TechIreland and Startacus to promote cross-border business

  • InterTradeIreland is funding a collaboration between TechIreland and Startacus to promote cross-border business. 

    TechIreland and Startacus, the organisations that promote startups and tech SMEs in Ireland and Northern Ireland were recently approved for funding under InterTradeIreland’s Synergy programme. 

    The Cross-border business collaboration project is being delivered with support from InterTradeIreland’s Synergy initiative. Synergy is a cross-border cluster initiative set up by InterTradeIreland, the cross-border trade and business development body. It aims to scale cross border collaboration among SMEs and other players such as universities, third sector organisations and government agencies using cluster and networking support.

    Currently, the share of cross border trade in services is lower than the services trade between the two islands. Moreover, a recent survey of tech businesses showed that while 36% of tech businesses do some form of cross-border transactions, there is scope for deeper engagement. 

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    TechIreland and Startacus plan to develop a directory and live portal showing services firms from across the island that are serving the tech community. This interactive portal will enable ‘connections’ and will be integrated with TechIreland’s existing all-island database. 

    Both organisations will also host in-person networking events over the next 12 months to bring businesses from both sides of the border together to meet and explore opportunities in key clusters like enterprise software, financial services and health tech.

    Margaret Hearty, CEO at InterTradeIreland commented: “InterTradeIreland is proud to support this project, which is a testament to the power of cross-border collaboration and what it can achieve for businesses on the island of Ireland. While there is an existing vibrant tech ecosystem, there remains continued scope for increased collaboration between the tech community in both Ireland and Northern Ireland and we hope that this project will open doors to those opportunities.”

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    John O’Dea, CEO TechIreland added: “The portal already features over three thousand tech businesses from across the island. The events will enable collaboration to help strengthen the all-island economy, and support the tech ecosystem.”

    The first in-person event for cross-border B2B networking will bring enterprise software and services firms from both sides of the border together to meet at the SaaStock conference in Dublin on the 19th of October and more details on this first event will be announced soon.

    Source: Written from press release.

    About the author

    Aoife is a Sync NI writer with a previous background working in print, online and broadcast media. She has a keen interest in all things tech related. To connect with Aoife feel free to send her an email or connect on LinkedIn.

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