Irish Social Networking Start-Up Commended

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton has officially opened the new expanded offices of a high-growth Irish social networking company which has achieved a million members after 150 days, to meet its founders and discuss the environment for tech start-ups in Ireland.

SkillPages, founded in 2010, has offices in Dublin and Silicon Valley. It is a professional social network which attempts to bring together people looking for skills with people who have those skills. It has received support from Enterprise Ireland and some of its innovative ideas have derived from academic research in Clarity, a research centre in UCD funded by Science Foundation Ireland.

The Minister commented: “I am determined that, in order to get jobs and the economy growing again, we must dramatically change the type of economy we have in Ireland. Where once we depended on speculation, we must now rely on innovation as the basis of future growth.

“This weekend I returned from a week-long trade mission to Silicon Valley, where I saw first hand the highly innovative companies which are driving spectacular growth in the global technology boom. We in Ireland must not only build on our traditional strengths to attract more of these companies here, but also learn from the highly innovative companies we already have here to drive a generation of Irish start-ups.”

The Minister added: “I am delighted to see in SkillPages the great success that can come from a combination of government support, partnership with universities, and innovative people.

“I will be listening closely to hear what more government can do to support start-up companies like this to ensure that home-grown innovation can drive a generation of start-up companies and get jobs and the economy growing again”.

(BMcN)