In 2014, the Galway startup ecosystem was suffering from the lack of a downtown hub in the city centre for tech companies to locate and collaborate in. As a frequent participant in IDA Ireland’s FDI (foreign direct investment) company visits, and as a representative of some of the University’s technology research and education programmes, I was dismayed to see incoming companies choose not to locate in Galway for this reason. As they saw it, there was no downtown hub to soft land in. We were missing an opportunity in not allowing Galway’s innovation-driven enterprises – whether indigenous or international – to cluster and thrive together. 

After some initial meetings in 2014 with local stakeholders, and with some experienced like-minded volunteers (Maurice O’Gorman, Conor O’Dwyer, Dave Cunningham, Niamh Costello and Johnny O’Dwyer), I co-founded the non-profit Galway City Innovation District (GCID) in July 2015 to address this very problem. Based on the Innovation District concept as described by the Brookings Institution, the purpose of the district was to attract creators, innovators and entrepreneurs who wished to work in close proximity to others in a supportive and connected environment. Our other aim was to draw in young technology companies with strong growth potential and, eventually, larger scaleup companies and multinationals. With sponsorship secured from AIB and others, the GCID leased and renovated its first hub, a derelict former Guinness building on CIÉ lands beside Ceannt Train Station and Eyre Square. We named it the PorterShed (porter being an Irish word for stout and shed having various connotations with tech companies founded in sheds and garages in Silicon Valley). PorterShed opened with about 100 working desk spaces in May, 2016. 

From the outset, the aim of the PorterShed was to be more than just a space where people or tech companies could co-locate together. Inspired by the book, Startup Communities by Boulder-based entrepreneur and investor Brad Feld, we wanted to ensure that there would be “continual activities that engage the entire entrepreneurial stack.” To this end, we built in a dedicated events and innovation space where 1200 events were held between 2016 and 2021, including inspiring founder talks, hackathons, skills and training workshops, women-in-tech talks, pitching and investor meetings. These events were organised and attended not just by PorterShed members but by “a startup community […] inclusive of anyone who wants to participate in it,” another principle of Brad Feld’s ‘Boulder Thesis’. 

Perhaps even more important was the need for a structured accelerator to provide our region’s innovative entrepreneurs with initial funding and associated programming, as well as investment opportunities and follow-on supports for accelerated companies. Even before the PorterShed opened, we put out a request for partners for what would be the first accelerator in the region. A year after opening, in 2017, we successfully launched Ireland’s first regional accelerator, with support from Enterprise Ireland’s newly launched Regional Accelerator Programme. 22 companies graduated from the PorterShed accelerator over its three years of operation, nine of which were led by female founders. 13 of those 22 companies went on to achieve high-potential startup status, which is well above the average success rate achieved by accelerators around the world. On the recent occasion of PorterShed’s seventh birthday, GCID Chair Maurice O’Gorman stated the fundamental need for a persistent regional accelerator in Galway when he said that “regional-based accelerators provide economic equality and redistribute opportunity – regardless of geography – providing startups with the opportunity to start, grow and scale within the regions.” 

In 2018, funding of over €2.5 million was announced by the Department of Enterprise’s Regional Enterprise Development Fund for GCID, to redevelop a second building for scaleup companies in Galway City. This building would incorporate coworking spaces, private offices and a new events and innovation space. After some delays due to changing plans for the original site, alongside a global pandemic, PorterShed a Dó at Market Street opened in the former Connacht Tribune building towards the end of 2022, following on from the opening of PorterShed a hAon at Bowling Green in March 2022 (developed to replace the soon-to-close original site, PorterShed ‘a Náid’ at Eyre Square). Together, the newly developed buildings have working desk spaces for over 300 people. 

A recent report from KPMG found that the PorterShed’s impact over its initial five years (2016 to 2021) included 835 high-value sustainable jobs created across the value chain, with over €6 million overall/combined contribution to national economic output, and that its members provided employment income of about €49 million for the region (including €14 million in income tax contributed to the Exchequer). The report also found that €10 million worth of follow-on funding was raised by our accelerator companies, resulting in the creation of 108 jobs, generating a significant return on investment for state funds and bringing both economic benefit and new job opportunities to our region. 

I must emphasise that none of PorterShed’s impact and success could have been realised without GCID’s full-time dedicated and hard-working staff, all of whom are passionate about supporting Galway as a startup engine for our region, and led by the energetic and inspirational CEO Mary Rodgers. 

The PorterShed itself is more than a series of buildings: it is a community that collaborates and accelerates technology startups in conjunction with all stakeholders in the region. GCID is also not a government enterprise centre. Working closely with the non-profit’s staff, the Board members are all volunteers like myself, with full-time jobs and commitments, who set out with an ambitious vision for the region over seven years ago. This initiative – GCID, PorterShed a hAon agus a Dó – is about creating long-term quality sustainable jobs in Galway, to ensure the future of Galway, and to make sure that future generations have a choice to live and work in a city that is vibrant and progressive. To realise Galway’s potential as – echoing investor Barry O’Sullivan – “the birthplace of ambition”. 

Learn more about The PorterShed here.