The Shannon region has been rebranded as an "e-region" by Shannon Development as part of its plan to ensure the benefits of the Information Society (IS) will be felt.
The focus of the rebranding is to co-ordinate IS activities already under way, or planned, and to advance them. This is being done jointly by Shannon Development and the Microelectronics Applications Centre (MAC).
The existing Eircom Ennis Information Age Town and the Tipperary Institute (formerly called the Tipperary Rural and Business Development Institute) are two prime examples. Added to this, Shannon Development is developing technology nodes in Birr, Ennis, Limerick, Thurles and Tralee. When fully developed, these nodes should ensure that enterprises in those areas have access to high-speed broadband at affordable levels.
The e-branding builds on three years of work done under the Shannon Information Society Partnership Project (ShIPP). The main result was a strategy and action plan for the region, delivered in April 1999. If fully implemented, the plan could cost over £66 million. This sum includes Irish public money, commercial investment, EU structural funds and funding under EU programmes.
The national IS plan addresses six so-called pillars. The ShiPP plan looks at £31 million for the awareness pillar. The bulk of this is provided by Ennis Information Age Town, which won £15 million from Eircom, and is expected to reach another £15 million in commercial investment, and £500,000 from EU programmes.
The next-highest spend is on the infrastructure pillar, with expenditure from all sources on digital parks coming to almost £10 million. Enterprises such as e-commerce, telework initiatives and digital technology support top the £9 million mark.