The announcement last week that Galway is to gain 90 new IT related jobs in two separate announcements by Hewlett Packard and Buy.com is a timely reminder that, despite all the doom and gloom, Galway and the western region still has a strong and thriving technology industry.
That’s according to the IT Association Galway which has been tracking good news stories since the beginning of the year, and is happy to confirm that its optimism is not misplaced.
Many technology multinationals have chosen to have a home in Galway, and despite the tough times, the multinational presence continues to grow:
January: Cisco invests €2.2m in research collaboration with NUIG’s Digital Enterprise Research Institute into future internet business technologies. Cisco established its global R&D arm in Galway two years ago, and general manager Mike Conroy says that the operation is ahead of schedule in terms of employment and research goals.
June: IBM announces further investment and 100 new jobs in its Ireland Software Lab, located in Dublin, Cork, and Galway.
July: Boston Scientific announces a further €91 million investment in its plant in Galway, with the support of the IDA. The new research, development, and innovation initiative will see more early stage, cutting edge, R&D taking place in Galway, and the creation of 45 highly skilled jobs.
August: Lumension, a global leader in operational endpoint management and security, announces that it is to establish a new global R&D centre in Galway, creating 30 immediate new hires.
October: Hewlett Packard announces an €11m investment in two new research, development, and innovation projects in Galway, one on cloud computing and the other on process innovation. The projects will create more than 50 new positions.
October: Yet another new win for the west as Buy.com announces its intention to establish its European operations centre here, creating 40 immediate new hires.
Locally grown
ITAG says Galway can be proud of the innovations and achievements of its homegrown technology enterprises, as demonstrated by these announcements this year.
February: Athenry based Cut-e Group, an Enterprise Ireland supported high potential start-up, signs a €200,000 contract in February to deploy an online selection assessment system for the manufacturers of the Airbus and Eurocopter aircraft, EADS Group.
May: Galway based medical devices firm Crospon secured a global deal for its flagship gastroenterology product, EndoFLIP.
May: Athenry based firm C&F’s decision to expand into wind energy is to create 250 jobs in design, engineering, manufacturing, and sales.
June: Young Mayo-based company Surface Power wins a major deal to supply its cutting edge solar technology to the Moritz Group over a five-year period.
April: A semantic web standard developed by researchers in the Digital Enterprise Research Institute at NUI Galway is being used by US President Barack Obama's new website for the economic stimulus plan — Recovery.gov September: eMedia, based in GMIT’s Innovation in Business Centre, announced the roll-out of an innovative product, known as Pocket Heart, the world’s first 3D medical iPhone application. The application is aimed at secondary, pre-med, and first-year medicine students, and the general public interested in the internal workings of the human body.
In the rest of the west
February: Intel announces it will invest €50 million in R&D in its Shannon facility. This has the potential to create up to 134 new jobs, almost doubling the current workforce.
April: Big Fish Games announces that it is opening its new European headquarters in Cork, creating 100 jobs in localisation, games testing, and support.
June: University of Limerick spin-out company Powervation is ready to scale up, planning to create 150 jobs over the next two years, as a result of its breakthrough product, a new chip allowing manufacturers to achieve energy efficiency gains of up to 30 per cent.
September: Security technology firm McAfee’s decision to base a new inside sales operation in Ireland creates a further 120 jobs in technology sales at its plant in Cork.
October: Indigenous Limerick firm Avvio announce major growth acceleration plans, aiming to grow revenue to €3.5 million by 2010.
