Representatives from 30 Irish companies unite in Austin Texas to participate in South by Southwest (SXSW), the world’s premier film, music and interactive conference.
With the Irish delegation is Ireland’s Minister for Innovation, Mr. Sean Sherlock. The delegation is supported by Enterprise Ireland (EI), the government agency responsible for the growth and development of Irish companies in international markets. Collectively, the Irish will stage their presence at booth #1307 in Exhibit Hall 4 at the Austin Convention Center. Enterprise Ireland is joined at SXSW this year again by IDA Ireland and the Irish Film Board.
Ireland’s web, gaming, digital media and film ingenuity will shine in myriad ways throughout the event. For Storyful which uses social networks to create an authentic and socially useful journalism, SXSW is the latest stop on its US market roll-out campaign. This week the company named Erica Berger, who previously reported for The Economist, as head of its new Americas operation. At Storyful, she will manage relationships with publications like the New York Times and The Economist, and tech companies like Google and YouTube. Also this week, the new Storyful Direct app landed in Apple’s App store, which helps citizens connect their content with news organizations.
Other Irish standouts at the show include:
- Relevenz which will launch its plan-sharing social app for the Android smart phone.
- VendorShop, a provider of Facebook shopping cart solutions recently scored a seed round which it will use to expand its presence beyond the 15 countries where it’s currently entrenched. With the VendorShop solution, merchants can promote and sell products from their Facebook page without redirecting customers to another website.
- Volta makes its first foray to SXSW. The provider of video-on-demand services specializes in Irish and international indie films. The company is collaborating with its European partners on a feature that will enable users to watch and share films from their Facebook accounts. For producers and distributors, this broadens the market for their films and facilitates social interaction with a wider audience.
- OnePageCRM, a simple sales management tool for small businesses, boosted their global sales team by partnering with a New England-based reseller.
- Zartis hit a 2000 WordPress installation milestone for its user-friendly recruitment software and signed a partnership with SiliconRepublic, Ireland’s leading tech industry news site. The company just added a feature that enables firms to launch employee referral programs with a unique social media integration flavor.
Ireland’s presence will also be felt in film. Five Irish movies are slated for screening with several marking their North American debut at SXSW. They include feature films “Citadel” and “Dollhouse”, and the documentary, “Dreams of a Life”. Two short films, “Foxes” and “Joy” complete the Irish line-up.
Take a meander over to their site to see a list of Irish companies attending SXSW.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
