New innovation hub to foster entrepreneurs

The new Innovation Hub located in a CIE building behind Ceannt Station is hoping to open its doors by the end of September, bringing a range of services to entrepreneurs around the city.

The Galway City Innovation District will be a cluster of Galway City’s entrepreneurs, start-ups, accelerators and incubators and will be close to public transportation and wired for high speed internet, supporting mixed-use development, and nurturing collaboration and knowledge-sharing.

The project is called the PorterShed and will be based in the former Guinness storehouse at the back of the station. Currently the PorterShed team are finalising the lease for the building which will have room for about 85 people, including growth companies with 15 people or more and new companies with only two or three people.

“It’s a very collaborative space, so the idea is that the entrepreneurs will work together, will share, collaborate, helping each other to grow their companies as quickly as possible,” said Maurice O’Gorman of the Galway Chamber of Commerce, who is heavily involved with the project.

“Within that space, there’ll be a lot of services offered to them for free. For example, KPMG will have a business advisor there one day a week. And FOD, the law firm, will have somebody there to help new companies and talk to them about legal structures and give them legal advice.”

Advice on R&D tax credits, banking issues and funding will be readily available in the hub, as well as venture capital funds and angel investors who will be invited to meet the companies based in the PorterShed.

“There’ll be a mentoring service as well, so we’ll be mentoring the companies as they go through. The idea, again, is to get them up and growing as quickly as possible. Also, what we’re trying to do is create an environment where you can get lots of companies establishing in Galway and getting them to grow as quickly as possible,” Mr O’Gorman explained.

A number of organisations, including the Galway Chamber of Commerce, Galway Harbour, Startup Galway, WestBIC and NUI Galway have come together to kick-start the new innovation hub.

The plan is to start with one building – the PorterShed – and then expand to a cluster of many more to create the Galway Innovation District which will include weekly events, coffee with founders, designed workspaces, meeting rooms, hot desks, high speed internet, private phone kiosks and plenty more.

As well as Mr O’Gorman, the project is run by Paul Killoran of Ex Ordo, Michael Fitzgerald of OnePageCRM, John Breslin of NUI Galway and Dave Cunningham of StartX6 – a group of people who are passionate about making Galway an even better city for business.

“But we don’t want the PorterShed or the Galway City Innovation District to just be about Galway City. So what we’re doing is we’re reaching out to the innovation hubs in towns throughout Galway and the idea is that if you’re an entrepreneur and you’re based in Oughterard, for example, you can come and attend all these events that happen in PorterShed. We’ll be streaming them as well so people can see them wherever they are,” Mr O’Gorman explained.

“But also, if you want to come in to the PorterShed and meet the business partners in there, you can come in from Oughterard and book a desk for the day and book your appointments with KPMG and FOD and other people. And you can come in and do that and meet the other entrepreneurs as well.

“So we’re reserving desks for people who are living outside of the city in the rural areas, to integrate them into what’s happening in the city.”

The benefits to the city are endless, according to Mr O’Gorman who says the Innovation Hub would not only bring jobs to the city, but increase the need for services, and in turn increase employment figures in Galway.

“A long-term aim – I mean long-term – between the harbour and the CIE site, you could envisage about 10,000 jobs coming into the city. There are developers who are interested in doing stuff in the city as well now, because obviously this shows that we can bring footfall into the city,” he said.

“So it’ll take time, but hopefully it will grow.”

■ For more information on the PorterShed, visit  www.portershed.com