Irish business resources
INTRODUCTION
This page offers information resources about starting or growing a business in Ireland. More information will be added on a regular basis so do come back – comments are welcome.
Business Access to State Information and Services BASIS
Excellent place to start, the official website on government information and services. It provides comprehensive information for example on
- starting a business in Ireland
- employment law in Ireland
- taxation and much more
See www.basis.ie
Chart of Irish business support agencies
As in most countries there is confusion of which agency supports what business – based on company size on and sector . See this link from South Dublin County Enterprise Board for a simple chart which will give you some guidance http://www.sdenterprise.ie/business-information/support-agencies-chart.91.html
Dublin City Enterprise Board (DCEB)
The largest enterprise board in Ireland serving the capital city. See the typical financial support package available from an enterprise board at http://celtar.ie/blog/small-business/financial-support-for-start-up-companies-in-dublin/ and also at www.dceb.ie
MAJOR STATE AGENCIES
Industrial Development Authority (IDA Ireland) inward investment agency www.idaireland.com
Enterprise Ireland (EI) agency for supporting Irish businesses in manufacturing and internationally traded services in world markets www.enterprise-ireland.com
Business representative organisations
IBEC for large companies, www.ibec.ie There are many trade associations also, some affiliated to IBEC who provide their secretarial services
Small Firms Association SFA (part of IBEC) for SMEs, www.sfa.ie
ISME for SMEs, independent representative association for small business, www.isme.ie
Business support – private
Institute of Management Consultants and Advisers IMCA www.imca.ie
The professional institute for management consultants and business advisers in Ireland.
Looking for business advice or expert consultancy support?
Search for an expert adviser to meet your needs on the IMCA website. With over 650 members, catering for businesses of all types and sizes, many of the members hold the internationally recognised Certified Management Consultant (CMC) accreditation.
Part of the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes www.icmci.org
List of incubator and accelerator programmes in Ireland
Introduction
A wide range of support is offered to innovative new businesses in Ireland. There is competition between all the different enterprise centres to attract people with the best business ideas. Much of the funding for the programmes comes from the state agency for supporting indigenous enterprise, Enterprise Ireland (aka EI).
Marketing of the programmes – to the mostly technology start-ups – is becoming more important.
A range of accelerator, innovation and incubator programmes are available from Irish Universities and Institutes of Technology , see below.
Invent Centre DCU, Dublin City University
M50 Enterprise – Tallaght IT and Blanchardstown IT
South East Enterprise Platform Program – Waterford IT
NUIG Business Innovation Centre, Business Innovation Centre NUI Galway
Innovation Centre, NUI Maynooth (Centre is under construction)
Gateway UCC, University College Cork
Tyndall Incubation Centre, Tyndall National Institute Cork (Centre under construction)
Trinity Technology and Enterprise Campus, Trinity College Dublin
Nexus Innovation Centre, University of Limerick
Midlands Innovation & Research Centre (MIRC), Athlone Institute of Technology
Learning & Innovation Centre (LINC) also incubation space, Blanchardstown Institute of Technology
Enterprise & Research Incubation Campus, Carlow Institute of Technology
Rubicon Centre, Cork Institute of Technology
DIT Incubation Centre , Hothouse, Dublin Institute of Technology
Regional Development Centre (RDC), Dundalk Institute of Technology
Innovation in Business Centre (IIBC), Galway, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology
Innovation in Business Centre (IIBC), Castlebar, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology
The Media Cube, Institute of Art, Design and Technology Dun Laoghaire
CoLab, Letterkenny Institute of Technology (Under Construction)
Enterprise Acceleration Centre, Hartnett Centre, Limerick Institute of Technology
NCI Business Incubation Centre, National College of Ireland
ITSBIC, Innovation Centre, Institute of Technology Sligo
Synergy Centre, Institute of Technology, Tallaght
Tom Crean Business Centre, Institute of Technology, Tralee
Arclabs Research and Innovation Centre, Waterford Institute of Technology
Enterprise Ireland – Competitive Start
Competitive Start is not an incubator program as such but provides funding for start-ups. Many of the companies involved in the accelerator programs will avail of this Enterprise Ireland funding in addition to the programme funds. Competitive Start offers €50,000 for 10% equity in the start-up. To be eligible firms must be less than six years old, not have received funding of €100k or more, and be capable of employing at least 10 people and realising revenues of €1 million euro in three to four years.
Run by the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC), Launchpad is primarily funded by the Government and has worked with more than 80 digital ventures to date. All successful applicants will be offered a place on NDRC LaunchPad with an accompanying micro-seed investment of up to €20,000. Investment is provided as €5k per start up founder (minimum two founders; maximum three founders), plus €5k project costs. Competition for places is fierce, last February 2012, 70 applicants vied for just 15 places.
