Cork City is to be one of the first places in Ireland to hold a ‘Gathering’ the national initiative kicks off in 2013 when a Cork consortium will host the 5th Annual Irish Technology Leadership Group (ITLG) ‘Silicon Valley Comes to Ireland’ event on 21st and 22nd January next year.
The ITLG Silicon Valley Comes to Ireland summit is a two day gathering of top executives, entrepreneurs, and venture capital investors operating in Silicon Valley, Hollywood & US East Coast, who will travel to Cork to meet Ireland’s top technology and innovative companies.
Welcoming the news, an Taoiseach Enda Kenny, said: “I’m delighted that Cork has reached out to Silicon Valley and invited such a distinguished group of executives to meet with representatives from Ireland’s technology sector as part of the Gathering Ireland 2013. While the business links between US and Ireland are undoubtedly crucial to Ireland’s economic growth, there are also strong bonds of friendship and kinship between our two countries. 38 million Americans claim Irish ancestry. They are a part of the Irish global family and The Gathering presents an opportunity for us to extend a unique invitation to these and many more.”
The event will be led by Dr. Craig R. Barrett, the former Chairman and Chief Executive of Intel and current Chairman of the ITLG, and will be hosted by Cork Chamber of Commerce, Cork City Council, University College Cork and Cork Institute of Technology.
In addition to Dr. Barrett, speakers and panelists travelling to Ireland as part of the ITLG delegation will include, Una Fox, VP, Disney Corp, John Hartnett, President & Founder ITLG; Rory McInerney, Vice President, Intel Corp.; Barry O’Sullivan, SVP, Cisco; James Herlihy, Managing Director, Private Wealth Management, Deutsche Bank; Sean O’ Donoghue, CTO, Madison Square Garden Company, with additional high profile delegates to be announced.
At the event the delegation will participate in over 50 pitch sessions with startup and scaling technology companies from the island of Ireland, and will select shortlist to participate at the 2013 Irish Technology Leadership Group / Irish Times Technology Awards in Silicon Valley, California next spring.
“We are delighted for our event to be part of The Gathering Ireland 2013 and our Irish-American delegation are looking forward to meeting the latest innovative Irish companies as well as business & government leaders at this year’s event,” said John Hartnett, President and Founder of the ITLG. “It is incredibly important for startup companies to get exposure in the United States to capital and customers to allow them to scale and this can be done most effectively through a solid connection with the Irish diaspora,” he added.
