Over the last two years a number of colleagues and I have been involved in the Internet Growth Alliance (www.alliance.ie). The group aims to help build and maintain a large and cohesive network of Irish internet businesses and people. We work closely with Enterprise Ireland discussing and supporting new development and funding programmes.

Tomorrow, (Wednesday 11th May) we will be going along to Enterprise Ireland offices in East Point, Dublin, to hear pitches from 19 Irish Internet businesses. These are the businesses enrolled in the second Internet Growth Acceleration Programme – also known as iGAP – follow #igap on twitter to see the comment and links to articles about the programme.

The programme runs over a six month period and between the first (2009/10) and second year (2010/11), 34 businesses have now been through the development course. As a development programme is ranks very highly, nominated as a “best in Europe” by TechCrunch late last year. The Programme has made a big difference to the companies participating. Some have raised funds, others have enhanced their plans and honed their pitches and some have even failed.

It’s a huge credit to all involved that this programme has now become a cornerstone of the internet ecosystem in Ireland. I’m really looking forward to hearing the pitches and included the names of the firms below. We are very grateful for all the support from Arthur Cox, Paddy Power, Qualcomm, worky.com and Realex Payments.

A special mention of Brian Caulfield who was the programme lead for the last two years. He took the vision and converted it into the success it is. He along with Enterprise Ireland, constructed a world class programme, delivered by world class people to world class (Irish) internet businesses. This is one of the reasons why Ireland is a great place to start an internet business.

@colmlyon