SMEs to Benefit from International Agreement

23 March 2015

it@Cork has signed a Businesses Roaming Agreement (BRA) that will give its members the opportunity to embark on, or increase their international activity and collaboration.

This will be a significant benefit for the 250 members, with a total of over 30,000 employees, of it@Cork who can, without charge, avail of using office space, phones, broadband and the facilities of leading tech businesses abroad that have signed up to the BRA.

European Tech Cluster it@Cork is a leading not-for-profit independent business organisation, representing the interests of the IT industry in Ireland. It is a unique blend of indigenous and international IT professionals, executives, multinationals, government leaders, public sector, academia, entrepreneurs, investors and the legal and financial professional services community joining together to drive thought leadership, collaboration and global strategic alliances.

According to it@Cork Chairman Ronan Murphy, who is also CEO of leading IT support company Smarttech, this Business Roaming Agreement is an invaluable exchange programme that can greatly benefit SMES.

“Having the option to strategically use the knowledge, offices and connections for a time in a foreign market would allow for diversification, competitive intelligence and the opportunity for our members to investigate additional revenue opportunities from overseas. It would also expose them to the various management practices and methods of doing business which would be invaluable especially if they are considering expanding internationally. Naturally, building connections and relationships with businesses abroad is the core benefit of this Business Roaming Agreement.”

The Business Roaming Agreement is part of the BeWiser programme funded by the European Commission to increase internationalisation activity among SMEs and to strengthen the research, innovation potential and global competitiveness of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Europe.

it@Cork in partnership with CIT and Cork County Council represent the Cork Triple Helix ICT cluster which is one of seven European partners in the BeWiser programme.

For more information in relation to it@Cork and to avail of the Business Roaming Agreement contact Sarah Walsh on 021 4868180 or visit www.it@Cork.ie