Peter Coppinger, Teamwork.com, John Drury, Smarttech247 & Chair of Leaders Awards, Caroline O’Driscoll, KPMG and Chairperson it@cork, and Eoghan O’Mahony, Senior Cluster Manager, it@cork
Cork cements its place as key European tech hub with over 300 ICT related companies employing more than 29,000 people in the region
it@cork Launch Annual Leaders Awards
Today, it@cork, the body representing over 200 companies working within the ICT sector in the Cork region, launched the it@cork Leaders Awards, an annual event recognising the best Cork’s thriving ICT community.
it@cork are inviting nominations from those who believe a tech company is worthy of recognition, to apply to be a part of the awards.
The Awards, which are in their 12th year, are now open to applicants, with judging to take place in early October. It will culminate in a gala prize giving ceremony to be held at the Rochestown Park Hotel on October 19th.
Speaking at the launch Caroline O’Driscoll, Chairperson of it@cork,
“I have been involved in these awards for a number of years and every year the volume and calibre of applicant is growing. This is a testament to the thriving ICT cluster which has developed in the region, playing strongly in areas such as Cyber Security, Cloud, Data Analytics and IOT.
From global multinationals to start-ups, as well as our innovative third level education sector, the Leader Awards recognise all those who have gone further than most in the use of technology in their respective organisations and businesses.
This year we are leveraging the great work done by Cork City Council on the “City Rising is a Beautiful Thing” campaign, to complement our theme. We are celebrating all that is great about ICT in Cork.
With Cork set to become the fastest growing region under the Project 2040 plan, it is a place of opportunity and promise, particularly in ICT. In the last 5 years employment in the Cork’s Tech Sector has risen substantially, making it the largest source of foreign direct investment in the region. In total, there are currently over 300 ICT related companies employing more than 29,000 people in the region and the outlook for further growth in 2019 and beyond is very positive. We recently surveyed our own members found that a staggering 83% are forecasting employment growth in the next 3 years.
We have an exciting entrepreneur community innovating in new and emerging areas like AI, Blockchain and Fintech as well as an extremely responsive education sector.
Not only does the region have the infrastructure and the talent to facilitate a strong ICT hub, Cork was also recently voted third friendliest city in the world – a compelling proposition! It is an exciting time to be in Cork, a region that will continue to play a pivotal role in the tech industry not just in Ireland, but in Europe”.
The it@cork Leaders Awards are split into 7 categories & the closing date for entry is October 2nd
- Tech Start Up of the Year
- The One to Watch
- MNC of the Year
- Excellence in Education
- Smart Technology Innovation Award
- Corporate Social Responsibility Award
- Technical Training Programme of the Year
Chair of the Awards Committee John Drury, spoke of some changes & some “old favourites” to the categories,
“This year we have introduced a new CSR award to acknowledge and celebrate the great work that so many organisations in Cork do for their community without expecting anything in return. In addition, back for its 4th year, is the prestigious Tech Person of the Year Award. This is the only category nominated by the board of it@cork and the ultimate winner is selected by a panel of 4 judges. This year we are delighted to welcome Peter Coppinger and Dan MacKey, recipients of last year’s award, to the judging panel.”
Speaking of the Tech Person of the Year Award win last year, Peter Coppinger, Co-Founder of Teamwork.com,
“Winning last year was a highlight for myself and Dan. We were immensely proud of the award itself, the recognition it gave to the hard-working team at teamwork and the fact as it was voted on by fellow industry peers made it special.
The it@cork awards have a significant role to play in Cork’s IT landscape as they recognise all types of companies and technology endeavours. They give newer companies that are just coming through the ranks an opportunity to showcase their ideas and innovations, and they applaud and highlight the huge strides being made by the more established ICT operations in the industry.”
The judging panel will including expert industry representatives from Blizzard, PepsiCo, KPMG, VMware, Investec, Trend Micro, CIT, Qualcomm, National Software Centre, Cork BIC, Poppulo, Enterprise Ireland, Dell EMC, Cork County Council, Tyndall, Malwarebytes and Teamwork.
2017 Winner List:
- Smart Technology Innovation Award – Solo Energy
- Multinational of the Year Award – Abtran
- Technical Training Programme – VMware (KickStart)
- Tech Start Up of the Year Award – Twister WristWear
- The One to Watch Award – Cork Internet eXchange
- Excellence in Education Award – Scoil Niocláis National School
Photography: Diane Cusack
