Letterkenny IT

CoLab

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CoLab is an on-campus incubation, research and enterprise centre supporting entrepreneurs at every stage of their business development.

The centre is equipped to provide the highest possible standard of infrastructural support including: 100Mbps upload/download broadband provision, VoIP telephony into all units, video conferencing, flexible access through an electronic swipe-key system and wireless broadband throughout.

Project Kelvin provides high-capacity international links to the North American continent and Europe, at rates which are guaranteed by contract to be amongst the most attractive in the Ireland/UK. CoLab has direct access to diverse Kelvin Infrastructure and services via the Letterkenny MAN.

CoLab is home to around 30 businesses, employing 120 people. It currently covers 2,400m², which is being extended to 4,000m² under the North West Regional Science Park (NWRSP) scheme – due for completion in June 2015.

CoLab website ￫

programme applicants since 2011

counties in the Letterkenny catchment area

female entrepreneur participants to date

What does the CoLab offer?

24 high-spec units of 25m² – 100m², 10 hot desks, two meeting rooms, training rooms, a lecture room and conference room, canteen and shared reception services.

Research units, IT infrastructure, communal networking area, concept desk space and easy-in-easy-out licence terms.

24/7 access and dedicated parking.

Access to an on-site support team, the latest telecoms technology, best practice workshops, spin-out companies and graduates from LYIT.

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The CoLab team

The New Frontiers Programme Manager at IT Sligo is Michelle Connolly. She has been Enterprise Development Manager at Letterkenny Institute of Technology for the past three and a half years, coordinating the New Frontiers programme at both Sligo and Letterkenny. Michelle combines a background in Biological Sciences (she holds a PhD in Environmental Microbiology) with studies in International Business Management. She brings wide experience in project management, strategy development, entrepreneurship and business planning to her role with New Frontiers.

Michelle Connolly

New Frontiers Programme Manager

071 913 7378
@micheconn

Patsy Donaghey

CoLab Centre Manager

074 918 6703

New Frontiers has given me the key knowledge, skills and confidence to develop my start-up into a successful, scaling business. Coming from the creative industries, New Frontiers changed my business and my life for the better. It will remain the best choice I made as an entrepreneur.

Laura McDowell, Papertree

When starting my business, I found out very quickly that having technical knowledge is not everything. You need a very broad skill set, which the programme introduced me to - important skills such as sales, marketing, finance and business planning. It has been a great help to us growing our business.

David Gildea, Cloud Ranger

If there’s a faster way to gather the skills and connections required to make a business idea into reality than New Frontiers - I’d like to see it. We really feel it was six months well spent.

Matt Griffiths, Vaerial Industrial Environmental Compliance

Some of our previous participants

Laura McDowell, Papertree – personalised, paper-cut gifts
David Gildea, CloudRanger – cloud task scheduler
Kevin Boylan, Firecloud365 – fire safety management in public buildings
David O’Neill, Uppiddee Inc – enterprise platform
Anne Tuohy, Room Junkie – personal online interior designer
Brendan Toner, Audit International – international recruitment
Charlie Boyle, Customer Service Excellence Ireland – recognition programme

The latest news from CoLab

Saving lives with new cost-effective drone rescue app

DroneSAR is a software platform designed to enable commercially available, off-the-shelf drones to be used as part of search and rescue missions. Co-founded by New Frontiers alumnus, Matthew Kelly, the company was recently featured on independent.ie.

Drone company’s project takes off

Donegal company, DroneSAR, has won an international XCELLENCE Humanitarian Award (AUVSI) in Colorado, USA. Founder and New Frontiers alumnus, Matthew Kelly, is featured on donegaldemocrat.ie.

Have a startup idea? Register your interest in New Frontiers and one of our Programme Managers will be in touch soon!

Further reading

Still not ready to apply? We have some useful links that might help:

the CoLab website
more information about the New Frontiers programme
see our Frequently Asked Questions
check out our 10 tips for entrepreneurs thinking of applying to New Frontiers