Skip to main content
Dublin has a few things in common with Portland. Ireland's capital shares similar weather, a love of booze, a river that divides it (theirs is called River Liffey) and a growing tech sector. Next week, three Portland companies along with local investors will visit the city and represent Portland at The Web Summit, a mega tech conference which draws from across the globe. Their mission: to schmooze, network, try to bring a bit of business back home and, in Portland fashion, foster relationships with companies in the quasi sister city.
Uncorked Studios, Notion and Mobile RQ are the three startups joining the trade mission. The state's economic development agency, Business Oregon, is leading the way, and financing up to $5,000 each for their travel expenses. Also on the trek will be representatives from the Oregon chapter of TIE Angels, Technology Association of Oregon, and TechfestNW.
The Dublin area and metro Portland share something else–Intel. Recently deemed "The most important company in the world," Intel is the largest employer in Oregon. Considering the number of metro area businesses that get a large portion of their business from Intel, the company's role in the state's economy almost cannot be overstated. In Ireland, Intel runs its largest European facility, and the Portland delegation plans a stop at Intel's Internet of Things Ignition Labs.
"On a local community level, as a piece of the larger trade mission, I think it's really interesting to have both Portland and Oregon on a different map than it usually is," said David Ewald, chief creative officer of product design firm Uncorked, which counts Intel as a client.
Oregon is without a large number of players in venture capital and early stage funding, so networking with foreign investors is a high priority, said Heather Stafford, assistant director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Business Oregon.
Along on the trip will be Nitin Rai, a well-known Portland entrepreneur and founder of First Insight, a two-decade old health records software firm. Rai is also one of the driving forces behind the Portland chapter of The Indus Entrepeneurs, a global networking non-profit.
Dublin "has a very vibrant ecosystem and because it's small everybody knows everybody," a vibe Rai said is also characteristic of the Portland tech scene. His hope is to convince companies to set up shop in Portland.
Ireland has a famously low corporate tax structure, key to the decisions by Facebook, Google and others to establish their European HQs there. The Oregon delegation is likely to learn about that country's tax system, said Stafford, but it's not important to everyone.
"I don't pay attention to the tax part," said Rai. Rather, he said, he's focused on "the intellectual capital."
Willamette Week