The Irish Technology Leadership Group (ITLG) and Dublin City University’s Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship are on a mission to advance entrepreneurship in both Ireland and Silicon Valley through the teaching of Kauffman entrepreneurship and innovation programmes.
Based in Kansas City, the Kauffman Foundation is a world authority on entrepreneurial innovation. Set up in the 1960s, it was the brainchild of Ewing Marion Kauffman, the late entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the pharmaceutical company Marion Laboratories. According to the Kauffman Foundation, 40pc of new job growth will come from start-ups.
It was back in December that the ITLG and the Kauffman Foundation first announced a diaspora innovation strategy to deliver entrepreneurship programmes and policies to Irish start-ups. The Kauffman Foundation works through its global network partners to deliver such programmes.
The ITLG itself was set up in 2007 as a non-profit group of senior executives who wanted to promote the technology connection between the technology markets in Ireland, Europe and the US.
Meanwhile DCU Ryan Academy is non-profit, joint venture between Dublin City University and the family of the late Tony Ryan, the founder of the airline company Ryanair.
Start-up mission
The partnership between the ITLG and DCU Ryan Academy will signal the creation of Kauffman FastTrac TechVenture and GrowthVenture programmes.
A DCU spokesperson said the FastTrac TechVenture has been designed to give technology- or science-based entrepreneurs a framework to innovate ideas, while FastTrac GrowthVenture is aimed at businesses that have already been launched.
Prof Brian MacCraith, president of Dublin City University, alluded to how the programmes will aim to strengthen the university’s ability to both stimulate and support innovation for the benefit of the Irish economy.
Irish Technology Leadership Group in the US
The ITLG has also been spreading its presence in the US and how has chapters in New York, Boston, Washington, and Los Angeles.
John Hartnett, ITLG’s president and founder, said that in Silicon Valley, 95pc of job creation comes from locally based companies.
“We are uniquely positioned to link Irish-based technology innovation sources to the well-established technology regions of the United States,” said Hartnett.
The ITLG’s annual Innovation Summit will take place on 12-13 March 2012 in Silicon Valley.
Silicon Republic has joined forces with the Irish Technology Leadership Group to bring you The Silicon Valley 50 most influential Irish-American people in the tech world ahead of the ITLG Innovation Summit in California on 12-13 March.
