Weekly Digest
Weekly Digest Issue No. 506
11-03-2010
by Deirdre McArdle
CAO figures a boost for smart economy | Start-ups: the great white hope?
Positive news on jobs front
There was some good news on the jobs front this week with PC giant Hewlett-Packard announcing that it is to consolidate its European operations at its Belfield, Dublin facility, creating 60 new jobs in the process. The new positions at its Global Solutions Centre will include engineers, who will provide technical support to customers. HP said it is looking to recruit people with the necessary technical experience and language skills. The news is encouraging for Ireland as it underlines HP's commitment to the Irish market. The PC maker employs around 4,000 people in Ireland at its facilities in Dublin, Leixlip, Galway and Belfast.
Also this week, two indigenous Irish firms had positive jobs announcements. In Cork, PAS Technologies, which repairs, refurbishes and re-manufactures components of gas turbine engines, opened a new EUR1.6 million R&D centre. As part of its expansion, PAS said it would be creating 10 new high-value jobs. The news follows the firm's winning of an EUR11 million contract with Siemens Sweden, which is a leading player in the industrial gas turbine market.
Meanwhile, in Dublin, software firm Havok said it is to create 26 jobs to support the launch of a new product. The good news was tinged with disappointment, however, as the firm said it could have created twice that number of jobs here if it could have attracted skilled staff. Havok managing director David O'Meara said 40 jobs had gone to Munich and San Francisco in the past two years that could have gone to Dublin.
Irish firms launch mobile apps
Highlighting Ireland's standing in the mobile industry, two Irish firms launched innovative mobile-based products this week. Limerick-based mobile messaging firm Go2mobile unveiled a system that facilitates the sending of real-time photographic and video evidence to insurers via mobile phone. AccidentMMS allows camera phones to become traffic accident "witnesses", allowing insurance assessors to be able to see how an accident happened. The system enables an insurance agent to view photographs and videos online, respond by SMS, or forward the evidence to colleagues. AccidentMMS also has other applications including domestic and commercial flooding cases and marine accidents.
Meanwhile, Dublin-based online payment services firm WorldNet said it has released what it claims is Europe's first iPhone credit card processing application. The app, named WorldNet VT (virtual terminal), acts like a credit card terminal, allowing retailers to process customers' cards. WorldNet said the service is designed to work over 3G or Wi-Fi and can be used on an iPhone 3G or an iPod Touch. It is currently available to download from the Apple App Store for EUR4.99.
At last month's Mobile World Congress. in Barcelona Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation Conor Lenihan spoke of Ireland's growing international reputation as a key source of innovative and groundbreaking solutions in mobile communications. Certainly, the strong Irish presence at the Congress and the subsequent product launches in the mobile sphere support his assertions.
CAO figures a boost for smart economy
Figures released by the Central Applications Office (CAO) this week highlighted encouraging signs for the Government and its 'smart economy' plans. According to the CAO the number of students applying for third-level courses in science grew by 8.6 percent this year, making science the third most popular college discipline. Courses in engineering and technology also grew in popularity among Leaving Certificate students with a year-on-year jump of 6.5 percent. Overall, demand for third-level places in general increased by 6.2 percent to a record 71,843 applicants. Earlier this month the Government established a review of 'grade inflation' in schools and colleges, following concerns raised by major Irish employers such as Google and Intel about the quality of Irish graduates. The figures from the CAO are a timely boost for the Government in light of the review, and particularly given its drive to make Ireland a major player in the global smart economy.
The Government's Innovation Taskforce on Thursday suggested that as many as 120,000 jobs could be created if Ireland transforms itself into an innovation centre. The report from the group warned though that a "sea change in attitudes towards innovation and enterprise is also required". It also argued that the introduction of bonus CAO points for maths in the Leaving Cert was necessary in order to boost student interest in the subject. The report says higher-level mathematics will be a key determinant of Ireland's ability to foster top tier, world-class engineering and science graduates. It is also an essential requirement for the development of a world-class research and innovation system in Ireland, the report authors said. Taskforce members endorsed the Project Maths programme, which is currently being piloted in 24 schools, and will be rolled out nationwide from 2012.
Start-ups: the great white hope?
In more news of the 'smart economy', Enterprise Ireland said it supported the establishment of 73 high-potential start-up companies last year. This figure includes 45 companies in the software and services sectors, and 21 in the industrial and life sciences sectors. Enterprise Ireland predicted that the start-ups would create more than 900 jobs over the next three years, bringing the total employment between them to 1,500. Total sales over the same period are expected to reach EUR600 million, with exports accounting for over 80 percent of that figure. "Despite the challenging international trading environment, these companies show that there are significant opportunities for new business start-ups. This is particularly so in life sciences, bio-tech and medical technology, food, telecommunications, internet services and other niche areas. These are sectors in which Irish firms are creating a sustainable competitive advantage and building international market share," said Hugh Cooney, chairman of Enterprise Ireland.
Elsewhere, Trinity College Dublin said 10 new spinout companies commercialising research carried out at the college were approved as campus companies during 2009. The spinouts will focus on the bioscience, physical science and information and communications technology sectors. TCD also said its Technology Transfer Office received 47 invention disclosures and 22 new patent applications during 2009. Over the past three years 116 inventions have been disclosed by TCD, while a total of 65 patent applications were filed during that time.
Also this week, the Government has stepped up its research strategy. It is to invest EUR56 million in research that will focus on commercialisation. The initiative will see 180 companies work together with third-level institutes in nine clusters called 'Competence Centres'. Within five years the initiative aims to transfer at least 80 pieces of commercially viable intellectual property in the form of technology licences, have over 60 engineers and scientists directly employed in the centres, and have a further 60 to 80 industry personnel working on research projects.
SMEs are new target of cybercriminals
Small and medium sized businesses got a stark warning this week that they have become prime targets of cybercriminals. In Ireland, security firm Espion told of a cyber blackmail attack whereby cybercriminals hacked into a number of SMEs' systems, encrypted data such as customer information and order books, and left a note on their computers demanding money to unlock the data. These attacks are currently being investigated by the Garda Bureau of Fraud. "As large corporations have begun to put in place real and tangible security barriers, cybercriminals are looking at SMEs -- the pickings may not be as rich, but the number of targets is greater, and the level of security in place is far lower," said Colm Murphy, technical director with Espion.
This concerted move to focus on SMEs is also taking place in the US, according to a report in the Financial Times quoting a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation specialist, who said that losses among US banks and their customers from PC intrusions and falsified electronic transfers came to about USD120 million in the third quarter of 2009, three times the figure from the same quarter in 2007. As much as half of the fraud is being blamed on a Trojan program called Zeus or Zbot, which law enforcement officials said is focusing primarily on small businesses. Because SMEs have larger bank accounts than consumers and less robust security (banks typically do not extend them the same fraud guarantees that they do for consumers) they are seen as ideal targets for these kinds of attacks.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 