A number of Irish agencies and companies will be heading to SXSW in Austin, Texas next week as part of an Enterprise Ireland-led delegation to take part in the popular week-long festival of music, creativity, film, culture and innovation.
Some of the agencies taking part include Thinkhouse, Workhuman, Catapult, Cogs & Marvel, The Tenth Man, Windmill Lane and TVadSync. They will be joined by a number of other companies including Manna Drone, , Keeper Pictures, The Giant Company Attractions, Wild Atlantic Pictures, Imvizar, Avtrain, Future Mobility Campus, Volgograms, Wild Card Distribution and Brightbeam AI. The event will also be attended by the Minister for Media, Catherine Martin.
This is the first year that Ireland will be officially represented at SXSW and key part of this presence will be Ireland House @SXSW, a central location within the festival that will focus on promoting Irish creative industries and services, technology innovation, culture and music. Ireland House is a collaboration between Global Ireland/Department of Foreign Affairs, Enterprise Ireland, Culture Ireland, First Music Contact, Screen Ireland, IDA Ireland and others.
SXSW 2024 will also mark Enterprise Ireland’s first overseas event to promote the Irish creative and digital sectors as part of its commitments under the Digital Creative Industries Roadmap. In June, Enterprise Ireland, in collaboration with IAPI, will also be taking part in the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.
“Technology and creativity are in a renaissance period and Irish companies are blazing a trail pushing the boundaries of possibilities to deliver exciting new experiences and innovations,” says Conor O’Donovan, head of global marketing communications and the commercial creative sector, Enterprise Ireland. “ Ireland House at SXSW is an immense opportunity for Enterprise Ireland to showcase these trailblazers who are redefining the future of mobility, work, technology and the commercial creative sector– from the Giant Company who are merging artistry and cutting-edge technology to deliver the world’s tallest moving statue to Manna who are undertaking the world’s largest drone delivery trial and Imvizar, the ‘Netflix for AR’, who are launching the world’s first no-code AR storytelling platform.
“For us, it’s part of our strategy to put Irish creative excellence on the global stage, to encourage more brand owners, CMOs, marketing directors to look to Ireland and Irish companies for our creative services. It’s also about collaboration. We have partnered with Global Ireland DFA, Screen Ireland, Culture Ireland, First Music Contact and others, to join forces to make an impact. We are also using this opportunity to look at how we might best leverage these events in the future,” he says.
