Scale Ireland, an independent, not-for-profit initiative representing Ireland’s innovation-driven enterprises (IDEs) launched today with a call for targeted measures in Budget 2020 to empower Ireland’s startups and scaleups and support the growth of home-grown innovation.

In its pre-Budget submission, Scale Ireland is calling for Government action to better support IDEs, with a particular focus on enhancing access to talent and capital. Such changes will provide an important signal that it is following through on its commitment to rebalance the economy and getting behind our entrepreneurs right across the country.

Priorities for Budget 2020 include:

1. Incentivise employees of entrepreneurial businesses by revamping the Key Employee Engagement Programme (KEEP) share options scheme
2. Stimulate private investment in innovation by fixing the Employment & Investment Incentive Scheme (EIIS)
3. Reward Irish businesses for investing in innovation by simplifying the R&D Tax Credit
4. Encourage serial entrepreneurs by improving CGT

Economic imperative

At the press launch Scale Ireland Chairperson Brian Caulfield, serial entrepreneur, investor and respected advocate for startups in Ireland, said: “While Ireland’s economy is currently performing strongly, we face significant disruption to our economic model. Brexit and global economic changes are exposing our over-reliance on FDI. We need the Irish economy to be firing on two cylinders. Let’s emulate our success in FDI with an ambitious strategy to drive the growth of home-grown IDEs of scale throughout the country.”

“Founders and the wider entrepreneurial community are looking for a strong signal from Government in Budget 2020 that it is ambitious for the growth of Ireland’s innovation-driven, home-grown enterprises, who compete on a global scale. We need to recalibrate our incentives to ensure that  we are competitive, making sure our entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses in Ireland and are not attracted to relocate elsewhere, like post-Brexit UK.

“For example, while the objectives behind the Key Employee Engagement Programme (KEEP) were laudable, the scheme is not currently workable. Startups simply haven’t been able to use it. Employee share ownership is critical to attracting and retaining talent, both international and local. Budget 2020 offers an opportunity to address shortcomings in the KEEP scheme and make it fit for purpose.”

Building on our FDI success to grow the indigeneous innovation economy

The need for Ireland to grow its indigenous enterprise base has become increasingly clear and is recognised by Government. In order to bring about this rebalancing of the economy, Scale Ireland believes that we need a more strategic enterprise policy to prioritise home-grown entrepreneurial businesses alongside FDI, in a ‘twin-track’ approach.

MIT uses the term “IDE” to distinguish these businesses from traditional SMEs. IDEs typically face negative cash-flows in the early stages of business due to heavy investment in innovation, followed by either failure or exponential growth as they service a global need. Scale Ireland uses the term ‘IDE’ to mean startups and scaleups that have innovation at their core, spanning sectors from ICT to biotech and medical devices.

These companies are an important element within a rapidly evolving, open knowledge economy. They share unique characteristics and face unique challenges. They therefore require unique policy solutions and representation.

Liz McCarthy, Head of Scale Ireland, said: “We’re not alone in calling for many of these measures in Budget 2020. Beyond this budget Scale Ireland will be working to achieve a step-change in how our entrepreneurs are supported from a policy perspective. What is needed is a coherent framework and an ambitious package of measures that takes account of the unique profile and challenges facing Ireland’s innovation-driven enterprises.”

Ireland has the opportunity to incentivise talent from the multinational sector to bring their skills and experience into Irish entrepreneurial businesses or to set out on their own here. Equally a vibrant startup ecosystem can help attract and anchor high-value FDI investment in the country. Scale Ireland believes targeted reforms to schemes like KEEP can create the right incentives to achieve this.

Opportunity to stimulate regional development

This isn’t by any means an urban issue. Scale Ireland sees strong alignment with the objectives of Government’s flagship Project Ireland 2040 development plan: The unbounded, agile nature of IDEs is bringing high-value economic activity to every part of Ireland, spreading opportunity and reducing pressure on the major cities:

“If Ireland is serious about creating a leading global knowledge economy and really driving balanced regional development, we need to unlock the potential for the growth of IDEs right throughout the country. We’re seeing pockets of exciting startup activity emerging in regions like the South-East, South-West and North-West, not to mention the increasingly vibrant tech and medtech scenes in Dublin, Cork and Galway. As a country we have to do more to support this,” added Ms McCarthy, Head of Scale Ireland.

