Launching 12 start-ups over 12 days – one university takes entrepreneurship to the extreme

In spite of the economic crisis one Irish university is working with a dozen entrepreneurs to launch one promising startup a day for 12 days this December.

From left to right, Billy Kelly (Associate Dean for Teaching & learning of DCU Business School), Gavin Lockhart (Director of Sales and Marketing at Smartouch Media), Sandra Maguire ( Managing Director of Edubills), John Pryor (Co-Founder of Smartouch Media), Trevor Dagg ( Co-Founder of Talentevo), John Maughan (Founder at Nimble Tours), Carmel Shiels ( Regional Manager of AIB, DCU Branch), Mannix Ryan (Founder of Maybe Video)

In an initiative called the “12 Business Days of Christmas” (#12bizdays) Dublin City University (DCU) will bring 12 young Irish companies to the market between December 1 and 20 in what is likely one of the largest startup initiatives Ireland has seen since the death of the Celtic Tiger.  But emphasising the tough economic times, the series of launches will take a break on December 5th and 6th as the Irish Government announces what is known to be an extremely difficult austerity budget for 2012.

According to Dr. Theo Lynn, the Director of Industry Engagement at DCU Business School, it is because of these economic challenges that the university sector should be doing more to support young enterprises.  He said, “DCU is Ireland’s University of Enterprise. We believe small business is big business and SMEs will play a crucial role in Ireland’s future economic growth.

Universities, whether through research, education, or engagement, should and can play a much more tangible role in helping entrepreneurs and startups develop and grow their businesses.”

The series of launches comes from DCU’s Leadership, Innovation and Knowledge Research Centre (LINK), a department of the university that works to connect entrepreneurs and established companies with academia.

LINK will work with each of the 12 startups’ founders to develop their ideas into larger businesses.  Currently they plan on creating 24 jobs in the first your of the initiative, with more expected as the enterprises grow.

The 12 companies range from educational e-commerce systems to Web TV platforms and the companies themselves have been founded either by former students of the university or clients of the LINK Research Centre.

The launch schedule is;

• Dec. 1st – Smartouch Media: (@SmartouchMedia | Facebook) Mobile Applications and Web Design and Development
• Dec. 2nd – CompareBookPass: (@CompareBookPass | Facebook) E-commerce Platform for Driving Lessons and Instruction
• Dec. 5th – Talentevo: (@CompareBookPass | Facebook) Online Performance Management Solutions
• Dec. 8th – Imagine Sunglasses: (@imagineshades | Facebook) Online Retail Site for Sunglasses
• Dec. 9th – Sanncus: Online Software Asset Management Tools
• Dec. 12th – AerTv: (@aertv | Facebook) Web Television Service
• Dec. 13th – Edubills: (@edubills) Online Payment Systems for Parents and Schools
• Dec. 14th – My Doggy Hotel: (@mydoggyhotel | Facebook) Online Kennel and Cattery Rating and Booking Systems
• Dec. 15th – Rentview: (@Rentview_ | Facebook) Online Rent Management Software
• Dec. 16th – Nimble Tours: (@nimbletours| Facebook) Multimedia Tour Applications for Mobile Devices
• Dec. 19th – Dairy LIMS: Online Software for Laboratory Information Management
• Dec. 20th – Maybe Video: Online Video Platform for Property and Real Estate

Speaking to The Sociable Philippe Brodeur, AerTV’s Director said that this is the first step in the development of the company,

Social TV is one of the fastest trending activities worldwide – and there are a lot of new players entering the market in a number of different ways.  The partnership between Aertv and the DCU LINK programme is one that is producing amazing results.  Locally, consumers are picking up the service and interacting with live TV.  Internationally, big players are looking at what we are doing and wondering how they can become part of it or even replicate the model.  Watch this space….

Today the university launched Smartouch Media (@SmartouchMedia | Facebook) a web development firm specialising in e-commerce sites and smartphone apps for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 7 platforms.