Enterprise Ireland to open Los Angeles office

Enterprise Ireland is to open a Los Angeles office to develop links to the film and media industries, as part of a strategy to support the Government's plans for a Dublin "Digital District".

Enterprise Ireland hopes to draw existing digital media companies into the district, form contacts for existing and new Irish companies in the Hollywood and Los Angeles media and entertainment industries, and help Irish companies set up in the Los Angeles area.

The office, which will be adjacent to the Industrial Development Agency office in Santa Monica, is to target the film studios as well as animation, special effects, post-production, sound, music, games and web and CD-Rom media companies.

"It's a real strategic move because right now (digital media) is a very, very small industry in Ireland," said Ms Marina Donohoe, senior vice-president in Enterprise Ireland's Silicon Valley office. "We really want to help get these companies out of the gate."

The Digital District is a major social, cultural and industrial development planned for the Liberties area surrounding the Guinness brewery, with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab Europe as its centrepiece.

According to Ms Donohoe, the Government hopes to make the Republic the European centre for digital media development and experimentation. To date, no country in the region has come out as a clear leader in this area, she said.

The vast entertainment industry in California - one of the state's biggest sources of revenue, along with the technology industry and agriculture - routinely outsources much work on films and television, such as sound production, animation and computer special effects, and post-production.

London has already become a Hollywood outpost for such tasks because work can easily and quickly be sent back and forth via the Internet rather than shipped on reels. Enterprise Ireland hopes to make Dublin a centre for such work and anything else associated with the broad category of digital media.

She noted that in the past, the Republic had a vibrant hand drawn animation industry, and currently has a nascent film industry, many e-learning companies, several gaming start-ups, and other companies that fit the digital media bill.

However, specific plans and funding for the district remain uncertain. Ms Donohoe said the project, which was announced last year by the Taoiseach, retained support "at a high level".