(Tuesday, 24th February 2009) eircom today launched its 2nd Web Innovation Fund and promised €100,000 in funding to support online innovation in Ireland.

eircom’s Web Innovation Fund was first launched in November 2007 to promote, mentor and sponsor innovative web applications in the Irish Internet industry. Today’s announcement to pledge further investment demonstrates eircom’s ongoing commitment to assist entrepreneurship in the online sector.

 Commenting, Cathal Magee, Managing Director, eircom Retail said, "It’s a very challenging time out there for start ups in today’s economic climate. Money is tight and funding is difficult to secure. While everyone expects and accepts re-prioritisation of monies for investment, we cannot afford to lose sight of a basic fact - an economy has to continue to innovate in good times and in bad, in order to survive.

 Ireland has a strong reputation as a pro business environment and in these tough times its more important than ever to support start ups and encourage innovation. We have a huge pool of talent in this country and our innovators are among the best in the world. eircom recognises the growing difficulties for start ups to obtain funding and we want to play our part in keeping Ireland’s economy moving, that’s why for the second year running we have committed €100,000 to our Innovation Fund. We all know the crucial role technology, web development and online applications play in our lives and we need to keep the ball rolling and continue to advance and improve these services."

Continuing Cathal Magee said "There was a very positive response to last year’s Innovation Fund, the interest was huge and the diversity and standard of the applications received were clear evidence of the level of ambition and talent in Ireland. This year we are increasing the amount of upfront cash to €16,000 for each of the four winners which will benefit them greatly. We hope to build on the success of the first fund and look forward to receiving even more applications this year".

eircom’s Fund will support up to four concepts. The winners will receive cash funding to help develop their product as well as access to vital training and business mentoring. Applicants are invited to submit concepts across seven key categories.

This year eircom has partnered with the Telecommunication Software & Systems Group (TSSG) – Ireland’s leading R&D centre. TSSG was founded in 1996. Since then, it has grown to 160 staff and is a world leader in Future Internet R&D, being ranked in the top ten internationally by the European Commission.

Commenting on the partnership the TSSG Executive Director – Innovation and Commercialisation, Barry Downes said, "We are delighted to be working with eircom on such an important initiative. We believe that innovative start-ups, such as those entering the competition, are the future for jobs and economic development in Ireland; and we in the TSSG are delighted to work with the fund and the winners to help them compete internationally and to have a impact for Ireland".

As part of its support for the eircom Web Innovation Fund, TSSG will provide free consultancy and training to the winners of the competition. In addition TSSG will work with the winners to help them develop their web innovation further, provide entrepreneurial training and incubation space, and will support the winners in getting their product live and operational.

Further details and application forms are available at http://labs.eircom.net. The closing date for submissions is Thursday, 30th April 2009, and applications should cover at least one of the following categories:Content (e.g. video, short films, animations, UGC)

 

• Movies and TV (e.g. programme recommendations, listings application, information aggregation, content search, fan communities, recommender systems, discovery tools e.g. data visualisations)

 

• Games (e.g. Flash games, game communities, platforms, multiplayer games, persistent worlds, avatar-based social networks, game creation tools, ratings, reviews, gambling)

 

• News (e.g. personalised news gathering, news aggregation, news submission tools, communities of interest, domain-specific news services)

  

• Music (e.g. Internet radio, streaming / OD services, search / recommendations / personalisation, community tools)

 

• Sport (e.g. communities, results aggregation, fan communities, results prediction, betting, games)

  

• Widgets (e.g. any widget(s) based on the above or additional categories)

 Additionally a Facebook group has been set up and can be accessed at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=6220969138. Throughout the progress of the Innovation Fund there will be regular updates and up to the minute progress reports as well as tips and advice.