Last summer, the University of Wales Global Academy established an office in Silicon Valley, California, the global centre for innovative and entrepreneurial businesses. Based at the Irish Innovation Centre (IIC) in San Jose, the self-proclaimed capital of Silicon Valley, the aim of the office is to provide a presence for Welsh businesses that felt ready to present their innovation technology to potential investors, taking advantage of the soft-landing that the IIC provides to companies already based there.

The fifth annual ITLG- Irish Times Innovation Awards have been expanded this year to cover five categories, with a shortlist of 20 companies travelling to the finals which will be held in Silicon Valley next month. The 20 companies were selected by the ITLG following an extensive review of approximately 100 companies at a series of pitch sessions at DCU and University of Ulster Belfast last October and November.

Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin has written to personnel officers in Government departments advising that any serving or future board members be “given the option to waive the related board fee on a discretionary basis”. The move is likely to have been influenced by the US-based Irish Technology Leadership Group which is creating a panel of 100 Irish executives based overseas who are willing to serve on State boards free of charge between now and 2016.

The Irish Technology Leadership Group (ITLG) and DCU’s Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship are aiming to stimulate economic growth through a partnership announced today to deliver Kauffman entrepreneurship and innovation programmes in Ireland and Silicon Valley.

A look back at some of the various business videos on Siliconrepublic.com during 2011, including interviews with the ITLG, the IDA and it@cork.

Originally from Limerick, John Hartnett is now a hugely influential figure in Silicon Valley and the driving force behind a range of initiatives and organisations, including the Irish Technology
Leadership Group. Interview with Grainne Rothery.

"The ITLG is a network and a platform that can create access to capital, customers and talent.
They're the three things that companies need most."

IRISH TECHNOLOGY Leadership Group (ITLG), the California-based organisation of Irish and Irish-American technology executives, has entered into a partnership with the Kauffman Foundation to deliver education on entrepreneurship to Irish start-ups.

The first fruits of the relationship will be a “CEO boot camp” which will take place in Silicon Valley next March as part of the group’s Irish Innovation Summit.

The Irish Technology Leadership Group has forged a major partnership with the global authority on entrepreneurship, the Kauffman Foundation, which will result in the development of a diaspora innovation strategy to deliver world-leading entrepreneurship programmes and policies to Irish start-ups.

'I am absolutely thrilled that the soon to be built Drogheda Enterprise Centre, is now a 'Gateway to Silicon Valley' through a unique partnership with the ITLG, which has offered a $50,000 support package to the centre,' says Chamber President Padraic Kierans.

Bay Area executives and entrepreneurs of Irish descent are joining forces to help revive the economy of their ancestral country. Called Diaspora 2016, the initiative aims to create a global pool of industry leaders with Irish roots who will volunteer to serve on Irish state boards until 2016.

Northern Ireland could be registering up to 200 more patents a year by 2030, according to Science Park data. When the Irish Technology Leadership Group visited Belfast recently, chair John Hartnett (a Silicon Valley-based based CEO) said: “Belfast can claim to be the capital of creativity in Europe.”

Rory McInerney is the Intel vice-president responsible for creating chips that power the world’s data centres, e-commerce sites and social networks. As cloud computing becomes the norm and virtually any connected device will be able to engage in high-end computing, it is fitting that it happens to be an Irishman who is at the helm of Intel’s Architecture and Microprocessor Development groups.

Silicon Republic

John Hartnett speaks on new internship program.