view from the US
’Many Irish companies are not ready in terms of getting in front of top venture capitalists. We help them with that’
to consider studying in Ireland. He himself is the proud father of a Trinity graduate. Conboy is also a member of the Irish American Leadership Council, a group formed in 2009 to harness ideas on how to increase Ireland-US links and create jobs. Its inaugural meeting, held in New York, was chaired by former foreign minister Micheál Martin. The Council includes politicians, business people, charities, people involved in Irish arts, members of the clergy and educators, as well as representatives of Irish develop- ment agencies. Similar patriotism stirs in virtually every city with a sizeable Irish community – not just those with the largest concentrations, like Boston, Chicago and New York. Small wonder then that Ireland is appealing to its far-flung diaspora to come to its aid.
Tech diaspora In California’s Silicon Valley the call has been heard. In 2007 Limerick native John Hartnett founded the Irish Technology Leadership Group (ITLG) in San Jose. Composed of Irish and Irish-American senior executives in the IT sector, the ITLG helps promote the growth of Irish high-tech companies by linking them with the rich resources of knowledge, capital, technical assistance and business contacts of Silicon Valley. Chaired by the former CEO and chairman of Intel,
Craig Barrett, ITLG’s management team includes – in addition to Hartnett, a former senior vice-president with Palm – senior Irish-American executives with Intel, Cisco, Sling Media, Innovalight and Venrock, a venture capital firm. The organisation is backed by an impressive advisory board. Launched with 15 members, ITLG now has 1,500 in its network. “I never believed how strong the organisation would be
until I started this and discovered the goodwill that is there from people who are very busy,” Hartnett comments. Each year, the ITLG arranges for Silicon Valley exec-
utives and venture capitalists to visit Ireland – at their own expense – and meet with start-up companies with promising technologies. The candidates are winnowed down to a dozen. The lucky few are invited to make pre- sentations to an expert panel at Stanford University in Palo Alto the following spring, in an event co-sponsored by TheIrishTimes. From this group, individual winners are selected in the
categories of ‘Top technology’ and ‘Most promising tech- nology company’. The winners are connected with Silicon Valley executives and venture capitalists able to help them develop and commercialise their product.
Academic institutions are not forgotten. ITLG also supports a university challenge, where Irish universities compete to win a cash prize for the best technology, along with an invitation to the Stanford event. Two spin-offs have emerged from ITLG. The Irish
Innovation Centre is an incubator that provides Irish or Irish-American start-ups with office space, legal and financial advice, administrative support and networking opportunities. “Many Irish companies are not necessarily ready for
prime time in terms of getting in front of top venture capitalists or of their strategy for going to market. We help them with that through the centre,” says Hartnett. Hartnett has also launched another initiative, the
Irish Technology Venture Fund. He and other investors, with the support of the Irish Government, have put in their own money to create a source of capital for young companies in need of investment. The fund currently stands at US$2m (€1.5m). Currently aWest Coast operation, ITLG plans to open a
second office on the eastern seaboard of the US this sum- mer. The kick-off event will be held atMIT in Boston.
Heart of Congress Ireland also benefits from a powerful lobby in Congress. The late Senator Edward Kennedy was unquestionably its best known member, but the list of House members and senators with Irish surnames in both the Republican and Democratic parties is still long. Many are members of the bipartisan caucus, the Congressional Friends of Ireland. In addition, there are innumerable charities dedicated
to serving the cause of Ireland. Among the most power- ful is the American Ireland Fund, which in 25 years has raised US$300m to support peace and reconciliation, arts and culture, community development and education in Ireland. So strong is the support it enjoys that in 2009 – when charitable giving plunged across the board – the Fund was one of only 12pc of charities to enjoy a surplus. It makes awards of up to €25,000 to selected organisations in both the Republic and Northern Ireland that address a social need. The men and women who, over the years, defied rough
seas and worse to make their way to America in the hope of better luck, may have thought more of survival and a meagre remittance to send home than of a legacy. Yet they created one in a rich heritage that sustained their descendants and, in turn, drives their descendants to sustain their homeland.
56 Irish Director Spring 2011
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