%) reckon we are another five years away from having a 100 Mbps internet connection available to households.
52%, apparently oblivious to the e-voting debacle of recent years believe that we will be able to vote online in elections by 2015. Some common sense was abound the 66% said that it would never be possible to hold a seat on a local council simply by joining the Facebook group.
60% predict that most work meetings will be conducted by video conference rather than in person by the end of this year.
Four out of 5 people predict it will be possible to talk to people in space with the same call quality as a call to mum down the road by 2020.
Just little over half of the survey respondents that it would be possible to have a fridge that orders your shopping for you automatically as you run low on your favourite foods – by 2018.
As farfetched or not so farfetched as some of these may seem, the fact of the matter, according to Kim Majerus, managing director of Cisco Ireland, is tech-savvy consumers have wrenched control away from the organisational IT departments and are now shaping the future development of technology in Irish society.
While the return on investment still isn’t clear for many, social networking has been used by 2 in 5 businesses in Ireland to gain new business.
A new survey from workspace solution provider Regus has confirmed what many in the business already know – that social media has become a mainstream business tool in Ireland. According to the Regus survey, 40% of businesses in Ireland have successfully used social networks to win new business.
This robust figure could be attributed to the lower number of respondents in Ireland that doubt the effectiveness of social networking for business. In Ireland, 21% of respondents were sceptical that social networking could ever become an effective customer retention or prospecting tool compared to the 34% global average.
On a sector basis, the ICT, Retail, Media & Marketing and Consultancy sectors had above average use of social networking, while Media & Marketing and ICT sectors companies were more likely to win new customers via social networking compared to other sectors.
Globally, the most popular use of social networks is staying in touch with business (58%). In Ireland this use has less of an impact (48%). The main usefulness of social networks was the possibility of managing and connecting to customer groups for about half of respondents (both globally and in Ireland). 53% also use social networks to find important business information.
The Regus survey asked business leaders whether they believed the channel effective enough to be awarded its own portion of marketing budget. Just over a quarter (26%) of Irish businesses have set aside a proportion of marketing budget for social networking activities and in Ireland, 41% of companies plan to devote a proportion of their marketing budget to social networking activities by the end of this year.
Surprisingly, however, only 22% of respondents had found new employment through social networking, and a smaller than average number of employees at small firms had found new employment through social networking. This result can best be interpreted in light of slower staff turnover in small companies than their larger counterparts. Employees in medium companies were the most likely to have found employment via social networking (25%).
A new one-day conference to be held in Dublin next week will feature speakers from “the Holy Trinity” of the web and digital media economy.
The dot conf conference which is being run in National College of Ireland, in association with the Irish Internet Association, on Thursday, July 22 will highlight the opportunities available in the digital economy. The college’s new full-time and part-time MSc in Web Technologies is also to be launched on the day.
Speaking Robert Ward, Director of Marketing and Student Recruitment at the National College of Ireland, says “You’ve got people from what you might call the Holy Trinity of this type of thing: looking at the business side, looking at the user experience side and looking at the technology. Those three areas are key elements in the course and we try to echo that through the day.”
Ward says these three elements are very useful to people either wanting to set up a business or operating in this space already. “We’re very active as a college in this space through our School of Computing so we want to have this conference as a way for people in the very broad-based web and social media community to come together to share experiences. We also think in terms of the overall economy that the web and digital media is a real area of opportunity in terms of new business.”
The conference has already received a good response from start-ups and people who are interested in social media in any type of business.
The dot conf, he says, will provide massive networking opportunities for the broad spectrum of the web community. For jobseekers – people either already in or wanting to get into this area it will be a chance to meet people in this sector as well as gaining from the talks on the day.
“It’s bringing together some of the key players, in Ireland and internationally, so there’s huge advantages for somebody who’s on a job search or looking for opportunities in that area.”
The dot conf will also provide attendees with new skills. The line up includes Deep Dives sessions, which Ward describes as ‘how to’ sessions where people will get real skills through practical workshops.
If you’re still not sure whether the dot conf is for you, take a look at its promo video on YouTube featuring Lego.
But don’t delay, as the dot conf is free and spaces have filled up already. If you want to put your name on the waiting list see http://thedotconf.wordpress.com/book-it
Trish Murphy is Group Sales Manager at Hot Press which she joined in May 2010.
Company: I currently work for Hot Press, the bi-weekly magazine with an audited circulation of 19,387 and has been going for over 33 years. We also publish the Hot Press Yearbook which is known as the bible of the entertainment industry and Enterprise Magazine, the onboard magazine for the Belfast-Dublin Enterprise train and we also host the Music Show in the RDS every October. http://www.hotpress.com
Job description: Responsible for the generation of revenue across all the titles and developing new relationships with clients.
Likes: I get to talk to interesting people all day long.
Career ladder: Following college, I joined Ulster Bank and worked in Human Resources for a number of years, then entered the recruitment world and worked for a number of different agencies. I then joined Whitespace Publishing Group in January 2004 and was Group Sales Director for a number of years with responsibility for such titles as Marketing Age, Irish Director, Owner Manager, www.siliconrepublic.com and business and technology titles in the Irish Independent.
Qualifications: Biochemistry!
Working hours: 8.30am until depending on whether we are going to press that week or not!
Breaktime: I’m back in town for the first time in years and too close to Grafton St shops for my bank’s liking and also catch up with friends for lunch.
Social media credentials: I catch up with friends on Facebook, use LinkedIn for work and haven’t got into Twitter yet!
News: I read The Irish Times.
Onsite or offsite: Both!
Why I love Mondays: As I said before – I love my job because I get to talk to interesting people all day long.