Funding – unlocking private investment

Availability and cost of capital is critical to the development of IDEs, particularly at the early-stage when these startups have very limited funding options open to them. It  is clear that the severe lack of seed-funding is having a real impact on businesses right across the country.

Steering Group member Elaine Coughlan, former CFO of one of Ireland’s most successful tech companies Iona Technologies said: “Ireland currently has extremely low availability of funding for seed-stage IDEs and a high cost of capital. Over the last 10 years, the UK has demonstrated that it will move the dial to support the development of British startups. It has also signalled its willingness to introduce whatever policies it may need post-Brexit to shore up its attractiveness and competitiveness.

“This adds urgency to the need to recalibrate our policy environment and incentives in Ireland, where an enhanced Employment & Investment Incentive Scheme, for example, could enable more early-stage companies to get funded, more quickly.”

By enhancing the EII scheme, over time Government could reduce dependency on direct publicly funded investment in startups, by incentivising greater investment by private capital. This has the potential to materially reduce any cost to the exchequer while also reducing the cost of capital to IDEs.

Greater ambition for Ireland’s innovators

For Scale Ireland, the goal of developing a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem in Ireland, where successful founders reinvest their capital and expertise in the next generation of startups in a virtuous cycle, will require an improved policy environment, the right incentives and a cultural shift. Scale Ireland would also like to see targeted changes to the successful R&D Tax Credit in Budget 2020 to make the scheme much more accessible for startups.

Steering Group member Patrick Walsh, Founder of startup hub Dogpatch Labs added: “Ireland has been a global leader in incentivising FDI investment through fiscal measures. Now is the time for that same level of leadership and ambition to support Ireland’s entrepreneurs. Adoption of the targeted measures proposed by Scale Ireland for Budget 2020, which in many cases are cost neutral to the exchequer, would send a strong signal to entrepreneurs across the country and internationally of Government’s intent to get behind Ireland’s innovators.”

CitySwifter, the Galway-based tech company that improves the efficiency and service quality of urban public transportation systems, is announcing the closing of a major funding round led by Irelandia Investments, ACT Venture Capital, Mike McGearty (former CEO of CarTrawler), and other notable Irish transport entrepreneurs. CitySwifter is also supported by Enterprise Ireland and has received funding from the Western Development Commission‘s Western Investment Fund.

The round was fuelled by traction in the UK market, with a number of the largest publicly listed, UK-based multinational transport companies signing up to the service. Coupled with that interest is the growing change in the public transport industry towards providing consumers with smarter transportation through technology. CitySwifter has already analysed data and optimised urban bus networks in eight of the UK’s largest cities, and with this investment they are on track to become the leader in “data-driven decision making” for bus networks globally.

CitySwifter uses Big Data and Predictive Analytics to optimise high-frequency, urban bus networks. Bus companies around the world have only three timetables on average (Monday-Friday, Saturday and Sunday), despite constant fluctuations in passenger demand, journey times and average speeds. This results in bus companies constantly over- or undersupplying the market. Using its advanced technology, CitySwifter is able to create an improved supply and demand equilibrium, with accurate capacity predictions and vehicle requirements optimisation. This solution generates measurable improvements in efficiency, and reduces the costs associated with providing the highest-quality public transport service in large cities.

Brian O’Rourke, co-founder and CEO of CitySwifter stated, “We’re delighted to close this venture capital funding round with participation from some of Ireland’s most experienced entrepreneurs and investors. Beginning with expansion beyond the eight cities in the UK where we have successfully scaled our operations, this funding gives us an opportunity to grow and continue to help large public transportation companies and authorities globally to revamp bus networks for both business and passenger level service improvements”.

Mike McGearty, former CEO of CarTrawler, has invested in CitySwifter and has also been appointed as Chairman of the Board. He vocalised his support for CitySwifter stating, “CitySwifter has the potential to be one of Ireland’s next big success stories on the Irish tech scene. They already have an impressive list of major UK clients and advantageous changing market trends on their side. Alan, Brian and the rest of the early-stage team have got the required domain knowledge, technology expertise and focus on execution to drive the business forward through the next phases of growth”.

