You\u2019ve a great idea. Take the next step, and you\u2019ll be a founder<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Enterprise Ireland has an ambitious target to support 1,000 new start-ups by 2029. It is currently reviewing how start-up accelerator services are delivered nationally and is expected to launch a successor national accelerator platform to replace the Dublin-based National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) at the end of this year.<\/p>\n
There is plenty of nervousness across the sector about what might come next.<\/p>\n
![\"Rosemary](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/30ca0311-4d3f-4bb7-8c2f-3b453e4bdb63.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Rosemary Gallagher. Photo: Nigel Moran<\/p>\n
But Rosemary Gallagher, the programmes lead at the PorterShed, believes that a change is needed if those targets are to be met \u2013 and says AI can help in this regard.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis pilot scheme is all about the creation of high- value sustainable jobs in the west of Ireland, and we need to see more regional companies succeeding,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to make it so that founders here in Galway have as much access to support as anywhere else. I\u2019m from Donegal originally, and that thing about always having to go to Dublin for best in class programming is over. This takes it a step further.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have previously been involved with accelerators in San Francisco, and one thing we learned about the difference between companies in San Francisco and in Ireland is speed of execution.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is an ambition to move fast in San Francisco, and that is something we are behind on here. At our current pace, we will struggle to hit the ambitious targets that have been set,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big question for the future is how we can support more start-ups and how we can move them forward faster. In my view, having this type of a digital programme will be an important factor in that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nYou can\u2019t turn on and off the entrepreneur tap<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\u200bThe PorterShed, along with RDI Hub in Kerry and Republic of Work in Cork, are part of what has been NDRC\u2019s support system.<\/p>\n
Gallagher said that the west of Ireland is playing catchup on developing local start-ups.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere have been great improvements over the last number of years, but compared to the start-up ecosystem in Dublin, we are still behind.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are great founders in the west of Ireland, but because the supports are not always available to them, they don\u2019t identify as founders or as entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n
“We want to reach out to those people and say: \u2018You\u2019ve a great idea. Take the next step and you\u2019ll be a founder.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Founded in 2016, the PorterShed is named after its original Galway city centre HQ \u2013 a converted railway shed that was once the arrival point for Guinness kegs into the city.<\/p>\n
That original building was the launchpad for some big names in the city, including Altocloud, Rent the Runway and Diligent.<\/p>\n
\u201cTech start-ups always want to be based downtown \u2013 and the PorterShed was built as a reaction to larger companies looking at Galway but then relocating elsewhere because there was no downtown start-up hub.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new pilot scheme with the Bertie app is aimed at helping early stage high-potential start-ups bid for the \u20ac100,000 investment available through Enterprise Ireland\u2019s Pre-Seed Start Fund (PSSF).<\/p>\n
Philip Reynolds told the Sunday Independent that he was delighted to be collaborating with the PorterShed.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have ideas all the time. You can\u2019t turn on and off the entrepreneur tap.<\/p>\n
“If we\u2019re serious about the targets that the Government has set in terms of 250 new start-ups every year for five years, then the system has to be always on. And the only way you can be always on is provide a digital solution.<\/p>\n
\nI\u2019d love to see someone quit their day job as a result of getting this funding<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the beauty of what we are providing here \u2013 it\u2019s always available whenever it suits the applicant.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not trying to replace what\u2019s there, but we are trying to extend the reach of what is there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bertie app takes applicants through a series of tasks and prompts designed over an average of six weeks to bring founders to a minimal viable product stage and leave them with a substantially completed application for funding.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe program is designed specifically around the tasks that we know an applicant will have to complete right to be PSSF ready. We provide the AI technology to make this as accessible as possible and the PorterShed will oversee the programme.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gallagher says she will measure the success of the AI experiment based on how many hard-to-reach founders it unearths.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would love to see more women and people who have put off applying for this type of funding because they didn\u2019t think they had the time and focus to do it.<\/p>\n
“And I would love to see someone able to quit their day job as a result of getting this funding.\u201d<\/p>\n
The scheme is launching this week and is expected to open for applications in late March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The son of Albert Reynolds calls his new app \u2018Bertie\u2019 \u2013 and it helps get young Irish firms…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[261],"tags":[291,164807,289,290,15526,18,33201,19,17,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-350823","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-albert-reynolds","10":"tag-artificial-intelligence","11":"tag-artificialintelligence","12":"tag-bertie-ahern","13":"tag-eire","14":"tag-fearghal-oconnor","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-technology"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116115411004869039","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}