A specially chartered train will leave Cork’s Kent Station on 29 October to bring 180 entrepreneurs to the Dublin Web Summit for free. The organisers of the Web Summit have also partnered with Airbnb to provide start-ups with discounted accommodation over the course of the event.
Cork tech companies VoxPro, PCH International and Trustev are covering the cost of the chartered train.
On board, passengers will have the opportunity to take part in a variety of networking activities on three specially designed carriages.
For example, 10 local start-ups will be given space on the Start-up carriage to receive 20-minute speed mentoring sessions from top accelerator TechStars.
A Speakers carriage will feature presentations from top entrepreneurs and business thinkers, while a Hardware carriage will feature gadgets for passengers to try out.
On arrival in Dublin, the 180 entrepreneurs will be transported to Sydney Parade DART station, adjacent to the RDS, where the Dublin Web Summit is being held.
The organisers of the Dublin Web Summit say more than 70pc of attendees this year will be from overseas and hotel accommodation in the city is now at a premium.
The Summit says it has partnered with Airbnb, the community rental marketplace, to give attendees a US$25 discount and all hosts will receive a US$100 travel credit.
“We found that lots of people coming couldn’t get accommodation so we partnered with Airbnb and now we have start-ups offering rooms to those coming from abroad,” said Web Summit founder Paddy Cosgrave.
“It’s great that people are able to help each other out. No doubt the favour will be returned when these guys head to Berlin or San Francisco.”
The Summit takes place on 30 and 31 October and features Box founder and CEO Aaron Levie, the CEO of Evernote Phil Libin, the CEO of AOL Tim Armstrong, and Tony Hawk, the pro-skateboarder, as well as more than 250 others.