The company plans to recruit tech and commercial talent from around the world to join them in their Galway headquarters where the company intends to double headcount from their current team this year by hiring 12 new employees. The ideal candidates would work with high-level software development or data science. CitySwifter is also working towards opening offices in London and New York.

For more information on careers with CitySwifter, see here: https://cityswifter.com/careers.php

Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys TD recently announced the results of the €29.5 million second round of the Regional Enterprise Development Fund (REDF), an open national competitive call to support regional projects. The not-for-profit Galway City Innovation District CLG, operators of the PorterShed, were announced as one of 21 successful projects out of 77 applicants, with funding of €2.5M secured to provide a second building incorporating coworking space, private office space and event space for scaleup technology and medtech companies. The project aims to support 780 jobs directly and indirectly over its funding lifecycle.

Niamh Costello, Maurice O’Gorman, Mary Rodgers, John Breslin and David Cunningham from the Galway City Innovation District, as they welcomed the funding announcement. Photo: Andrew Downes, XPOSURE.

Announcing the successful second round Galway applicants of the REDF, backed by the Government’s Project Ireland 2040, Minister Sean Kyne TD said: “These projects have been selected because of their clear potential to drive innovation and creativity in Galway and the West, and encourage, nurture and sustain startups and employment which is fundamental to a successful economy and healthy society.”

Mary Rodgers, Innovation Community Manager at the Galway City Innovation District said: “We are delighted to have received significant REDF funding from the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, through Enterprise Ireland, to complement our existing PorterShed offerings for startups with this much-needed facility for scaleup companies to grow and create jobs in Galway.

“This second building will boost the existing innovation, entrepreneurial and startup ecosystem in Galway and support a geographically balanced and integrated approach to economic and social development in the West of Ireland. It will also act as a fast-landing site for incoming FDI companies, with three companies lined up already.”

Barry Egan, West Region Director, Enterprise Ireland said: “Supporting enterprises to build scale and expand reach is a key focus of Enterprise Ireland, and the Regional Enterprise Development Fund helps us to further drive growth in key sectors in the West of Ireland, particularly in the context of Brexit. Along with the Páirc na Mara project, these projects will contribute significantly to supporting scaleups and job creation in Galway City and County.”

Opened in May 2016, the Galway City Innovation District’s PorterShed, backed by AIB, has over 100 seats, and is currently home to 38 startup companies. The PorterShed has supported the creation of 660 jobs. 15 companies have graduated from the country’s first regional accelerator, NDRC at PorterShed, and 525 events have been held in the space. It also contributes an estimated €15 million per annum to the local economy.

On the RTÉ Nine O’Clock News last night, I spoke about app economy growth areas like AR and video in a piece with Will Goodbody on the opportunities and challenges for the Irish app economy. But just how important is the app economy to the overall economy in Ireland, and what do we need to do to continue growing it?

According to a recent report from US think tank PPI, Ireland is punching above its weight in the European table for what is called “app intensity”, or the percentage of jobs in the app economy to all jobs: the number for Ireland is close to 1%. Of the 2-and-a-quarter million jobs in Ireland, that’s about 20,000 people, and that figure of app economy jobs in Ireland increased by 5,000 since just last year. Ireland has performed well in comparison to other countries, and had the third highest growth in Europe in terms of app economy jobs, up 33% from 2017 to 2018.

We can thank the development of strong innovation ecosystems and startup communities in our capital and regional cities over the past five or more years, and the country’s third level institutions and research centres continue to produce talented graduates to work in the core areas of app development, computer engineering and software security, which are further supported by indirect and spillover jobs. However, the Director of Ibec’s Technology Ireland group, Una Fitzpatrick, has cautioned that there is a skills shortage happening, and a serious pinch point is on the way over the next couple of years if this is not addressed.

