#CoWorkLandVisitConnectedHubs – the South East

The first Irish tour after officially launching the partnership between https://connectedhubs.ie/ and https://coworkland.de/de took me to the South East, where our partner for this tour https://www.setu.ie/ operates four Rural Innovation Hubs and currently two On-Campus Incubation Centers. For those Germans who want to travel by car to enjoy the region’s picturesque landscape, I could recommend the DFDS Dunkirk-Rosslare ferry from my own experience. Otherwise, Aer Lingus and Lufthansa fly from various German airports to Dublin.

What’s important to me on these tours is not only to showcase Coworking Spaces and hubs that are part of Connected Hubs, but also the region’s ecosystem. And since hurling is a religion in County Kilkenny, James Kavanagh from Hurling Tours Ireland gave me a short demonstration.

After sports, I headed to the first SETU Rural Innovation Hub in Urlingford, County Kilkenny. At “Exit 4” https://connectedhubs.ie/hubs/profile/4570 Ian Campbell from SETU gave me a tour of the former bank’s premises. This includes the vault, which now houses the printing room.

“Exit 4,” where many other rooms still remind us of the former owners (though there’s no money lying around), is a typical community hub where collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce and other institutions like the ETB is a top priority. Together, they help Coworkers and Startups develop markets, both in Ireland and abroad.

The next day, Ian Campbell introduced me to “ArcLabs” https://connectedhubs.ie/hubs/profile/4987 which is part of https://www.setuxcelerate.ie/  in Waterford. It offers both a large coworking space and offices for the numerous spin outs. And things are really starting to get crowded here! Some spinouts are growing so rapidly in terms of markets, customers, and therefore also employees that an extension might soon be necessary. Many of the successful spin outs were also represented next door in the SETU Arena at the well-attended “Toys for Engineers” trade fair.

The next day, I headed to Dungarvan. The small town in County Waterford is famous for its culinary delights, but unfortunately, the restaurant where I had one of the best three-course meals ever years ago was only open late that day. However, I was able to convince myself at another SETU-supported Rural Innovation Hub, the “Dungarvan Enterprise Centre” https://connectedhubs.ie/hubs/profile/149 that it’s not just the food that’s high-quality. The building may seem unassuming, but even from here, Coworkers and Startups embark on successful journeys.

My first tour of the region concluded with “The Exchange” https://connectedhubs.ie/hubs/profile/5454 in Wexford. And, as with all previous stops, there was great interest in Germany and what CoWorkLand is doing. Lucy Nevins, the owner of the space, spontaneously said that she would like to attend Coworking Europe in Berlin in November to meet some CoWorkLand members. During the next visit, we plan to organize an information day on Germany and CoWorkLand together with the Chamber of Commerce.

I’ve seen a lot on this first tour of the region, but by no means everything. I’ll be back!