Minister for Employment and Small Business Pat Breen departs for Texas today on a 4-day Enterprise Ireland trade visit to the USA.
The highlight of the trip will be the Enterprise Ireland exhibition stand at South by Southwest (SXSW), a world-famous digital technology conference, trade show and festival combination where emerging technologies, original music and independent films converge.
11 Irish companies will showcase their digital technologies at the trade show from March 10th 15th which include apps for making digital payments and finding gyms near airports, technologies for broadcasting and gene databases for researchers.
Minister Breen will meet Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Austin Chamber, visit Texas Medical Centre and attend a meeting between Enterprise Ireland client company SkyTek technology and NASA at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston.
The 4-day trade visit will also include meetings between Enterprise Ireland client company StitcherAds which is celebrating a business partnership with Pinterest and Monaghan based Combilift, also a client of Enterprise Ireland, which is celebrating a deal with Floworks PVF.
Prior to his departure for Texas Minister Breen said: “This Enterprise Ireland trade visit to SXSW is opening doors in the competitive USA technology market for the 11 participating Irish companies. I am delighted to support the work of Enterprise Ireland who are playing an instrumental role in assisting Irish entrepreneurs to build cutting edge, valuable technology companies, opening offices in the US, securing significant partnerships, and closing larger-than-ever funding rounds from US investors and international syndicates. The 2017 SXSW delegation is further evidence of Ireland’s thriving and growing indigenous start-up ecosystem”.