It is fair to say that apps have radically transformed the way we live and work. The first App Store opened just over 10 years ago in July 2008, and because anybody with decent coding skills could create an app, we had all kinds of creative people imagining what could be done with the combination of internet-connected, location-aware, touchscreen multimedia devices that are almost always within hands reach. All of the tasks that typically took hours or days, from booking holidays and buying presents, to paying bills and arranging meetings can typically be done in minutes, with a greater range of options available. Also, new tasks that were not really possible before can now be performed: preheating your home or car from your phone; getting real-time information on nearby transport options; or live streaming a birthday party to your family and friends.

Video on YouTube

The novelty of apps may have worn off, but it is becoming harder and harder to imagine life without them. We increasingly expect there to be an app for everything, whether it’s the services we already use or new ones we are still imagining. There’s still lots of room for new innovations, for example, there has been a recent increase in the adoption of digitally enhanced reality or augmented reality apps. Last year, another big growth area for apps was streaming video: this led to an increase of over 85 percent in consumer spend on iOS, and over 70 percent on Google Play. Most people have multiple video apps to access various free and paid services: two thirds of people in the US have two or more video apps.

Globally, mobile app spend is at about €94 billion ($110 billion) this year, up by a factor of five from just five years ago. (In 2013, as part of the Eurapp project I led, we had forecasted a growth from €20 billion to nearly €70 billion in 2018.) Total mobile commerce is apparently 10 times larger, and will continue to grow into the trillions. As regards jobs, PPI gives an overall 2018 figure of 2.1 million app economy jobs in Europe, using a conservative estimate of two indirect or spillover jobs for every app job. In the literature, this multiplier effect can go as high as 5 or even higher, potentially yielding over 4.2 million app economy-related jobs.

However, there are certain risks to the Irish app economy and we need to continue to support this growth sector in Ireland. There are a number of things we can do. The first is to address the skills shortage highlighted by Technology Ireland and others, by making sure we produce sufficient numbers of tech graduates to meet the increase in demand, but also by attracting more technology talent to the country. This aligns to Tech/Life Ireland, a national initiative to brand Ireland as a top destination to pursue a career in technology, and I’ve recently joined its steering group.

Secondly, we need to make sure that technology startups have the requisite mix of engineering, design and business know-how to succeed, as encouraged by programmes like TechInnovate at NUI Galway. For the small app company in Ireland, there are various business challenges: competing with free or lower price apps from larger competitors; the cost of acquiring customers; getting access to capital and finance; and then there are the revenue sharing requirements from the big US platforms and having to compete with higher US salaries for mobile developers and engineers. Many app company founders have strong computing skills, but they often lack the entrepreneurial skills to develop successful enterprises driven by their innovations. In an increasingly competitive (app) marketplace, we need to make sure that our tech savvy founders also become business savvy and can truly understand their target customers’ priorities as well as the technology’s potential.

NUI Galway has announced that applications are now open for 20 places on a new Masters in AgInnovation (Agricultural Innovation & Entrepreneurship) course. The one-year distance education entrepreneurship development programme aims to fill the gap in entrepreneurship/intrapreneurship skills for people working in the agricultural technology sector and agricultural ecosystem in Ireland.

The new course is targeted towards employees working in key ecosystem stakeholder companies including micro, small, medium and large agricultural technology and agri-food companies, and farmers. The primary aspects of the programme include agricultural needs finding, design thinking for the agricultural sector and disciplined entrepreneurship skills development.

Particular consideration is given to helping course participants address:

• Challenges around commercialising innovations (ideas and technologies).
• Business constraints and guidelines (margins, compound annual growth rate, lifetime value and cost of customer acquisition).
• Other difficulties related to getting new agricultural products to sizeable markets.

The one-year programme is delivered through a distance education model which provides the learner with flexibility in choosing when and where they wish to study, and allowing them to continue to engage in their day-to-day activities within the agricultural domain. For industry employees, 10% of the fees will be paid by their employer.

Dr Paul Flynn, Lecturer and TechInnovate Programme Manager at NUI Galway, says: “The aim of this course is to teach people how to identify areas for innovation specifically within the agricultural domain, and to create innovation-driven enterprises or new business units within an existing company. This Masters in AgInnovation aims to support the emerging agricultural startup innovation pipeline in the years ahead.”

