NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 31 March
31-03-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
Dell to create new jobs | Enterprise Ireland launches start-up programme
PC maker Dell is to create around 100 jobs at its facilities in Dublin and Limerick. Positions include roles in finance, marketing, admin and legal affairs, as well as technical and engineering roles. See the vacancies listed on Dell.com.
Enterprise Ireland has launched a business development programme aimed at supporting IT and life science start-ups with "significant export potential". The initiative is part of Enterprise Ireland’s 'Propel Ideas into Business' Programme. Successful participants in the Propel programme will receive training from management consultants PA Consulting, financial support of up to EUR15,000 from Enterprise Ireland and office space, as well as advice and networking support. The application deadline is 23 April. ICT Ireland, the IBEC group that represents the high-tech sector, welcomed the announcement. See www.propelprogramme.ie for details.
NovaUCD medical tech firm BiancaMed has appointed Rolf Classon as board director and non-executive chairperson. Classon is currently chairman of the board of Hill-Rom, a US manufacturer of medical technologies. He is also a former chairperson of the executive committee at Bayer Healthcare, the healthcare division of Bayer AG. Classon has also served as chair of numerous medical and technology companies.
Belfast's Andor Technology is expanding its reach into South America with a distribution deal with Microlat. Andor provides scientific imaging, spectroscopy solutions and microscopy systems. Buenos Aires-based Microlat will distribute Andor products in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. Read the press release on Andor.com.
Research suggests that almost 10 percent of second-level schools have been forced to drop Physics as a subject offered to students, RTE reports. The study of more than 300 schools was carried out on behalf of the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland. Higher and Ordinary Science classes have been combined in 70 percent of the schools surveyed. The findings show that the decision to drop Physics is a direct result of education cutbacks.
BSkyB CEO Jeremy Darroch has hit out at Ofcom's ruling on the wholesale pricing of its sports channels. After a three-year investigation into the UK pay TV market, regulator Ofcom ruled on Wednesday that BSkyB must sell Premier League football and other premium programming to rivals. Ofcom set the basic wholesale price for Sky Sports 1 at STG10.63 per customer per month, 23.4 percent less than BSkyB currently charges its customers. The ruling also orders BSkyB to sell packages of sport at a range of prices. Darroch says Sky fundamentally disagrees with Ofcom's conclusions and intends to launch a legal appeal against the ruling. See video on BSkyB's blog.
New search engine Timmp.com claims it's bigger than Google with 130 billion indexed webpages. The site is due to launch on Thursday.
The Central Statistics Office has joined the Twitterati. See twitter.com/CSOIreland.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 