Ranking consistently in a leading spot on Forbe’s ‘Best Countries for Business’ list since 2010, Ireland boasts a vibrant digital sector. Its capital city, Dublin, has become a major tech hub over the past decade – serving as the European base for many multinational IT companies (10 of the top 10 global ICT companies and 9 of the top 10 global software companies have offices in the city).
The city benefits from a constant influx of global tech professionals joining the 1.8 million residents of the greater Dublin area, with many international tech workers setting up home in ‘Silicon Docks’ – a reference to ‘Silicon Valley’ and the heavyweight tech companies located in this city-central docklands area.
Not surprisingly, Dublin boasts a growing number of collaborative innovations and initiatives stemming from the city’s hyperconnected and highly skilled workforce. Incubators and accelerators are also fueling new sharing initiatives and platforms.
Take a look at the list below.
Mobility
GoCar – an o
n demand, pay-by-the-hour vehicle rental service that offers a real alternative to ownership (pictured / collaborative pioneer interview).
DublinBikes – on-demand bike sharing service throughout the city.
Uber Dublin – connecting passengers with private cars for hire.
Finance, Banking & Crowdfunding
CurrencyFair – online peer-to-peer currency exchange market place, based in Dublin (pictured / collaborative pioneer interview).
FundIt – an Irish platform for artists with creative ideas to attract funding from friends, fans and followers across the world.
GRID Finance – a peer-to-peer financing platform for Irish businesses and community. organisations, based in Dublin.
iCrowdFund – a crowdfunding platform supporting donation, reward & equity based options in Ireland.
iDonate – online charity fundraising platform.
iFundraise – Irish Club, School Fundraising, Sports Club Donations platform.
Indiegogo – the easy way to raise money for yourself or someone you love.
Kickstarter – a community of millions of people committed to creating incredible things.
LinkedFinance – peer-to-peer lending for SMEs, based in Dublin.
SeedUps – equity crowdfunding for technology start-ups.
Travel
Experiences
FabFoodTrails – follow Dublin’s fabulous tasting trail to discover bakeries, food halls, street markets, cheesemongers, delicatessens and other speciality shops.
Ingenious Ireland – fun science focused tours of Dublin in the Summer – discover Irish ideas and inventions that changed the world.
Shiroube – insider tours of Dublin in almost any language.
Vayable – many novel ways to visit Dublin like a local, from a photo-lovers tour to a haunted history walking tour.
Lodging
Airbnb Dublin – more than 2,000 Dublin listings on Airbnb – and a selection of unique places in Ireland.
Home Exchange – 180 homes homes in Dublin.
Home for Exchange – 27 homes in Dublin.
HomeStay – 63 homes within 4 miles of the city center.
Roomorama – Dublin short term rentals, Dublin accommodation and vacation rentals.
Food Sharing
Dublin Food Co-op – Dublin’s member-owned cooperative shop and community – organic wholefoods, dairy, and bakery.
FoodCloud – brings food businesses and charities together to reduce both food waste and food poverty, based in Dublin (pictured / collaborative pioneer interview).
Learning
CoderDojo Dublin – free IT coding clubs for children between 10 – 18 years of age.
LanguageExchange – weekly language exchange matching native speakers with learners.
Mentors – bringing together business owners with successful, experienced mentors.
UniWink – a collaborative online learning platform, helping undergraduate college students boost their grades
Collaborative Working Spaces – with various networking, community, innovation and entrepreneurial support levels.
BLOCK T – co-working space igniting arts, culture and creative practice.
Cluster – co-working in the centre of Dublin.
Co-create – co-working space in central Dublin.
Coworkinn – collaborative, shared, office space.
Digital Hub – flexible and affordable high-spec office space with world-class infrastructure and services (pictured).
Dogpatch Labs – co-working space for scaling technology start-ups located in the heart of the Dublin Docklands.
DoSpace – floating co-working community located on a barge in central Dublin.
element78 – serviced flexible work space and office space in central Dublin.
Fumbally Exchange (FEx) – shared office space and community collaboration.
Hive @Liffey Trust – a place where tech start-ups can work, meet, collaborate, network and learn.
TCube Dublin – a social enterprise co-working space for software, web and mobile tech freelancers, entrepreneurs and start-ups.
TOG Dublin Hackerspace – a supportive hackerspace in the centre of Dublin.
Tribal – early stage venture fund and co-location hub for technology start-ups.
VERSARI Hub – turnkey & flexible solutions to premise & infrastructure needs.
FabLab
WeCreate – make, work, learn, based on the MIT FabLab model.
Arts
Exchange Dublin – a collective arts centre run holding discussions, gigs, visual arts and performance.
Fashion
FrocknFabulous – making high-end designer dresses accessible to the ‘girl next door’.
RentMyDress – P2P platform for anyone to rent their dress.
SellMyWeddingDress – P2P platform to buy and sell once loved wedding dresses.
Siopaella – a swap boutique and consignment shop for pre-loved designer clothing & accessories.
Crafts
Etsy – community of Etsy sellers based in Dublin.
Events
FanFootage – turning fans into a crowdsourced video crew.
iRegister – an online event registration software to create an event website easily and sell tickets online for events in Ireland.
Advice
ThankFrank – a community of savvy shoppers who help others find the best stuff online, no strings attached.
Sustainable Living
Eco-Village Cloughjordan – a sustainable development 2 hours outside Dublin with 114 homes, 16 live/work units, and an enterprise centre to provide workspace and services to facilitate the growth of eco entrepreneurship.
On-demand services
CleanMyHome – matching people who need their house cleaned to self-employed cleaners.
Hassle.com – book a local and reliable house cleaner.
HouseMyDog – the cage free alternative to kennels, find the perfect minder for your dog.
MinderFinders – babysitting club to provide trusted childcare outside crèche hours.
Pucker – connecting freelance beauticians, stylists and hairdressers with last minute clients.
B2B collaboration
Car Trawler – partnership for online travel brands and ground transportation companies worldwide.
Smile Exchange – free service for businesses that encourages exchanging of resources.