The arrival of US agricultural-focused venture capital firms in Ireland is recognition of the potential for innovation in the agricultural technology domain. Ireland’s Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) has committed €20 million to an investment fund managed by Californian venture capital firm Finistere Ventures, targeted at making Ireland the ‘Agtech Island’. Missouri-based venture capital firm The Yield Lab opened one of the first Irish-based agtech accelerators in Galway in 2017, further recognising the requirement for a structured approach to scaling innovation-driven responses to validated agricultural needs.

According to Dr John Breslin, Senior Lecturer and TechInnovate Programme Director at NUI Galway: “This is a timely initiative because there needs to be more agricultural technology innovators in companies and startups who can avail of the early-stage supports, and then scale up to avail of the bigger funds. 2018 is the year to accelerate the agricultural innovation ecosystem in Ireland.”

The AgInnovation course is supported by Springboard+ and funding that was recently announced by John Halligan TD, Minister of State at the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation and the Department of Education and Skills.

To apply, please go to http://springboardcourses.ie/details/6275

The NUI Galway Ryan Institute will host the annual Galway Climathon 2017 on Friday 27th October 2017.

Galway Climathon 2017 seeks Climate Innovators who are willing to work for 1 day in multi-disciplinary teams to develop real solutions to Galway city’s climate challenges. Innovators, entrepreneurs, students, professionals and change agents from all sectors and communities across Galway city are encouraged to engage in Galway Climathon 2017.

Register now on the following weblink for your place on a Climate Challenge Team/Table at Galway Climathon 2017: https://climathon.climate-kic.org/galway

What is the annual Climathon?

Climathon is a global 1 day climate change hackathon which takes place simultaneously in major cities around the world on 27 October 2017 each year. This year, 112 cities in 44 countries spanning 6 continents and involving over 2500 participants will be participating in Climathon 2017. In 2016, Climathon created over 2330 ideas for climate innovations and reached 16.8 million people worldwide.

This year, Galway and Cork will be the participating cities in Ireland for Climathon 2017.

https://climathon.climate-kic.org/#map

Each year, Climathon brings together the challenges of the world’s cities with the people who have the passion and ability to solve them. Climathon attracts innovators, entrepreneurs, students and professionals to create innovative solutions to cities climate challenges.

How will you benefit from Climathon?

1. Help solve your city’s local climate challenge, and make your city more resilient to climate change
2. Network with local leaders from academia, business and public authorities
3. Develop your skills in public speaking, innovative thinking, prioritisation, and explore new tools and methodologies
4. Join forces with other like-minded entrepreneurs and innovators
5. Become a part of a global community working together to take climate action!

What is the Galway Climathon 2017?

Over 1000 euros available in prize winning supports for follow-on innovation to the winning teams at the Galway Climathon 2017!

Cities consume over two-thirds of the world’s energy and account for more than 70% of global CO2 emissions. With 90 percent of the world’s urban areas situated on coastlines, cities are at high risk from some of the devastating impacts of climate change, such as rising sea levels and powerful coastal storms. Coastal cities such as Galway are on the frontlines of global climate change and are well-positioned to play a leadership role in driving global action to address climate change.

The Galway Climathon 2017 will build from the energy and dynamism of multiple innovators, groups and individuals to develop and scale innovations towards a zero-carbon footprint horizon-point for Galway city districts, sectors and inhabitants.

There will be 10 Climate Challenge Tables at the Galway Climathon 2017, where inter-disciplinary teams will identify and prioritise innovations, business plans and strategies that can be scaled to address the challenge in Galway city and in other cities worldwide.

The 10 Climate Challenges (Tables) for the Galway Climathon 2017 will be:

1. Sustainable Energy
2. Fuel Poverty & Older People
3. Energy Efficient Buildings
4. Transport, Health & Climate
5. Measuring Galway’s Carbon Footprint
6. Low Carbon Diets
7. Water Quality & Air Pollution
8. Galway’s Circular Economy (e.g. food waste, recycling)
9. Climate action begins at home? (facilitating a low environmental footprint lifestyle)
10. Post-Plastic Galway & Marine Pollution

If you consider that you are highly motivated and can contribute to developing innovations in any of these areas you can sign up to join a Challenge Table as a team member. You can join a Challenge Table at any stage in the period up to 27th October by simply registering on the Galway Climathon 2017 site: https://climathon.climate-kic.org/galway

Each Challenge Table will develop their own innovation and will be facilitated to develop their idea by the NUI Galway TechInnovate team, and will present their innovation in a pitch competition at the end of the day to a judging panel who will identify the top three winning teams who will be recipients of the over €1000 in funding supports for follow-on innovation activities that will be facilitated by the TechInnovate program.

