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The Tánaiste said the new hub would help entrepreneurs ‘start and scale’ innovative gaming businesses and ‘further enhance the north-west’s reputation’ for tech.
The first sod is due to be turned today (8 October) on the site of a new €1.9m digital gaming hub in Strandhill, Co Sligo.
The hub is being funded by the Government and Enterprise Ireland’s Regional Enterprise Development Fund. It will provide a flexible workspace for companies working in the digital gaming sector.
It will be constructed next to the existing Strand Campus Enterprise Hub, which serves tech and digital companies with meeting spaces, mail drop and hot-desking facilities.
‘The digital gaming sector employs around 2,000 people in Ireland but there is huge potential for growth’
– LEO VARADKAR, TD
“Today is an important day for Sligo which will further enhance the north-west’s reputation as a location of choice for technology companies across the globe,” said Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, TD.
He added that the hub would provide “workspace, mentoring and access to various programmes to help entrepreneurs start and scale innovative tech businesses”. He also highlighted the hub’s proximity to IT Sligo, adding that there would be potential for collaboration and “knowledge sharing” down the line.
“The digital gaming sector employs around 2,000 people in Ireland but with the overall industry worldwide worth an estimated $300bn, there is huge potential for growth,” Varadkar said.
The hub is expected to have capacity for 20 different companies and support a further 40 companies through the establishment of a digital games cluster in the north-west of the country, to be created around the Strand Campus area.
According to Aidan McKenna, Enterprise Ireland’s regional director for the north-east and north-west, supporting “innovative regional start-ups is a huge focus” for the agency.
“We look forward to working with the entrepreneurs that will nurture and develop their business ideas as they come through this new collaboration hub at Strand Campus,” he said.
Vincent Nally, chair of the Sligo County Enterprise Fund, added that Ireland “has a huge reputation internationally in the ICT and digital fields”.
“This investment through Enterprise Ireland is a vote of confidence not only in Strand Campus, but in the Government’s decision to designate Sligo as a regional growth centre under Project 2040,” he concluded, referencing the Government’s long-term growth plan.
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