Archive for May, 2009

More great news for the eventual iQ Prize winner.

Frederic Herrera, programme manager of the Create Digital Media Enterprise Platform programme has kindly offered to match the iQ Prize with the personalised 12-months training & mentoring, access to EI CORD grant (Fred manages the paperwork for CORD grantees) and free access to hot desks in both the Digital Hub and the Media Cube in IADT. The bundled offer could give the winner a great opportunity to further develop their concept or business plan.

About Create Ireland

Since 2004, Create Ireland has been running a business incubation programme for small digital media companies, providing 10 companies per
year with training and mentoring for sustained business development. Operating as part of Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT), Create provides companies with hot desks both on campus, at the Media Cube Incubation Centre, and at the Digital Hub in Dublin city centre.

However, the real advantage Create offers companies is specialised training and mentoring, as well as access to a wide network of entrepreneurs.

“The programme is quite personalised, which means that we focus the training based on people’s needs. In this way our approach is different from a standard training programme. Create Ireland also provides its companies with access to a huge network, including 20 trainers and 15 mentors, as well as access to the complementary skills of past participants, where many collaborations have formed”,

says Frederic Herrera, enterprise development executive at IADT and programme manager of Create.

Further grants

Create Ireland also facilitates the introduction to an Enterprise Ireland CORD grant, which can be worth up to 50% of previous salary to a maximum of €30,000, plus €6,000 in marketing spend.

More on the programme

Topics covered by the Create programme include online advertising, web usability, mobile media, web-based application development and
the development of Web 2.0 platforms.

“The programmes helps companies to develop their business and test the demand for their ideas over the 12 months”

says Herrera.

With the current recession, more and more people are appreciating the need for further training and mentoring, so places on this year’s programme are expected to fill up fast. Application forms and more information can be found at www.createireland.ie.

The closing date for applications to this year’s Create Programme is May 29th.