The signatories said that the closure, which was announced last week, ‘comes at the worst possible time’.
Several start-up founders have called on the Government to reconsider its recent decision to stop funding the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC), Ireland’s national start-up accelerator.
Last Friday (22 November), the NDRC announced that it will close in November 2025 because the Irish Government has decided to stop funding it.
In its announcement, the NDRC explained that after consultations among various departments and Enterprise Ireland, the Government had concluded that the “enterprise ecosystem has evolved significantly since NDRC’s inception” and decided not to procure a new service contract for the start-up accelerator.
In an open letter written by Luke Mackey of Kota, Eoin Cambay of Swan, Paul Sheridan of Lynq and Will O’Brien of Ulysses, the founders have called on the Government to reconsider its decision.
The authors of the letter, which has been signed by 200 entrepreneurs, wrote that the closure “comes at the worst possible time.”
“Ireland needs to build a more resilient, self-sufficient economy and reduce its dependence on foreign multinationals, which account for more than 80pc of our corporation tax revenue, and create high-impact indigenous Irish start-ups.
“This decision threatens to dismantle a proven success model for building homegrown businesses for what appears to be nothing more than bureaucratic pride.”
It made the case that the NDRC is the only tech-focused start-up programme, while other initiatives being touted as replacements are “generalist”. The letter describes this view as “dismissive of the unique value an entrepreneur-led accelerator provides to technology start-ups”.
It calls for greater transparency about the decision to cease funding and urges the Government to reconsider.
The founders said that under the stewardship of Dogpatch Labs and a network of regional hubs, the NDRC had built a successful ecosystem of early-stage start-ups.
Patrick Walsh, the founder and CEO of Dogpatch Labs, wrote on LinkedIn that the closure is “a big loss for the Irish start-up ecosystem”.
A number of people expressed their dismay over the news under Walsh’s post – one commenter, Paul Finlay, who is the founder and CEO of Hiiker, said: “This is a terrible decision. As a participant in the NDRC, Hiiker has benefited enormously from its mentorship and support, allowing us to grow and give back to the economy.”
Another commenter – Conor Moules, co-founder and CEO of Barespace – said that his business was among those which benefitted from the NDRC and added that he was “gutted” by the announcement.
The final NDRC contract worth €17m was awarded in 2020 to a network of regional innovation hubs that included the Dublin-based Dogpatch Labs, PorterShed in Galway, Republic of Work in Cork and RDI Hub in Kerry.
According to the organisation, it has helped portfolio companies raise €500m since its inception, and more than €200m of these funds were secured in the last four years alone. And portfolio companies have created 650 jobs over the past three years.
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