Top 50 Women in Business
A compendium of the most influential and powerful Irish women in business today, commissioned by the Irish Independent in June 2008. Anne Heraty Anne Heraty is co-founder of Irish recruitment firm CPL. She is also chairperson of the Expert Group for Future Skills Needs and a non-executive director of Bord na Móna, the Irish Stock Exchange and of Anglo Irish Bank. Co-founding CPL in 1989, Anne Heraty has grown the Irish recruitment firm to be one of Ireland’s top companies, listed on both the Irish and UK Alternative Investment Market stock exchanges. She became the first female chief executive of a quoted Irish company when she and her husband floated…
Read MoreNDRC set to pick 15 Launchpad participants
The National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) in Dublin is currently evaluating 70 Irish and international applications to participate in its Launchpad accelerator programme for digital start-up enterprises. The 15 most promising start-ups will be selected for the investment programme, which starts in mid-February and concludes with a year-end competition for a follow-on investment sourced from VCs and angels. NDRC will provide up to €20,000 per project in micro-seed investment to support the founders during the programme. After the current selection process, NDRC Launchpad participants will begin a three-month intensive mentoring and advisory programme, alongside other start-ups, innovators, engineers and investors. At the end of this, the start-up promoters will pitch for follow-on…
Read MoreThree UCD spin-out companies shortlisted for awards
Three University College Dublin (UCD) spin-out companies are among only 18 companies from across Ireland to have been shortlisted for the 2014 Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards. The three companies are APC Ltd, Equilume Ltd and Oxymem Ltd. Now in its fifth year, the awards showcase excellence in innovation across a range of groundbreaking products and services from all sectors and company sizes across the island, North and South. In recent years the overall winners have created innovations as diverse as drug delivery systems and state-of-the art network switching, to anti-allergy pillows and new technologies for cleaning and disinfection. “I am delighted that three UCD spin-out companies, commercialising UCD research outputs,…
Read MoreResearch Reveals Benefits of Junior Entrepreneurship Programme
A survey of 330 national schools has revealed that 87pc of its teachers saw an increase in confidence in children participating in the Junior Entrepreneurship Programme (JEP), with a further 66pc stating that taking part in the programme improved communication skills and the ability to work as a team. Life skills such as decision making, presentation skills, and teamwork were identified as crucial benefits to primary school children going through the JEP. Led by serial entrepreneur Jerry Kennelly, the JEP was rolled out to more than 10,000 primary school children in Ireland and Northern Ireland last year, and this year the numbers signing up for JEP are expected to increase…
Read MoreSocial enterprise bicycle shop Rothar turns five with busiest year to date
Dublin-based social enterprise bicycle shop Rothar is celebrating its fifth birthday. The business was set up with the idea of reducing the amount of bicycle going to landfill by refurbishing and renovating them. Now it is paying tribute to the thousands of customers who have helped it to reach this significant milestone. One of the recipients of the Arthur Guinness Fund in 2012, Rothar has enjoyed its busiest year to date as the number of cyclists in Dublin has more than doubled since 2002, according to figures from Dublin City Council. The company, which trains and employs people who are long-term unemployed as bike mechanics, carries out approximately 150 repairs…
Read MoreEquilume light mask for horses is ‘One to Watch’
The invention of a therapeutic light mask for horses by Dr Barbara Murphy at University College Dublin (UCD) has won the Enterprise Ireland ‘One to Watch’ award. The Equilume light mask provides timed, low-level light to a single eye. It limits levels of the hormone melatonin which is usually produced in darkness and inhibits a mare’s reproductive activity during winter months. It is used to advance the breeding season in thoroughbred mares so that their foals are born close to their universal birthday of 1 January. Other uses include reducing extended gestation lengths in mares due to foal early in the year, treating ‘horse jet-lag’ and enabling competition horses to…
Read MorePaul Dowling, Director
Appointment Date: 15.12.2011Company: GT EnergyBusiness Type: Renewable EnergyPosition: Director Paul Dowling has been appointed to the board of directors of GT Energy, which develops deep geothermal energy projects in the UK and Ireland. Dowling has over 20 years’ management and business development experience in the renewable energy sector. He led the renewable energy business for SSE as CEO of Airtricity and was part of the team that sold the company for €1.8bn in 2008. Other previous roles included head of strategy for Scottish and Southern Energy Group which involved strategy formulation, ventures investments, business development and research activities for the SSE group. Dowling is a chartered engineer and has an…
Read MoreBusinesses more confident about their own prospects than economy’s – Dublin Chamber
Irish businesses are confident about their own future prospects, but perceptions about the economy as a whole are not as strong, according to the latest Dublin Chamber quarterly study. The survey found that 42pc of companies expect their levels of business to remain stable, while 46pc expect them to increase over the next three months. “Half of businesses are expecting their level of activity to grow next quarter,” said Patrick Coveney , Dublin Chamber president and Greencore CEO. “Yet their confidence dissipates when it comes to the economy more broadly – with less than one in five of businesses more confident about the economy today than they were three months ago. We…
Read More“Biggest telescope festival of the year” planned for Astronomy Ireland Star-B-Q
Ireland’s highest village – Roundwood in Co Wicklow – is the setting for Astronomy Ireland’s annual Star-B-Q, which takes place on 27 August 2011. The astronomy club says the event is Ireland’s biggest telescope festival and its biggest annual fundraiser. As well as providing people with the opportunity to look into the skies using some of the most powerful telescopes in Ireland, the event will include professionally catered food by Michelin-experienced chefs, a night sky guide, an overview of the constellations and door prizes. There’ll also be a binocular masterclass – event organisers are advising people to bring their binoculars and they’ll be shown “the secrets of the sky with a…
Read MoreAutism Awareness
Over the last ten years, there has been a growing trend in public and in private schools of children afflicted by autism. Many parents and even teachers are unaware that something as simple as specialized classroom rugs can make a huge impact on struggling students.
Read More