INNOVATION AWARD:The inaugural Innovation award went to software firm ChangingWorlds. The firm now looks set for continued expansion into lucrative but demanding American markets
BEING PROFITABLE for the last four years in a row, and having raised a relatively modest €5 million from venture capitalists are not the only things that single out ChangingWorlds from the vast majority of aspiring Irish software firms.
The firm, which last month won the inaugural Irish Technology Leaders Group - Irish Times Innovation Award, could be said to have the concept of innovation hardwired into its DNA.
The Dublin-based company was founded in 1999 to commercialise research into personalisation technology being carried out by a research group headed by Professor Barry Smyth, who now acts as the company's chief scientist. The technology, which ChangingWorlds initially applied to the mobile phone market, uses artificial intelligence techniques to learn about users' behaviour, and then recommends content to them based on their profile. It maintains an innovation centre on the UCD campus, headed by co-founder and chief technology officer Paul Cotter, where its engineers can interact with the research taking place in the college's computer science department.
This commitment to innovation was one of the main reasons that the team of judges from ITLG and The Irish Times selected Changing Worlds ahead of the other shortlisted firms - Altobridge, Digisoft.tv and Nubiq. Overall the judges considered almost 40 Irish technology companies for the award, but ChangingWorlds' "impressive customer successes, product strategy, management team and outstanding intellectual property portfolio" were cited as the reasons for its success.
"The concept of ITLG is very important to a company like ours," explains ChangingWorlds' chief executive David Moran. "There are a lot of innovative companies in Ireland, but the US market is the biggest and most important for us. The network that ITLG opens up to us is invaluable in helping us to crack that market."
One of ChangingWorlds' earliest successes was signing up Vodafone Ireland to use its ClixSmart personalisation engine on its mobile internet portal. The project was so successful that the Dublin firm won contracts with other Vodafone subsidiaries including the UK, Spain, Australia, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Turkey.
While relatively small software companies have floundered due to demands of exclusivity made by early customers, Moran says ChangingWorlds has successfully "been able to navigate through these issues" and sell to competing operators in the same market. Partly because of this commercial nous, it concentrated on options in Europe for the first seven years before pushing strongly into Asia in 2006 and the US last year. Changing Worlds currently employs 135 staff, of which 30 are based in Asia, with the bulk of the rest located at its Dublin operations.
It now has over 50 customers worldwide and is reportedly faring well in the Americas, where it is pursuing opportunities not only in the lucrative US market but also in South America and Canada.
Although Moran declined to comment, citing client confidentiality, numerous industry sources indicate that the Dublin firm has won a deal with one of the big four mobile networks in the US, which will be the largest deal the firm has ever won.
Over the next 18 months Moran says the ClixSmart technology will be applied to other sectors - most likely financial services and digital television - but he is adamant that this will be done in a "disciplined manner".
Such an expansion may require additional funding. The firm's main backers to date have been TVC Holdings, formerly Trinity Venture Capital. Although since its flotation last year TVC has effectively become a private equity firm rather than a venture investor in technology plays, Moran believes the change in status could benefit his expansion plans.
In the meantime Moran is focusing on growing the business in Asia and the Americas. Although only two full-time staff are currently based in the US, backed by resources from the Dublin office when required, he intends the American operations to be totally self-sufficient by year end.
THE IRISH TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP GROUP
ESTABLISHED IN October 2007, the ITLG is an independent organisation composed of a number of high-level technology leaders in Silicon Valley who are Irish or Irish-American.
Based in Palo Alto, California, it held its first annual awards last month at an event honouring Intel chairman Craig Barrett and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin for their contribution to the Irish technology sector.
Members include John Hartnett, senior vice-president of Palm; John Gilmore, COO of Sling Media; Rory McInerney, vice-president of Intel; Barry O'Sullivan, senior vice-president at Cisco; and Conrad Burke, chief executive officer, Innovalight.
For further information, see itlg.org