Based in Ireland’s largest University, NovaUCD currently has around 40 registered participants. Start-ups looking to enter the programme must be; less than three years old, in a knowledge intensive business and have a desire to collaborate with UCD. The state of the art complex on the Belfield campus provides office space and specialised bio incubation units. The programme provides mentoring, free legal, tax and marketing advice and helps start-ups securing funding from angels and venture capitalists.
Dogpatch Labs is located in the midst of Dublin’s Barrow St. The programme has three international sister offices in New York, Palo Alto California and Cambridge, Massachusetts. On top of offering desk space, bandwidth and coffee to new start-ups, the project aims to create “open source entrepreneurship”, where entrants share space, ideas, referrals, and networking contacts. There are currently more than 100 businesses based in the four locations and Dogpatch boasts more than 300 graduates.
Startupbootcamp recently announced the opening of a Dublin based accelerator to add to add to existing programmes in Copenhagen, London, Madrid and Berlin. Startupbootcamp is the international affiliate of the American start-up incubator Techstars. IBM and Citi have partnered with Enterprise Ireland and Dublin City Council to create the programme which is oriented towards the application and commercialisation of specific technologies developed by the entrants. The first 10 teams just completed the inaugural program on May 16th 2012. Each team received mentoring, €15,000 funding, six month’s office space on Barrow Street and a chance to pitch to investors.
In 2012 the Dublin docklands became the 10th location for international incubator Wayra, which is backed my Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica. Closing date for application to the first program closed on June 24th 2012 and 335 submissions are currently being assessed. 30 will be selected to go forward for “Wayra week”, culminating in a 10-minute elevator pitch to an independent jury. From that 10 successful projects will be given six months in a co-working space, access to financing, support and expertise to get their projects off the ground. Up to €50,000 funding is provided in exchange for a 10% stake and the right of first refusal on the products and services that come out of the projects. Wayra first started in South America and now is located in Ireland, the UK, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Argentina and Spain.
DCU Ryan Academy’s Propeller Venture Accelerator
DCU Ryan Academy is a non-profit, joint venture between Dublin City University and the family of the late Tony Ryan (Ryanair). The Propeller Venture Accelerator was established in 2010 with funding of €1 million from Irelandia Investments. In return for a 6.5% equity stake, participants receive mentoring, three months incubation with free space and services and a €30,000 cash investment for their business.
Ignite is the incubator programme at University College Cork (UCC). The college does not take an equity stake in the start-ups. On completion of the programme businesses get a further six months office space free-of-charge at the National Software Centre in Mahon, Cork. Entries are welcomed from graduates of any third level institution and each year ten teams are chosen for the programme. Closing date for the 2012 programme starting in October was June 1st.
Smart Start whittles a group of 250 applicants down to two businesses which attract VC investment. The 250 attend a three hour bootcamp from which 50 are invited to pitch their business ideas. 10 of these are chosen to start the program, five get investment and then the two best projects go on to attract VC investment. The program is based at Dundalk Institute of Technology and participants must give up 6% equity.
Greenhouse is a virtual incubator in that it does not provide office space. The incubator helps start-ups develop a business plan and provides training in online marketing and social media.
Now in its 14th year, Genesis has launched more than 180 businesses that currently employ at least 1,200 people in the South East. During the 12 month programme consisting of seminars, workshops, clinics, and mentoring entrants can choose work from their own facilities or in the Rubicon centre on the Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) campus. The 2012 programme started in May.
The six-month-long Internet Growth Acceleration Programme (iGAP) provides training for start-ups in the internet/games industry. Enterprise Ireland covers 70% of the €10,000 programme fee. The training provides start-ups with the practical tools needed to formulate aggressive international growth plans and scale their businesses. Enterprise Ireland is planning to run a further Internet Growth Acceleration Programme in Quarter 4 of 2012.
New Frontiers
DIT’s Hothouse www.dit.ie/hothouse is perhaps the best known centre running EI’s ‘New Frontiers’ scheme. In fact DIT’s Hothouse is probably the most successful innovation programme in Ireland having started in 2001.
The ‘New Frontiers’ programme is a new national entrepreneur development programme launched in February 2012 that is delivered at a local level by the Institutes of Technology around the country. Start-ups in the programme get a €15,000 grant as well as facilities and the usual mentoring and training. The Hothouse programme begins in late July and the application deadline just passed on June 22nd.
Thanks to Digital Times for generating this list which will be added to.
July 2012