A key challenge for Galway city relates to how quickly its innovators, change agents and stakeholders can develop, deploy and scale innovations that can decarbonise the city towards carbon-neutrality for its districts, sectors and communities and thereby become a global leader amongst sister cities internationally that are also pursuing decarbonisation pathways to mitigate climate change.

Where and when?

The Galway Climathon 2017 will be hosted by the Ryan Institute on the campus of the National University of Ireland Galway from 0900-1600 on Friday 27th October.

Venue: The Cube, Aras na Mac Leinn, National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI Galway).

Follow Galway Climathon 2017 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/galwayclimathon

Hashtag: #Climathon

Recently launched by An Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald, BioExel is the first investor-ready, seed-funded, international medtech accelerator in Ireland. BioExel is now open for applications from entrepreneurs in the medical technology sector via its website www.bioexel.ie.

BioExel differentiates itself from other programmes in that successful applicants will receive €95,000 (cash and in-kind services) to help significantly accelerate medtech opportunities which have a specific technical, commercial and/or clinical question to answer during an intensive six-month period. It will be a mentor-centric programme based at NUI Galway, with both a seasoned entrepreneur-in-residence (Bob Rosenberg) and investor-in-residence (Gillian Buckley), as well as an experienced management team.

The BioExel Medtech Accelerator aims to further enhance the medical technology sector startup ecosystem within Ireland and to attract global talent to the Galway region. The programme is open to applications from potential teams or individuals both in Ireland or overseas, working in the medical technology sector. There are up to 14 slots available within the BioExel Accelerator over two cohorts, with the first cohort to commence later this year.

Successful applicants to the BioExel Medtech Accelerator will receive membership and a place within NUI Galway for a period of six months, where teams will be able to build and commercially validate their technologies by working with existing entrepreneurial networks and mentors. The patient-focused vision of BioExel is to create innovative medical technologies which are affordable and transformative for patients with both acute and chronic conditions.

“Ireland is recognised as a key hub for medical technology and innovation, and the launch of this new accelerator is an opportunity to further build on our strong international reputation for excellence and innovation in healthcare and medtech,” said An Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Frances Fitzgerald TD, at a recent launch of the BioExel Medtech Accelerator.

“The accelerator programme located at NUI Galway and supported by my department through Enterprise Ireland will further enhance the high potential startup ecosystem, and develop startup capability, infrastructure and capital investment within the Galway region. We are delighted to support the initiative, which will go towards sustaining Ireland’s status as a global leader in medical technology innovation.”

The BioExel Medtech Accelerator was originated at NUI Galway by the BioExel management team of Dr Sandra Ganly (co-founder of BioInnovate Ireland) and Fiona Neary (Business Development Manager at the Technology Transfer Office). It will be delivered on the NUI Galway campus, which is also home to the CÚRAM Centre for Research in Medical Devices, as well as entrepreneurial initiatives such as the successful BioInnovate Ireland fellowship programme, Blackstone LaunchPad, and TechInnovate/AgInnovate.

BioExel is a partnership co-funded by Enterprise Ireland’s Regional Accelerator Development Scheme, the Galway University Foundation, the Western Development Commission, and the Bank of Ireland Seed and Early Stage Equity Fund.

Through direct collaboration and coordination with medical technology and healthcare sector stakeholders on opportunities within the marketplace, the BioExel Medtech Accelerator will assist new and emerging enterprises with the commercialisation and internationalisation of their innovative medical technologies, products and services.

Interested entrepreneurs can visit the website www.bioexel.ie to submit an expression of interest and to receive an application form for the accelerator. The current call is open until the closing date of 30th October 2017.