February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Harry Keaney
Enterprise Ireland, the Irish agency that promotes Irish business in the U.S., has opened a new trade and technology center in Boston to assist young Irish software and other high-tech companies targeting the New England region. The center will provide low cost office space, networking benefits and support from Enterprise Ireland to companies during the initial stages of building a local market presence, allowing the companies to focus on the key activity of business development.
Fiona Shanley, manager of the Boston trade and technology center, said that the U.S. East Coast is the epicenter of corporate America, with a high proportion of financial, manufacturing and services locating in this region.
"One of the objectives of this center is to introduce the next wave of Irish high-tech companies to the East Coast, to target direct sales, strategic alliances and technology and business partnerships," she said.
An official opening of the new center will take place in the near future, according to John Corrigan, Enterprise Ireland’s CEO for the Americas. But already, five Irish companies have signed on for accommodation. They are Norkom Technologies, Managed Solutions Corporation, Storm Technology, eWare and E-Smart.
This Boston venture is Enterprise Ireland’s third trade and technology center in the U.S. A center in New York has been established for some time and the West Coast center, in Campbell, Calif., in the heart of Silicon Valley, opened in late 1988.
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More than 220 Irish companies are currently active in the technology sectors of the U.S., including 70 software companies. And, said Corrigan, more are entering the market on a weekly basis.
"The number of Enterprise Ireland client companies establishing a presence in the U.S. continues to grow rapidly," he said.
There are now more than 100 companies with offices in the U.S., with 40 in the Boston area alone. "And this is expected to increase to 170 by 2001," Corrigan said.
In 1999, there was a significant increase in the number of Irish technology companies locating in the Boston-New England area. These include WBT Systems, Baltimore Technologies, Aimware, ITP, Iona Technologies, Viasec, Eon Technologies and Aldiscon. During the coming year, at least 15 Irish software companies have plans to set up a direct sales presence in the East Coast market, primarily in the Boston area.
Corrigan added that there are also strong clusters of Irish software and industrial company offices in New York and Atlanta. And since Enterprise Ireland’s West coast Center was established, the number of Irish companies with offices in the region has increased from 17 to 40, with a further 10 about to open.